Matlab licensing for GitHub Actions

I'm trying to use Matlab in a public (though not yet broadly shared) GitHub repository's "Actions" workflow. Specifically, I'm creating a Matlab-based Quarto "book" using the mkernel project, that I would like to render & publish via an action.

It seems, however, that Matlab licenses are only supported via the built-in Matlab Actions, whereas I need mkernel to spin up during a Quarto action -- is that correct? For example, in my Quarto action I get the following error message:

Starting mkernel kernel...Traceback (most recent call last):

<long traceback, excluding>

matlab.engine.EngineError: Unable to launch MVM server: License Error: Licensing shutdown

I put a request in for a Matlab Batch license token, which seems like the correct path forward? My additional question to this is, assuming I don't get picked for a (free?) license, can I purchase additional Home (it's a hobby project) licenses to use in my GitHub action?

Answer 1

[Kautuk Raj]

I see that you are facing the error "matlab.engine.EngineError: Unable to launch MVM server: License Error: Licensing shutdown" while trying to use a GitHub Actions workflow.

A batch token cannot be used to run a MATLAB Engine. As of MATLAB R2024b, using a self-hosted runner that has a traditionally licensed MATLAB is the best workaround available.

You can refer to the following discussions on a issue raised on GitHub for more details: https://github.com/matlab-actions/setup-matlab/issues/22