R2018a GLException error on linux

I just installed MATLAB R2018a and I get the following error above the prompt at the top of the command window when I start the program:

com.jogamp.opengl.GLException: X11GLXDrawableFactory - Could not initialize shared resources for X11GraphicsDevice[type .x11, connection :0, unitID 0, handle 0x0, owner false, ResourceToolkitLock[obj 0x37e10dfd, isOwner false, <4dd74231, 25b2e611>[count 0, qsz 0, owner <NULL>]]]
  at jogamp.opengl.x11.glx.X11GLXDrawableFactory$SharedResourceImplementation.createSharedResource(X11GLXDrawableFactory.java:326)
  at jogamp.opengl.SharedResourceRunner.run(SharedResourceRunner.java:297)
  at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
  at jogamp.opengl.GLContextImpl.makeCurrent(GLContextImpl.java:688)
  at jogamp.opengl.GLContextImpl.makeCurrent(GLContextImpl.java:580)
  at jogamp.opengl.x11.glx.X11GLXDrawableFactory$SharedResourceImplementation.createSharedResource(X11GLXDrawableFactory.java:297)
  ... 2 more

This is apparently some kind of graphics problem, so I tried making a plot (the plot window opens and displays nothing):

>> plot([1, 2, 3, 4], [1, 2, 3, 4])
MATLAB has experienced a low-level graphics error, and may not have drawn correctly.
Read about what you can do to prevent this issue at Resolving Low-Level Graphics Issues then restart MATLAB.
To share details of this issue with MathWorks technical support,
please include this file with your service request.

The above error references 'this file' which is a hyperlink to the following text:

     at com.jogamp.opengl.awt.GLJPanel.paintComponent(GLJPanel.java:548) at com.mathworks.hg.peer.JavaSceneServerGLJPanel.paintComponent(JavaSceneServerGLJPanel.java:165) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1056) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:889) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1065) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:889) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1065) at com.mathworks.hg.peer.FigureClientProxyPanel.paint(FigureClientProxyPanel.java:89) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:889) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1065) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:889) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1065) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:889) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1065) at javax.swing.JLayeredPane.paint(JLayeredPane.java:586) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:889) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1065) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:889) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1065) at javax.swing.JLayeredPane.paint(JLayeredPane.java:586) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:889) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintToOffscreen(JComponent.java:5217) at javax.swing.BufferStrategyPaintManager.paint(BufferStrategyPaintManager.java:290) at javax.swing.RepaintManager.paint(RepaintManager.java:1272) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1042) at java.awt.GraphicsCallback$PaintCallback.run(GraphicsCallback.java:39) at sun.awt.SunGraphicsCallback.runOneComponent(SunGraphicsCallback.java:79) at sun.awt.SunGraphicsCallback.runComponents(SunGraphicsCallback.java:116) at java.awt.Container.paint(Container.java:1975) at java.awt.Window.paint(Window.java:3904) at javax.swing.RepaintManager$4.run(RepaintManager.java:842) at javax.swing.RepaintManager$4.run(RepaintManager.java:814) at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method) at java.security.ProtectionDomain$JavaSecurityAccessImpl.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:80) at javax.swing.RepaintManager.paintDirtyRegions(RepaintManager.java:814) at javax.swing.RepaintManager.paintDirtyRegions(RepaintManager.java:789) at javax.swing.RepaintManager.prePaintDirtyRegions(RepaintManager.java:738) at javax.swing.RepaintManager.access$1200(RepaintManager.java:64) at javax.swing.RepaintManager$ProcessingRunnable.run(RepaintManager.java:1732) at java.awt.event.InvocationEvent.dispatch(InvocationEvent.java:311) at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEventImpl(EventQueue.java:756) at java.awt.EventQueue.access$500(EventQueue.java:97) at java.awt.EventQueue$3.run(EventQueue.java:709) at java.awt.EventQueue$3.run(EventQueue.java:703) at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method) at java.security.ProtectionDomain$JavaSecurityAccessImpl.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:80) at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(EventQueue.java:726) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(EventDispatchThread.java:201) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(EventDispatchThread.java:116) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(EventDispatchThread.java:105) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:101) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:93) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(EventDispatchThread.java:82) Caused by: com.jogamp.opengl.GLException: No shared device for requested: null at jogamp.opengl.GLDrawableFactoryImpl.createOffscreenDrawable(GLDrawableFactoryImpl.java:405) at com.jogamp.opengl.awt.GLJPanel$OffscreenBackend.initialize(GLJPanel.java:1702) ... 54 more Caused by: com.jogamp.opengl.GLException: No shared device for requested: null at jogamp.opengl.GLDrawableFactoryImpl.createOffscreenDrawable(GLDrawableFactoryImpl.java:405) at com.jogamp.opengl.awt.GLJPanel$OffscreenBackend.initialize(GLJPanel.java:1702) at com.jogamp.opengl.awt.GLJPanel.initializeBackendImpl(GLJPanel.java:1376) at com.jogamp.opengl.awt.GLJPanel.paintComponent(GLJPanel.java:548) at com.mathworks.hg.peer.JavaSceneServerGLJPanel.paintComponent(JavaSceneServerGLJPanel.java:165) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1056) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:889) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1065) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:889) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1065) at com.mathworks.hg.peer.FigureClientProxyPanel.paint(FigureClientProxyPanel.java:89) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:889) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1065) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:889) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1065) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:889) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1065) at javax.swing.JLayeredPane.paint(JLayeredPane.java:586) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:889) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1065) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:889) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1065) at javax.swing.JLayeredPane.paint(JLayeredPane.java:586) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintChildren(JComponent.java:889) at javax.swing.JComponent.paintToOffscreen(JComponent.java:5217) at javax.swing.BufferStrategyPaintManager.paint(BufferStrategyPaintManager.java:290) at javax.swing.RepaintManager.paint(RepaintManager.java:1272) at javax.swing.JComponent.paint(JComponent.java:1042) at java.awt.GraphicsCallback$PaintCallback.run(GraphicsCallback.java:39) at sun.awt.SunGraphicsCallback.runOneComponent(SunGraphicsCallback.java:79) at sun.awt.SunGraphicsCallback.runComponents(SunGraphicsCallback.java:116) at java.awt.Container.paint(Container.java:1975) at java.awt.Window.paint(Window.java:3904) at javax.swing.RepaintManager$4.run(RepaintManager.java:842) at javax.swing.RepaintManager$4.run(RepaintManager.java:814) at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method) at java.security.ProtectionDomain$JavaSecurityAccessImpl.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:80) at javax.swing.RepaintManager.paintDirtyRegions(RepaintManager.java:814) at javax.swing.RepaintManager.paintDirtyRegions(RepaintManager.java:789) at javax.swing.RepaintManager.prePaintDirtyRegions(RepaintManager.java:738) at javax.swing.RepaintManager.access$1200(RepaintManager.java:64) at javax.swing.RepaintManager$ProcessingRunnable.run(RepaintManager.java:1732) at java.awt.event.InvocationEvent.dispatch(InvocationEvent.java:311) at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEventImpl(EventQueue.java:756) at java.awt.EventQueue.access$500(EventQueue.java:97) at java.awt.EventQueue$3.run(EventQueue.java:709) at java.awt.EventQueue$3.run(EventQueue.java:703) at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method) at java.security.ProtectionDomain$JavaSecurityAccessImpl.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:80) at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(EventQueue.java:726) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(EventDispatchThread.java:201) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(EventDispatchThread.java:116) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(EventDispatchThread.java:105) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:101) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:93) at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(EventDispatchThread.java:82)

Answer 1

[Britt Yazel]

Yeah this has to do with hardware rendering, most notably with mesa opengl. I have yet to have my Radeon card work with hardware rendering and MATLAB, even though I have full opengl 4.5 support.

Run this command and restart to sidestep the issue. It's not a fix, but it gets you on your feet:

opengl('save','software')

Answer 2

[Willi Mutschler]

I also ran into this issue on my Dell XPS 13 9360 which neither has a NVIDIA or AMD card, but an on-board intel graphics card.

I filed a bug report with MATHWORKS and they proposed two solutions:

1. Create a file with the name 'java.opts' in the directory where MATLAB is executed (for me this is in '/usr/local/MATLAB/R2020a/bin/glnxa64') with the following line: -Djogl.disable.openglarbcontext=1
2. If this does not work, then the above solution using export MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE=i965 is working.

For me both solve my issue.

[Stefan Zdravkovic]

Thank you very much, your first solution is nice and easy and doesn't change how I run MATLAB!

[Sreejith Thazhathe Veetil]

The first solution worked fine for me.

Thank you :)

[Nicolas]

First solution worked for me too !

Thanks :)

Answer 3

[Willi Mutschler]

Hi,

I am on Ubuntu 20.04 beta and running the nvidia on-demand prime profile, and get the same error. I can solve this (see the Archwiki) by starting matlab from terminal:

export MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE=i965; matlab

Or (additionaly) you can change the EXEC in /usr/share/applications/matlab.desktop to:

Exec=env MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE=i965 matlab -desktop