Why am I unable to launch App Designer, Simulink Start Page, and the MATLABWindow process in Linux?

After launching MATLAB and clicking on the Simulink button from the menu, the "initializing" popup window never resolves or errors out.  I have no problem starting MATLAB.  I am also unable to launch App Designer.  However, I am able to manually load a Simulink example.

In addition, I am not able to start the MATLABWindow process.  I executed the following commands:

>> cd(matlabroot)
>> !./bin/glnxa64/MATLABWindow --disable-gpu

Upon doing so, no window associated with the MATLABWindow process was spawned.  However, I did observe the following output displayed in the MATLAB Command Window:

[0625/182333:ERROR:browser_main_loop.cc(231)] Running without the SUID sandbox! See https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/master/docs/linux_suid_sandbox_development.md for more information on developing with the sandbox on.
Xlib: extension "RANDR" missing on display ":426".
[0625/182334:WARNING:audio_manager.cc(297)] Multiple instances of AudioManager detected
[0625/182334:WARNING:audio_manager.cc(271)] Multiple instances of AudioManager detected
Xlib: extension "RANDR" missing on display ":426".
/u/home/app/matlab/R2017a/bin/glnxa64/MATLABWindow --disable-gpu: symbol lookup error: /u/home/app/matlab/R2017a/bin/glnxa64/MATLABWindow --disable-gpu: undefined symbol: gdk_screen_get_primary_monitor

I also observed the same output displayed on another machine experience this issue, except with the last line being the following instead:

/u/home/app/matlab/R2017a/bin/glnxa64/MATLABWindow --disable-gpu: symbol lookup error: /u/home/app/matlab/R2017a/bin/glnxa64/MATLABWindow --disable-gpu: undefined symbol: gdk_window_get_display

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

The "symbol lookup error" in the last line of the output for each of the machines that experiences this issue indicate that the underlying cause is a result of outdated, incomplete, multiple, and/or corrupted installations of the GTK/GDK libraries.  Copied below are the lines of the output that are key to this diagnosis:

/u/home/app/matlab/R2017a/bin/glnxa64/MATLABWindow --disable-gpu: symbol lookup error: /u/home/app/matlab/R2017a/bin/glnxa64/MATLABWindow --disable-gpu: undefined symbol: gdk_screen_get_primary_monitor/u/home/app/matlab/R2017a/bin/glnxa64/MATLABWindow --disable-gpu: symbol lookup error: /u/home/app/matlab/R2017a/bin/glnxa64/MATLABWindow --disable-gpu: undefined symbol: gdk_window_get_display

GDK/GTK are system libraries for windowing and graphics, and MATLAB requires and relies on the GTK/GDK version installed on the machine to have the expected library functions/files.  Given that GTK/GDK are third-party libraries that are external to MATLAB, we unfortunately do not have any control over these library functions/components.  Our recommendation is to consult with your IT/system administrator, the support resources for your Linux distribution (e.g. Red Hat's technical support department), and/or the developers of the GTK/GDK libraries regarding the missing library symbols/functions on the machines experiencing this issue.

For your reference, here are some more details about the specific missing symbols here, which are part of the GDK/GTK library

1) For one of the machines, the undefined symbol "gdk_screen_get_primary_monitor" is part of the GdkScreen set of APIs.

2) For the other machine, the undefined symbol "gdk_window_get_display" is part of the Windows set of APIs.

[Mikhail]

Why don't MathWorks simply document a list of libraries required by MATLAB?