Arch Linux User Repository

I would like to contribute this snippet that warns the user if the installer (silently) fails. This is detected by the $srcdir/build directory being empty after running the installer:

diff --git a/PKGBUILD b/PKGBUILD
index 50cad05..98adb44 100644
--- a/PKGBUILD
+++ b/PKGBUILD
@@ -49,6 +49,15 @@ build() {
     # -inputFile makes the installation non-interactive.
     "$srcdir/matlab/install" -inputFile "$srcdir/matlab/installer_input.txt"

+    # if it fails, output dir will be empty and there will be a log entry
+    if [ `ls "$srcdir/build" | wc -l` -eq '0' ]; then
+        error "MATLAB installer failed; check install.log:\n"
+        tail "$srcdir/../install.log"
+        echo ""
+        error "^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^"
+        exit 1
+    fi
+
     echo "  -> Generating desktop files..."
     gendesk -f -n \
         --pkgname 'matlab' \

I have updated the PKGBUILD to the latest R2022 point release. In order to comply with the Arch package guidelines, the installation directory is no more /usr/local, but /opt. This required a change in python-matlabengine, because by default the installation script looks for the MATLAB root into /usr/local, so now the MATLAB root is exported via $LD_LIBRARY_PATH (only on this occasion, it won't touch your $LD_LIBRARY_PATH).

/opt/MATLAB/R2022b has temporarily gained 777 permissions in order to install additional toolboxes. Unfortunately I am not able to do so, because during the installation I get "Something unexpected occurred". If you are able to install them, please contact me. I would like to resolve this issue once and for all.

If you have any issue, please let me know.

@telans thanks, fixed

The .desktop file should have the -desktop argument otherwise Matlab just opens a shell.

See matlab -help: "Allow the MATLAB desktop to be started by a process without a controlling terminal. This is usually a required command line argument when attempting to start MATLAB from a window manager menu or desktop icon."

@tsetsee_yugi you need to have in the PKGBUILD directory the files listed in Sources before running makepkg. If you haven't already done so, please read the installation instructions in the README.

Optional dependencies for matlab-meta cuda [installed] java-runtime: Java support [installed] zsh [installed] openal: for Orbisnap [installed] openssl-1.0: needed by MATLAB Client for MATLAB Production Server [installed] python2: needed by MATLAB Client for MATLAB Production Server ==> Making package: matlab 9.13.0.2049777-3 (Fri 23 Dec 2022 03:24:52 PM +08) ==> Retrieving sources... ==> ERROR: matlab.tar was not found in the build directory and is not a URL. error: failed to download sources for 'matlab-9.13.0.2049777-3': error: packages failed to build: matlab-9.13.0.2049777-3

If you have the error: "Unable to open this file in the current system configuration", the error can be fixed by setting aside the libfreetype.so.6 in <matlab_root>/bin/glnxa64/. You may run the following command:

cd <matlab_root>/bin/glnxa64/ mv libfreetype.so.6 libfreetype.so.6.old

Last current version (R2022b) may not work correctly, so you can use R2022a instead. Also, for issues like: "Unable to launch the MATLABWindow application. The exit code was: 127" or "symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/libharfbuzz.so.0: undefined symbol: FT_Get_Transform" , follow this: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/MATLAB#Unable_to_launch_the_MATLABWindow_application.

If you want to know what problems gave me R2022b, other than the "classic" symbol lookup error that is fixable, it gave to me:

"$ ./matlab MATLAB is selecting SOFTWARE OPENGL rendering. [allexj@Archy bin]$ terminate called after throwing an instance of 'std::runtime_error' what(): Failed to launch web window with error: Unable to launch the MATLABWindow application. The exit code was: 1 /home/allexj/Desktop/matlab/bin/glnxa64/MathWorksProductAuthorizer.sh: line 14: 292290 Aborted (core dumped) $BINDIR/MathWorksProductAuthorizer $@"

and "$ ./glnxa64/MATLABWindow ./glnxa64/MATLABWindow: /home/allexj/Desktop/matlab/bin/glnxa64/libtiff.so.5: version `LIBTIFF_4.0' not found (required by /usr/lib/libgdk_pixbuf-2.0.so.0)"

@scondon the -r flag removes the dependencies you installed to build the package. I was talking about the -R flag, which repackages without rebuilding: if you use that flag, you don't run the installer, the $srcdir/build directory is never created, so mv can't find the FreeType files. I don't think it's a PKGBUILD issue nor a tar one, at least following the instructions on the README or running the install.sh script on a clean directory with the required files only. Other than telling you to watch what makepkg does step by step, I don't know what else to say at the moment, I'm sorry.

Maybe we can talk on a GitHub issue, so that it's public, and then we post here what we have found. I won't be able to respond instantaneously, though.