Quick instructions for Ubuntu 12.04 / 13.04

I've been succesful installing Matlab 2010 on Ubuntu 12.04 (confirmed this works for 13.04 too) just by running:

cp /afs/inf.ed.ac.uk/pkgs/rpms/os/sl6_64/inf/matlab-7.11.1-1.inf.x86_64.rpm .

You might need to install alien:

sudo apt-get install alien

Then install (these take a while to run):

sudo alien -k matlab-7.11.1-1.inf.x86_64.rpm

sudo dpkg -i matlab_7.11.1-1.inf_amd64.deb

the binary file to run was installed in

/opt/matlab-7.11.1/bin/matlab

I got an error message at this point in Ubuntu 13.04, fixed with

sudo ln -s /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc-2.17.so /lib64/libc.so.6

and in 12.04 64-bit:

sudo ln -s /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc-2.15.so /lib64/libc.so.6

probably in 32-bit you would need to run:

sudo ln -s /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libc-2.15.so /lib/libc.so.6

the license and seems correctly configured to our servers.

If you want to add the MATLAB binaries to the path, you may also need to modify:

~/.profile

to include

export PATH={path to Matlab bin without a trailing slash}:$PATH

for example the default install would need:

export PATH=$PATH:/opt/matlab-7.11.1/bin

Then try running

. ~/.profile

If that does not work then try logging out and in again.

Creating a launcher

To create a launcher for MATLAB, create a file on called matlab.desktop at the desired location with the following contents (assuming you've set up the path to the MATLAB binaries as explained above):

#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Icon[en_GB]=gnome-panel-launcher
Name[en_GB]=MATLAB R2010b
Exec=matlab -desktop
Comment[en_GB]=MATLAB launcher
Name=MATLAB R2010b
Comment=MATLAB launcher
Icon=/usr/share/icons/matlab.png

and then run the following in a terminal to download the icon for the launcher from Wikimedia Commons (if you don't want an icon, skip this step and remove the icon line from the launcher contents)

sudo wget http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Matlab_Logo.png -O /usr/share/icons/matlab.png

Longer instructions for Ubuntu 11.04 / 11.10 / 12.04

If that doesn't work, you may have to follow these instructions:

This is the process I followed to install Matlab 2010b on Ubuntu 11.04 (updates for Matlab 2010bSP1 on 11.10 and 12.04)

First extract the appropriate archive (either 64bit (glnxa64) or 32bit (glnx86) depending on which you installed ) onto your HDD. Then copy the contents of the CD over that, this gets the appropriate JRE into the install.

create a blank .lic file somewhere on your HDD

goto the directory in the terminal and run:

sudo ./install

enter your password

Install "manually without the internet"

Accept the license agreement

Enter the file installation key provided by support

Choose either typical or custom installation, if you do go custom do not install the license manager

Select the .lic file you created for the license file path

You might get some error messages about the license file, just ignore these

You now need to add the license to the environmental variables this is done by adding

MLM_LICENSE_FILE=<path provided by support>

to

/etc/environment

Then run the following command in 11.04:

For 64 bit:

sudo ln -s /lib64/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc-2.13.so /lib64/libc.so.6

For 32 bit:

sudo ln -s /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libc-2.13.so /lib/libc.so.6

or for 11.10:

For 64 bit:

sudo ln -s /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc-2.13.so /lib64/libc.so.6

For 32 bit (untested, but I assume this would be the case):

sudo ln -s /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libc-2.13.so /lib/libc.so.6

or for 12.04:

For 64 bit:

sudo ln -s /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc-2.15.so /lib64/libc.so.6

For 32 bit (untested, but I assume this would be the case):

sudo ln -s /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libc-2.15.so /lib/libc.so.6

In 11.10 and 12.04 you will also need to modify:

~/.profile

to include

export PATH={path to Matlab bin without a trailing slash}:$PATH

for example the default install would need:

export PATH=/usr/local/MATLAB/R2010bSP1/bin:$PATH

Try running

. ~/.profile

If that does not work then restart

Matlab is run from the terminal by typing

matlab

-- DavidBraude - 05 Aug 2011