Instructions for installing Matlab on Linux

Last Update 2020-07-20 by Adam Lu

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• Download the license file from UVA Software (see link from this page) and save it in a secure location (e.g., \\128.143.15.11\adamX\Settings_Matlab\Installation\UVA_license.lic).

• Download the latest version of MATLAB.

• Extract files and install MATLAB:

  • Extract the files into a directory.

  • Change into that directory and type the command:

    sudo ./install
    

  • Log in to a Mathworks account associated with a UVA email address.

  • Select the UVA’s Academic - Total Headcount license.

  • Set the installation folder to be /usr/local/MATLAB/R20XXx, where R20XXx (e.g. R2020a) is the version number (this should already be the default).

  • Select all toolboxes to install by checking the box on the top left corner.

  • Check Create symbolic links to MATLAB scripts and keep /usr/local/bin as the default.

  • At the end of installation, activate MATLAB with the saved license file (not with your own Mathworks account).

    • If you activated incorrectly, re-activate by running the script /usr/local/MATLAB/R20XXx/bin/activate_matlab.sh

• Activate MATLAB for all other users

  • Option 1:

    • For each user, create the directory ~/.matlab/R20XXx_licenses/:

      # If the current user
      mkdir ~/.matlab/R20XXx_licenses/
            
      # If not the current user
      mkdir /home/${user}/.matlab/R20XXx_licenses/
      

    • Copy the license file to the newly created directory:

      # Copy the license file
      cp -p ~/Settings_Matlab/Installation/UVA_license.lic ~/.matlab/R20XXx_licenses/
      

  • Option 2: For MATLAB R2020, apply one of the following commands:

    # Set up home directories for all users based on a user's template (e.g., Adam)
    setup_all_homedirs adam
        
    # Set up home directory for a the current user based on a user's template (e.g., Adam)
    setup_homedirs adam
        
    # Set up home directory for a specific user (e.g., Mark) based on a user's template (e.g., Adam)
    setup_homedirs adam mark
        
    # Set up settings files (including the R2020a license file) for the current user  based on a user's template (e.g., Adam)
    setup_dotfiles adam
        
    # Set up settings files (including the R2020a license file) for a specific user (e.g., Mark) based on a user's template (e.g., Adam)
    setup_dotfiles adam mark
    

• Download the Linux Matlab support tools

  • With this command, Matlab will show up in the start up menu under Development (XFCE)

    sudo apt-get install matlab-support
    

  • Create a desktop icon: Change the modifications of the file /usr/share/applications/matlab.desktop to 775, then copy it to the home directory Desktop folder

    cp -p /usr/share/applications/matlab.desktop /home/adam/Desktop
    

• Exclude extraneous libraries

  • Exclude libraries that interfere with the MATLAB Window application (for the Add-ons Manager, etc.) on Linux

    # Change the directory to the library folder
    cd /usr/local/MATLAB/R2020a/cefclient/sys/os/glnxa64
        
    # Make a subdirectory called 'exclude'
    sudo mkdir exclude
        
    # Move libglib-2.0.so libraries to the 'exclude' folder
    sudo mv libglib-2.0.so* exclude/