sudo ./install doesn't start on Linux

I've downloaded zip file of MATLAB R2021b for linux and when i tried to use the command sudo ./install nothing happen, i've tried with sudo sh ./install but nothing. Terminal give me no messages and i don't know what to do but i need matlab on my pc. It seems like the file named install doesn't work, how can i solve?

[Rik]

This issue seems to be specific to R2021b. I have seen a suggested solution in another thread, but it is hard to track down on mobile.

What you can do is to run it as a normal user. You will need chown for the install directory (don't forget to change owner back to root when you're done).

[mat teo]

@Rik this solved it for me , thank you very much

[Joseph Zsombor-Pindera]

@Rik this worked for me too, thanks!

[Piero Mana]

Same problem for me with Matlab 2022a (on Ubuntu 20.04LTS). This is a bug, an installer should work smoothly without requiring the user to go searching for fixes on the internet (unless Matlab wishes people to use Octave instead ;)

Answer 1

[Riccardo Scorretti]

This question has been solved here:

https://fr.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/1461039-on-ubuntu-sudo-won-t-run-the-install-file

In short, it is mandatory to enable root to access the X server:

xhost +SI:localuser:root
sudo ./install

This worked on my PC (Ubuntu 20.04).

Best regards

[Keane Gonzalez]

This worked perfectly.

[usman ali]

it worked on ubuntu 22.04 too

[Tianyu Yang]

Thank you, works indeed for 22.04 : )

Answer 2

[Arthur Mingasson]

Encountered the same issue with 2021b on ubuntu 20.04

• What workded for me was to first ./install it without sudo in my home folder
• sudo mv the full folder into /usr/local/
• And finally create myself the symlink in /usr/bin/.

[Jens Geisler]

Probably a viable and painless solution. Otherwise to make sudo ./install work see here: https://de.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/1463349-ubuntu-the-sudo-install-does-not-work-for-matlab#answer_869355

[Pol Adillon]

can anyone explain how to creat a symlink in /usr/bin/?

Thanks

[Steven Wolf]

I guess this works. This qualifies (in my mind, anyway) as a bug in the installer. It does have a drawback as well. As near as I can tell, you must decide, upon initial installation, what packages/add-ons that you want. If you want to add-in a new package, you'd have to move the installation back to a location that is writable by the user, or entirely re-install matlab.

@Pol Adillon to create a symlink, you should be able to do the usual thing, ln -s <source file> <link location>, so something like, ln -s /usr/local/MATLAB/R2021b/bin/matlab /usr/bin/matlab should create a link to your matlab executable. You probably need sudo privileges to write the link to /usr/bin, so you'll need to append that to the beginning of the link command.

Answer 3

[Tanmay Das]

Hi,

To my understanding, you are not able to launch MATLAB R2021b in your linux terminal. The most likely reason is that you do not have permissions to one or more of the files in the installation folder. A similar question has been answered previously the link to which has been attached below. It might help you resolve your issue.

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/319852-install-command-on-linux-doesn-t-bring-up-installer?s_tid=answers_rc1-1_p1_Topic

[Niladri Sekhar Mandal]

I could not install 2021b, but could install 2020b without any setting changes. It seems there is a bug in the installer.

Answer 4

[David Wilby]

I'm also having this issue on ubuntu linux 18.04 with R2021b. This seems like quite a critical failure for Linux users. Are there any plans to fix this bug in the installer?

[Joseph Zsombor-Pindera]

It's broken for me too!

[Péter Fiala]

The same issue with me

[Andrew Sinnott]

I'm having the same issue

[Robert Kirkby]

Same problem with R2021b on Kubuntu 20.10:

./install runs fine but obviously can't install to /usr/local/ as don't have access privelidges

sudo ./install the gui never appears (nothing happens, the command line claims to be running the installer when I quit it)

(can install R2021a just fine)

[Andrew Sinnott]

Yep 2021a works fine for me, but even with privileges enabled 2021b won't install

Answer 5

[Oren Schneorson]

Change permissions on the MATLAB folder:

sudo chmod a+rwx /usr/local/MATLAB

After install change it back if you so wish.

Answer 6

[Daniel Tholen]

None of the advise presented in these (and similar threads) worked for me.

What did work is the excellent mpm tool on github (i.e. not using the installer at all), but it requires some manual configuration.

I'll add that it is a bit sad that the Matlab installer thinks it is so good, it doesn't need to report errors but just hangs and even ignores a TERM signal. Doesn't insipre confidence!