MATLAB not working on Ubuntu 16.04

Question

I've installed MATLAB for MOOC of Coursera in my laptop running Ubuntu 16.04. The installation route is /usr/local/MATLAB. All the installation process is ok, but after I go and try to run it using the command matlab on the terminal, it gives me this window:

And this Error Details:

MATLAB crash file:/home/carlosab1802/matlab_crash_dump.15687-1:


------------------------------------------------------------------------
       Segmentation violation detected at Sun Jul 31 12:49:35 2016
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Configuration:
  Crash Decoding      : Disabled
  Crash Mode          : continue (default)
  Current Graphics Driver: Unknown hardware 
  Current Visual      : 0x63 (class 4, depth 24)
  Default Encoding    : UTF-8
  GNU C Library       : 2.23 stable
  Host Name           : carlosab1802
  MATLAB Architecture : glnxa64
  MATLAB Root         : /usr/local/MATLAB/R2016a
  MATLAB Version      : 9.0.0.341360 (R2016a)
  OpenGL              : hardware
  Operating System    : Linux 4.4.0-31-generic #50-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jul 13    00:07:12 UTC 2016 x86_64
  Processor ID        : x86 Family 6 Model 60 Stepping 3, GenuineIntel
  Virtual Machine     : Java 1.7.0_60-b19 with Oracle Corporation Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM mixed mode
  Window System       : The X.Org Foundation (11803000), display :0
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Thank you for your help.

I don't know how to fix it, I've searched a lot and people always say "install matlab-support", I've done it but it still does not work.

Answer 1

This is a common error for Matlab on Ubuntu 15.06 and higher, and on Ubuntu derivated platforms like Kubuntu. I had this error myself also, while using Kubuntu 15. There is a solution on the forum of Mathworks, which I will copy for you here. With this solution I was able to solve the issue:

Summary

MATLAB crashes during startup on Ubuntu 15.04 and newer, as well as distributions derived from those versions

Description

When using Ubuntu Linux distributions 15.04 and newer, as well as distributions derived from those versions, MATLAB can crash during startup.

This crash occurs because these releases include a newer version of libstdc++.so.6 than the version shipped with MATLAB (version 6.0.17). When MATLAB loads version 6.0.17 first, the OS reaches an incompatibility that causes MATLAB to crash.

Workaround

You can force MATLAB to load the newer version of the library provided by the operating system, by following these instructions:

Identify the location where MATLAB is installed Navigate to the sys/os/glnxa64 directory within this installation folder Rename libstdc++.so.6 library to libstdc++.so.6.old We have done limited testing with version 20 of libstdc++.so.6. If you experience problems with MATLAB when using this version, please contact MathWorks technical support.

Original post: https://www.mathworks.com/support/bugreports/1297894