MATLAB: Am I unable to launch MATLAB R2008a on the Mac from the MATLAB alias

MATLAB

When starting MATLAB from anything other than the StartMATLAB.smat file or the StartMATLABSettings.app, I get a crash message from the OS handler.
 Process:         MATLAB [956]
 Path:            /Applications/MATLAB_R2008a/bin/maci/MATLAB.app/Contents/MacOS/MATLAB
 Identifier:      com.mathworks.matlab
 Version:         ??? (???)
 Code Type:       X86 (Native)
 Parent Process:  launchd [132]
 Date/Time:       2008-01-29 19:18:03.388 +0100
 OS Version:      Mac OS X 10.5.1 (9B18)
 Report Version:  6
 Exception Type:  EXC_BREAKPOINT (SIGTRAP)
 Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000000
 Crashed Thread:  0
 Dyld Error Message:
   Library not loaded: /private/var/automount/mathworks/BLR/devel/bat/Amake/build/3p/install/51724/maci/hdf5/lib/libhdf5.0.dylib
   Referenced from: /Applications/MATLAB_R2008a/bin/maci/MATLAB.app/Contents/MacOS/libmat.dylib
   Reason: image not found
How do I start MATLAB R2008a?

Best Answer

This error on startup is related to changes in how MATLAB starts in R2008a. MATLAB R2008a starts by utilizing the StartMATLABSettings.app which is located in MATLAB's ../bin/maci folder. StartMATLABSettings provides several options to start MATLAB including starting MATLAB in Terminal. To start MATLAB in the traditional sense, there is also a StartMATLAB.smat file located in the bin\maci folder as well. This file is associated with StartMATLABSettings.app and tells the application to start MATLAB in Desktop mode through X11.
Due to these changes to the MATLAB startup, you will be unable to start MATLAB using the aliases to MATLAB that are created during the installation. To add an alias to the Dock or Desktop, you will need to create an alias to the StartMATLABSettings.app. Alternatively, you can drag the StartMATLAB.smat file to the Document area of the Dock (by the trash). This will allow you to start MATLAB using the StartMATLAB.smat in the Dock.
NOTE: As of MATLAB R2008b, MATLAB is now an application bundle and can be started with an alias pointing to /Applications/MATLAB_R2008b
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