MATLAB: Is MATLAB Help Browser (and other browser based MATLAB Tools) not opening on Linux

Question

I am working on a Linux machine and entered the "doc" command in the Command Window.

I received the following error in MATLAB:

Exception in thread "XPCOMMessageLoop" java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: /usr/local/matlab/r2017b/sys/jxbrowser/glnxa64/xulrunner/xulrunner-linux-64/libxul.so: /usr/lib/libharfbuzz.so.0: undefined symbol: FT_Get_Var_Blend_Coordinates

at java.lang.ClassLoader$NativeLibrary.load(Native Method)

at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadLibrary0(ClassLoader.java:1941)

at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadLibrary(ClassLoader.java:1824)

at java.lang.Runtime.load0(Runtime.java:809)

at java.lang.System.load(System.java:1086)

at com.teamdev.jxbrowser.gecko.xpcom.impl.linux.LinuxMozillaToolkit.c(Unknown Source)

at com.teamdev.jxbrowser.gecko.xpcom.impl.linux.LinuxMozillaToolkit.a(Unknown Source)

at com.teamdev.jxbrowser.gecko.xpcom.MozillaToolkit.initialize(Unknown Source)

at com.teamdev.jxbrowser.gecko.xpcom.AppShellXPCOMThread$b.run(Unknown Source)

Is there a way to diagnose this and get the Documentation to work?

Answer 1

This is one example of a library incompatibility between the MATLAB application and libraries that could be a part of your operating system. This can often be resolved by setting aside MATLAB's version of the library.

Based on the error, the symbol "FT_Get_Var_Blend_Coordinates" is undefined. Please reference the answer of the following MATLAB Answers post for information regarding which library to change for this symbol.

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/364551-why-is-matlab-unable-to-run-the-matlabwindow-application-on-linux

For the above post, the symbol and library causing this issue were exposed using the "MATLABWindow" command. The steps to resolve the issue are the same.