Why do I get "-nodesktop: command not found" error

Hello,

I'm trying to run Matlab in a headless form from a Linux command line:

matlab -nodesktop -r myscript.m,quit

I get "-nodesktop: command not found" error. My Matlab version is R2013a. Is it something in my environment that needs to be set up?

Thank you.

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

You are not invoking MATLAB directly from its real binary: you are invoking a script that is setting up environment variables and then running MATLAB. But that script might be interfering with the parsing of the command line.

At the command line, you can investigate by starting with

which matlab
alias matlab

[Olga Dimov]

It's probably that. I was able to find "matlab" file by using "which" command, but the file doesn't have any extension and I don't have permissions to open it to examine it. But assuming it's a script and not the real binary, how can I get the binary file (executable)? I was told I need to compile Matlab in order to run it in a headless form. Are there any instructions on how to compile Matlab? Thank you.

[Walter Roberson]

If you

ls -l $(which matlab)

then do the permissions show up with "other" having r-x or just --x ? If it is r-x then you can read the contents, such as with

file $(which matlab)

If the permissions are --x then it is probably an executable.

"I was told I need to compile Matlab in order to run it in a headless form."

MATLAB can be run headless by passing in -nodesktop or -nodesktop -nojvm, but those do require that MATLAB be installed (and licensed) on the machine. Compiling would be used to produce an executable that could run on a machine that had no MATLAB license.

Also, I suspect the Linux versions can still run under X, such as with ssh -X or ssh -Y into the remote machine.

Answer 2

[Jan]

I assume, Matlab cannot find "myscript.m". Are you sure it is in the path? Try

matlab -nodesktop -r "beep,quit"

[Olga Dimov]

No it's not that. The file "myscript.m" is right in the directory that I'm running Matlab from.