Why do I get a "java.lang​.IllegalAr​gumentExce​ption" error message when starting MATLAB on OS X?

When I start MATLAB, I get the following error:

 Warning: MATLAB Toolbox Path Cache is out of date and is not being used. 

 Type 'help toolbox_path_cache' for more info 

 java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: <http://java.sun.com/xml/jaxp/properties/schemaSource> 

 at org.apache.xerces.jaxp.DocumentBuilderFactoryImpl.setAttribute(DocumentBuilderFactoryImpl.java:118) 

 at com.mathworks.xml.XMLValidator.validateFile(XMLValidator.java:54) 

 at com.mathworks.mlwidgets.util.productinfo.Product.getItems(Product.java:324) 

 at com.mathworks.mlwidgets.util.productinfo.ProductInfoUtils.pathChanged(ProductInfoUtils.java:221) 

 at com.mathworks.mlwidgets.util.productinfo.ProductInfoUtils.<init>(ProductInfoUtils.java:64) 

 at com.mathworks.mlwidgets.util.productinfo.ProductInfoUtils.getAllProductsInfo(ProductInfoUtils.java:835) 

 at com.mathworks.mlwidgets.util.productinfo.ProductInfoUtils.<clinit>(ProductInfoUtils.java:50) 

 at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method) 

 at java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:164) 

 at com.mathworks.mde.desk.StartupClassLoader.callClassForName(StartupClassLoader.java:304) 

 at com.mathworks.mde.desk.StartupClassLoader.access$000(StartupClassLoader.java:27) 

 at com.mathworks.mde.desk.StartupClassLoader$LoadInfo.<init>(StartupClassLoader.java:80) 

 at com.mathworks.mde.desk.StartupClassLoader.addLoadInfo(StartupClassLoader.java:219) 

 at com.mathworks.mde.desk.StartupClassLoader.createLoadInfos(StartupClassLoader.java:195) 

 at com.mathworks.mde.desk.StartupClassLoader.access$500(StartupClassLoader.java:27) 

 at com.mathworks.mde.desk.StartupClassLoader$1$1.run(StartupClassLoader.java:147) 

 at java.util.TimerThread.mainLoop(Timer.java:512) 

 at java.util.TimerThread.run(Timer.java:462) 

 Exception in thread "Timer-2" java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError 

 at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method) 

 at java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:164) 

 [snip]

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

This is not a bug, but a system conflict.

The solution is to delete the xerces.jar file in /Library/Java/Extensions.