Segmentation Fault or "undefined symbol" error when using MATLAB Engine with RHEL or CentOS Linux

When I run this simple script using MATLAB Engine for Python on RHEL (or Centos) Linux, I get a Segmentation Fault. Sometimes, instead of a Segmentation fault, I get the following type of error: "libstdc++.so.6: undefined symbol: __cxa_thread_atexit_impl". These issues occur on the "import matlab.engine()" command.

import matlab.engine 
eng=matlab.engine.start_matlab() 
eng.sqrt(4.)

How can I fix these issues when using MATLAB Engine with RHEL 7 (or Centos 7) Linux?

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

There can be an incompatibility of the C runtime for MATLAB Engine on some RedHat and CentOS Linux operating systems. If that is the case, forcing Python Engine to load the shim library will fix the issue. Follow the steps below to preload the shim library.

On the Linux machine:

Find the path to the MATLAB root folder. This path can be displayed by typing the following command in the MATLAB Command Window.

>> matlabroot

Substitute this path for matlabroot  in the commands below.

In a Linux terminal, determine the name of the shim library

ls matlabroot/bin/glnxa64/glibc-*

Determine the name of the shim library

ls matlabroot/bin/glnxa64/glibc-*

Determine which type of terminal is being used.

echo $0

For a csh/tcsh terminal, execute the following command (this example assumes 2.17 version of the shim library)

setenv LD_PRELOAD matlabroot/bin/glnxa64/glibc-2.17_shim.so

For a bash terminal, execute the following command.

export LD_PRELOAD=matlabroot/bin/glnxa64/glibc-2.17_shim.so

Run the Python code in the same terminal.