starting docker mathworks/matlab:r2023b from Python fails with licensing issue while running matlab from the docker's shell runs well

I am using docker built from mathworks/matlab:r2023b and am running the following Python code to start the engine.

self.matlab_engine: MatlabEngine = matlab.engine.start_matlab()

This fails to start Matlab with error:

matlab.engine.EngineError: Unable to launch MVM server: License Error: Licensing shutdown

.

    self.matlab_engine: MatlabEngine = matlab.engine.start_matlab() 
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/dist-packages/matlab/engine/__init__.py", line 128, in start_matlab
    eng = future.result()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/dist-packages/matlab/engine/futureresult.py", line 67, in result
    return self.__future.result(timeout)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.10/dist-packages/matlab/engine/matlabfuture.py", line 87, in result
    handle = pythonengine.getMATLAB(self._future)
matlab.engine.EngineError: Unable to launch MVM server: License Error: Licensing shutdown

env. variable is set during docker run with

-e MLM_LICENSE_FILE=1234@lic_server.abc.company.com

If I run Matlab directly from the command line is works fine.

Any idea what is missing in my enviironment?

Answer 1

[Prabhakar]

Hi Shlomi

I suspect that the environment variable "MLM_LICENSE_FILE" is not being honored in the mathworks/matlab:r2023b container due to the presence of this file /opt/matlab/R2023b/licenses/license_info.xml

This is a known issue, and we are actively working towards releasing a newer version of the container image which should fix it for you.

In the mean time, could you try the following to work around the issue:

MatlabEngine = matlab.engine.start_matlab('-licmode file')

[Shlomi]

Thanks Prabhakar

This solved the issue.

[William Beresford]

Thanks very much for this @Prabhakar!

Do you have an ETA for the fix?

[Prabhakar]

@William Beresford,

The mathworks/matlab:r2023b containers have already been updated on DockerHub to include the fix to this issue.

Shown below are the steps I took to verify that this works now:

$ docker run -it --rm -e MLM_LICENSE_FILE=1234@lic_server.abc.company.com --entrypoint /bin/bash mathworks/matlab:r2023b
matlab@0e3b71b68603:~/Documents/MATLAB$ export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/matlab/R2023b/bin/glnxa64
matlab@0e3b71b68603:~/Documents/MATLAB$ python -m pip install matlabengine
Defaulting to user installation because normal site-packages is not writeable
Collecting matlabengine
  Downloading matlabengine-23.2.1.tar.gz (18 kB)
  Installing build dependencies ... done
  Getting requirements to build wheel ... done
  Preparing metadata (pyproject.toml) ... done
Building wheels for collected packages: matlabengine
  Building wheel for matlabengine (pyproject.toml) ... done
  Created wheel for matlabengine: filename=matlabengine-23.2.1-py3-none-any.whl size=16895 sha256=6759b5317c2da7fc8e6c65124849bdaeda3b1ac7c0e046585b7866c5bb5410e3
  Stored in directory: /home/matlab/.cache/pip/wheels/a8/33/f3/84a8299d4675c04ea1a01073f8e347e6c8498ad8789201e220
Successfully built matlabengine
Installing collected packages: matlabengine
Successfully installed matlabengine-23.2.1
matlab@0e3b71b68603:~/Documents/MATLAB$ python 
Python 3.10.12 (main, Jun 11 2023, 05:26:28) [GCC 11.4.0] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import matlab.engine
>>> eng = matlab.engine.start_matlab()
>>> eng.sqrt(4.0)
2.0
>>> 

Answer 2

[Prabhakar]

mathworks/matlab:r2023b has been updated to include the fix to this issue.

Verify it by:

Pulling the latest image from dockerhub:

docker pull mathworks/matlab:r2023b

Run container with MLM_LICENSE_FILE specified, and run MATLAB Engine for Python:

$ docker run -it --rm -e MLM_LICENSE_FILE=1234@lic_server.abc.company.com --entrypoint /bin/bash mathworks/matlab:r2023b
matlab@0e3b71b68603:~/Documents/MATLAB$ export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/matlab/R2023b/bin/glnxa64
matlab@0e3b71b68603:~/Documents/MATLAB$ python -m pip install matlabengine
Defaulting to user installation because normal site-packages is not writeable
Collecting matlabengine
  Downloading matlabengine-23.2.1.tar.gz (18 kB)
  Installing build dependencies ... done
  Getting requirements to build wheel ... done
  Preparing metadata (pyproject.toml) ... done
Building wheels for collected packages: matlabengine
  Building wheel for matlabengine (pyproject.toml) ... done
  Created wheel for matlabengine: filename=matlabengine-23.2.1-py3-none-any.whl size=16895 sha256=6759b5317c2da7fc8e6c65124849bdaeda3b1ac7c0e046585b7866c5bb5410e3
  Stored in directory: /home/matlab/.cache/pip/wheels/a8/33/f3/84a8299d4675c04ea1a01073f8e347e6c8498ad8789201e220
Successfully built matlabengine
Installing collected packages: matlabengine
Successfully installed matlabengine-23.2.1
matlab@0e3b71b68603:~/Documents/MATLAB$ python 
Python 3.10.12 (main, Jun 11 2023, 05:26:28) [GCC 11.4.0] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import matlab.engine
>>> eng = matlab.engine.start_matlab()
>>> eng.sqrt(4.0)
2.0
>>> 

[William Beresford]

Great, thanks. I have updated our custom image to use the latest 2023b image as the base image and it now works well.