Why do I get the error "You do not have permission to open the app InstallForMacOSX." when installing MATLAB on Apple Silicon Macs?

Why, when trying to install MATLAB R2020b on Apple Silicon machines, does running the MATLAB installer generate this error:

 

Further, if the install is attempted from the terminal, an error similar to this is generated:

line 90: installer_1925/bin/maci64/InstallForMacOSX: Bad CPU type in executable

find: installer_1925: No such file or directory

find: installer_1925/archives: No such file or directory

find: installer_1925/archives: No such file or directory

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

Running x86-based applications like MATLAB and its installer on the new Apple Silicon Macs requires Apple's Rosetta 2 emulation software to be installed first.  If it has not been previously installed, running the MATLAB R2020b installer will generate the above permissions error. 

To install Apple's Rosetta 2 software, please open a Terminal window (found in Utilities)  and run the following instruction:

sudo /usr/sbin/softwareupdate --install-rosetta

Once the Rosetta 2 installation has completed, you will be able to run the MATLAB installer in the normal way.