libGL error unable to load driver in Ubuntu 16.04 while running Matlab R2013b

I was trying to run a m-file on R2013b in Ubuntu 16.04. But i got the error and Matlab just hung:

libGL error: unable to load driver: r600_dri.so
libGL error: driver pointer missing
libGL error: failed to load driver: r600
libGL error: unable to load driver: swrast_dri.so
libGL error: failed to load driver: swrast

The m-file tries to draw 3D plots of point clouds after reading ply files and processing them. My Matlab IDE completely froze and i had to use xkill to close it as nothing else worked.

The same code works normally in Windows without any extra configuration. By adding breakpoints and running one by one line, i found that the Matlab's plot3() function is giving trouble. I have previously done 2D plots using plot() function and it worked seamlessly in Ubuntu matlab. Both the files r600_dri.so and swrast_dri.so are in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri.

What is the purpose of these shared object files? Why plot() does not give error and plot3() does? What does libGL error mean? And how to resolve it?

There are other places that try to address similar problems but they are in different context and difficult for me to extrapolate for my purposes. I would like an answer specific to my problem.

Most unexpectedly, i have also noted that this problem does not happen in R2016a because MATLAB selects its own graphics rendering engine as software opengl and sets it up automatically for its purpose.

Answer 1

[Samarth Shah]

Note - According to MathWorks' System Requirement and Availability document, Ubuntu 16.04 is not fully tested with any versions of MATLAB, so it is not recommended to use Ubuntu 16.04 with MATLAB.

Also, this question is similar to this question

For reference: r600 is the name of the Hardware driver provided by AMD Radeon. The Radeon driver is already pre-installed on Ubuntu. The r600 driver used for Hardware OpenGL. While swrast driver is just used in Software OpenGL.

As for your issue:

• plot3() does 3-D rendering, and plot() does 2-D rendering.
• MATLAB is shipped with a version of "libstdc++" (a system standard library) to ensure that there is a minimum amount of functionality in the library to support MATLAB
• This is done by inserting the location of our "libstdc++" in the library search path before the system version’s location.
• The issue arises when we pull in libraries that we haven’t built (graphics drivers being one of them), that rely on a version of "libstdc++" that is a newer version than the one we ship. In all likelihood, the graphics driver has expectations of entry points and functionality that may not exist in our older version of "libstdc++".

Potential workaround:

If this situation occurs, rename the file found at " $MATLAB_ROOT$/sys/os/glnxa64/libstdc++.so.6" to "libstdc++.so.6.old", restart MATLAB, this forces MATLAB to use the OS library.

Where,

$MATLABROOT can be found out by typing in the command "matlabroot" in your MATLAB Command Window.

[Saurabh Kataria]

your solution of renaming the libstdc++.so.6 worked!

[Felix Leditzky]

Worked for me (Xubuntu 16.10 and Matlab R2017a) as well, thanks!

[Balz Maag]

Also works for me: Kubuntu 16.10, MATLAB R2016b

[Axel Andersson]

Worked for me: Ubuntu 17.10, MATLAB R2017b

[Oleg Davydov]

worked for me, too: intel driver i965, opensuse Leap 15.0, MATLAB R2017b

[William Chamberlain]

This is similar to this this comment/answer by @Abhrajit - which worked for me on Ubuntu 14.04 with Matlab2016a.

Answer 2

[Michael Makovi]

I am using Linux Mint 18.1 with Matlab R2017a. I tried the above, and it did indeed remove the "r600_dri.so" and "swrast_dri.so" errors in the terminal, but now I receive a new error within Matlab itself:

com.jogamp.opengl.GLException: X11GLXDrawableFactory - Could not initialize shared resources for X11GraphicsDevice[type .x11, connection :0, unitID 0, handle 0x0, owner false, ResourceToolkitLock[obj 0x391383c6, isOwner false, <30305970, 363fe0c7>[count 0, qsz 0, owner <NULL>]]]
  at jogamp.opengl.x11.glx.X11GLXDrawableFactory$SharedResourceImplementation.createSharedResource(X11GLXDrawableFactory.java:326)
  at jogamp.opengl.SharedResourceRunner.run(SharedResourceRunner.java:297)
  at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
  at jogamp.opengl.GLContextImpl.makeCurrent(GLContextImpl.java:688)
  at jogamp.opengl.GLContextImpl.makeCurrent(GLContextImpl.java:580)
  at jogamp.opengl.x11.glx.X11GLXDrawableFactory$SharedResourceImplementation.createSharedResource(X11GLXDrawableFactory.java:297)
  ... 2 more
Exception in thread "Startup Class Loader" java.lang.InternalError: XXX0 profile[1]: GL3bc -> profileImpl GL4bc !!! not mapped 
  at com.jogamp.opengl.GLProfile.computeProfileMap(GLProfile.java:2047)
  at com.jogamp.opengl.GLProfile.initProfilesForDeviceCritical(GLProfile.java:1917)
  at com.jogamp.opengl.GLProfile.initProfilesForDevice(GLProfile.java:1866)
  at com.jogamp.opengl.GLProfile.initProfilesForDefaultDevices(GLProfile.java:1835)
  at com.jogamp.opengl.GLProfile.access$000(GLProfile.java:79)
  at com.jogamp.opengl.GLProfile$1.run(GLProfile.java:229)
  at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
  at com.jogamp.opengl.GLProfile.initSingleton(GLProfile.java:215)
  at com.mathworks.hg.peer.JavaSceneServerPeer.initializeJOGL(JavaSceneServerPeer.java:149)
  at com.mathworks.hg.peer.JavaSceneServerPeer.<clinit>(JavaSceneServerPeer.java:119)
  at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
  at java.lang.Class.forName(Unknown Source)
  at com.mathworks.mde.desk.StartupClassLoader.loadClass(StartupClassLoader.java:262)
  at com.mathworks.mde.desk.StartupClassLoader.access$900(StartupClassLoader.java:25)
  at com.mathworks.mde.desk.StartupClassLoader$2.run(StartupClassLoader.java:248)
  at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

[Andrew Cox]

I'm getting exactly the same error - did you find any solution for this?

[Walter Roberson]

Are you using NVIDIA ? If so see https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/342906-could-not-initialize-shared-resources-for-x11graphicsdevice#answer_270207

[Andrew Cox]

No, I'm using an AMD card (Southern Islands - Pitcairn, or model HD 7850) with the radeon/amdgpu drivers. I get the same error on R2017b, R2016b, and R2015b.

[Andrew Cox]

I just created a new question with many more details.

Answer 3

[Bashid]

In Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and With Matlab2014b, below approach works as Samarth Shah said

rename the file found at " $MATLAB_ROOT$/sys/os/glnxa64/libstdc++.so.6" to "libstdc++.so.6.old", restart MATLAB.

[JUAN JOSE QUIROZ OMAÑA]

Thanks. Worked for me!

[Jisu Ro]

my god..

I was thinking about re-install nvidia driver or something..

But this simple solution worked for me thanks.

Answer 4

[Willem van Boxtel]

This worked for me on Ubuntu 20.04 running Matlab 2021b as well, thank you so much!