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matlab-buildtool-mex

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Examples of Matlab buildtool build system with MEX and Matlab Engine

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# Matlab build system with MEX and Matlab Engine

[![matlab](https://github.com/scivision/matlab-buildtool-mex/actions/workflows/ci.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/scivision/matlab-buildtool-mex/actions/workflows/ci.yml)

Examples of building Matlab MEX and Matlab Engine targets using
[Matlab supported compilers](https://www.mathworks.com/support/requirements/supported-compilers.html).
Since R2023b, Matlab's own build system has become quite capable and is recommended over CMake for new projects.

One-time setup from Matlab:

```matlab
mex -setup c
mex -setup c++
mex -setup fortran
mex -setup -client engine c
mex -setup -client engine c++
mex -setup -client engine fortran
```

[Troubleshootings and more MEX setup help](https://www.scivision.dev/matlab-compiler-setup/)

## Matlab MEX

Using Matlab's own build system to build and test MEX examples from the Matlab Command Window:

```matlab
buildtool test:mex
```

The [buildfile.m](./buildfile.m) shows several techniques, including linking Matlab BLAS (see the matrixMultiply.c in buildfile.m).

## Matlab Engine

Matlab Engine is available from several languages including C, C++, Fortran, Python, ...
For compiled Matlab Engine programs, the appropriate "matlab" executable must be in environment variable PATH.

```matlab
buildtool test:engine
```

The Matlab Engine examples might be shaky on certain systems and configurations.
Specifically on macOS, across Matlab versions, there is a segfault (error code 139) on any of the Matlab Engine examples.
We have attempted a DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH workaround for this issue, but it has not been successful.
For Linux and Windows, the Matlab Engine examples worked correctly for us.

On GitHub Actions, the Matlab Engine examples do not work, and are currently disabled in the CI workflow.
The errors on GitHub Actions only are:

language / OS | macOS | Linux | Windows
------------- | ----- | ----- | -------
C   | segfault (139) | Can't start MATLAB C engine | Can't start MATLAB C engine
C++ | segfault (139) | terminate called after throwing an instance of 'matlab::engine::EngineException' what():  MATLAB process cannot be created. | error (-1073740791)

## CMake

CMake may be used to build and test MEX and Matlab Engine examples:

```sh
cmake -B build
cmake --build build

ctest --test-dir build -L mex -V

ctest --test-dir build -L engine -V
```

Currently, there is a
[known CMake bug](https://gitlab.kitware.com/cmake/cmake/-/issues/25068)
with `matlab_add_mex()` for Fortran that causes runtime failures of MEX binaries.
This happens on any operating system or Fortran compiler due to the issue with CMake `matlab_add_mex()`.

```
Invalid MEX-file 'matsq.mexa64': Gateway function is missing
```

## Linux: compiler and libstdc++ compatibility

Matlab has narrow windows of
[compiler versions](https://www.mathworks.com/support/requirements/supported-compilers-linux.html)
that work for each Matlab release.
Especially on Linux, this may require using a specific release of Matlab compatible such that Matlab libstdc++.so and system libstdc++.so are compatible.
This is because compiler-switching mechanisms like RHEL Developer Toolset still
[use system libstdc++](https://stackoverflow.com/a/69146673)
that lack newer GLIBCXX symbols.

* R2022a .. R2026b: Linux: GCC 10
* R2020b .. R2021b: Linux: GCC 8

A frequent issue on Linux systems is failure to link with libstdc++.so.6 correctly.
Depending on the particular Matlab version and system libstdc++, putting Matlab libstdc++ first in LD_LIBRARY_PATH may help:

```sh
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=<matlab_root>/sys/os/glnxa64/ buildtool test:mex
```

or for Ubuntu 24.04 like:

```sh
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6 buildtool test:mex
```

Matlab releases have a range of
[Linux compatibility](https://www.mathworks.com/support/requirements/matlab-linux.html)
with the particular Linux operating system vendor and version.

## Reference

Matlab MEX compiler ignores environment variables like CFLAGS, CXXFLAGS, FFLAGS.

* [C Engine](https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/calling-matlab-engine-from-c-programs-1.html)
* [C++ Engine](https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/calling-matlab-engine-from-cpp-programs.html)
* [Fortran engine](https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/calling-matlab-engine-from-fortran-programs.html)

---

[GNU Octave from CMake](https://github.com/scivision/octave-cmake-mex)

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