NAG Toolbox for MATLAB

MBL6A24DNL

x86-64 Linux, MATLAB R2013b, R2014a

Installer's Note



Contents


1. Introduction

This Installer's Note is essential reading for whoever is responsible for the installation of this implementation of the NAG Toolbox for MATLAB.

Your attention is drawn to the terms and conditions of the Software License Agreement regarding the use of NAG software.

2. Implementation Provided

2.1. Applicability

This implementation is a compiled, tested, ready-to-use version of the NAG Toolbox for MATLAB that is considered suitable for use on the computer systems detailed below:

hardware:             x86-64 systems and compatible
operating system:     Linux 2.6 and compatible
MATLAB Version:       64-bit: 8.2 (R2013b), 8.3 (R2014a)

The user needs to have MATLAB installed. This implementation will not work with earlier versions of MATLAB, but may work with versions later than 8.3 (R2014a).

2.2. Post Release Information

Please check the following URL:

http://www.nag.co.uk/doc/inun/mb24/l6adnl/postrelease.html

for details of any new information related to the applicability or usage of this implementation.

3. Distribution Medium

The software is available to download from any of the NAG Web sites (see NAG Websites). Upon request, the software may be distributed by CD.

3.1. File Sizes

The installation requires 600MB of free space.

4. Installation

If you downloaded this product from NAG as a compressed tar file then you should unpack it as follows. Create a temporary directory and unpack the file mbl6a24dnl.tgz into it, for example using the commands:
mkdir nagtmp
cd nagtmp
tar -xzf ../mbl6a24dnl.tgz
If you received the product on CD then simply insert it in your CD drive and, if necessary, mount the CD device (normally this will happen automatically).

If you are upgrading an existing installation of the toolbox you are strongly advised to uninstall it using the UNINSTALL.a64 script created on installation, using the command

 sh UNINSTALL.a64
If you are unsure where the existing installation is installed, then type which a00aa at the MATLAB prompt. This should return a string like:
/opt/NAG/MBL6A24DNL_R2013b/mex.a64/a00aa.mexa64
which indicates that the UNINSTALL.a64 script can be found in
/opt/NAG/MBL6A24DNL_R2013b
Note that older versions of the toolbox used a different file structure and on these installations the UNINSTALL.a64 script will be under the
toolbox/NAG
directory.

Run the INSTALL script by typing "sh INSTALL". This will prompt you for the location in which you wish to install the product. Note that, unlike with previous toolbox releases, this is not under your existing MATLAB installation, since the MATLAB help system will no longer display third-party help files located below the MATLAB root directory.

Note that NAG recommends that you install a separate version of the toolbox for each version of MATLAB that you wish to use it with, since the installation includes an uninstall script specific to that version. However, if you install a new release of MATLAB and wish to use an existing installation of the toolbox with it, then this is possible by following the instructions in Section 4.1.

After installation, you should ensure that the software described in Section 4.1 is present and accessible.

You should access the toolbox documentation as follows. On starting the MATLAB documentation browser you should see a link labelled Supplemental Software. Clicking on that should open a browser with the entry NAG Toolbox in the Contents list - please see Section 5 for more information.

A quick test that the software has been correctly installed is to type a00aa at the MATLAB prompt, which should print some implementation details.

4.1. Installation Options

If you choose to have your MATLAB path updated during installation, the file toolbox/local/pathdef.m in your MATLAB installation will be modified. If you install the toolbox under /opt/NAG/MBL6A24DNL_R2013b then this file will have the lines:

     '/opt/NAG/MBL6A24DNL_R2013b/mex.a64:', ...
     '/opt/NAG/MBL6A24DNL_R2013b/help/NAG:', ...
inserted. If you choose not to have your path modified, or you wish to use an existing toolbox installation with a new installation of MATLAB, then there are a number of ways by which this may be done by hand. The easiest is to use the Set Path button on the MATLAB GUI, but if you search for "matlab path" in the MATLAB online help system you will find pointers to several others. If updating by hand then it is essential to ensure that the directory containing the help files appears after that containing the executable files. For example, if you installed the toolbox under /opt/NAG/MBL6A24DNL_R2013b then your MATLAB path should contain the directories: in that order.

If you choose to modify your MATLAB script during installation then the file bin/matlab in the MATLAB distribution will have the lines:

  # Inserted during installation of NAG Toolbox for 64 bit Linux
  LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/NAG/MBL6A24DNL_R2013b/mex.a64:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
added to it. If you decide to modify your LD_LIBRARY_PATH by hand then a good approach is to edit the definition of LDPATH_PREFIX in the .matlab7rc.sh file. The main reason that this is not the approach taken by the installation script is that MATLAB allows a user to over-ride the system-wide version with their own version(s) and so it is not possible reliably to install the toolbox for all users this way. The MATLAB documentation contains more information about the use of the .matlab7rc.sh file.

4.2. Uninstalling the Software

To uninstall the software run the script UNINSTALL.a64 which is created during installation, using the command
 sh UNINSTALL.a64

4.3. License Management

The use of the NAG Toolbox is controlled by the Kusari network license management system. This release of the NAG Toolbox uses version 2.2-60 of Kusari.

In order to enable the software, NAG will issue you with a license key. The license key is a simple text file containing details of the software that will be enabled.

To request a license key, run the program khostid located in /opt/NAG/MBL6A24DNL_R2013b/license/bin/linux_x64/. This utility must be run from a command prompt. Return the information that it displays by e-mail to NAG.

A short term (demonstration or trial) license key contains one or more lines like the following:

MBL6A24DN TRIAL 2014/11/12 "EMnxidA3oeoj0F1Yvi5ibxPjB7" 
Specifically, it has a line containing the word TRIAL and is referred to here as an uncounted license key. Longer term uncounted license keys must be locked to a specific computer, i.e. they will enable the software on one computer only. These license keys include the word NODE instead of the word TRIAL above. Other types of keys may also be issued.

Once you have obtained the license key, store the text of it in a file, say /opt/NAG/MBL6A24DNL_R2013b/license.lic.

For an uncounted license, the location of the license file must be made known to the NAG Toolbox by setting the environment variable NAG_KUSARI_FILE to the full pathname of the file before MATLAB is started.

For example, in the C-shell, type:

   setenv NAG_KUSARI_FILE /opt/NAG/MBL6A24DNL_R2013b/license.lic
or in the Bourne shell, type:
   NAG_KUSARI_FILE=/opt/NAG/MBL6A24DNL_R2013b/license.lic
   export NAG_KUSARI_FILE
No other actions are required to install an uncounted license.

To check that the license has been correctly installed, start MATLAB and type a00ac. If this returns 1 then the license has been installed successfully and a license is available.

Further details about Kusari and how it may be configured to suit your local circumstances can be found in /opt/NAG/MBL6A24DNL_R2013b/license/doc.

5. Documentation

On-line documentation, accessible via the standard MATLAB help facilities, is bundled with this implementation.

Unfortunately, on Linux, the MATLAB help system and web browser by default issues an exception of the form:

  Exception in thread "XPCOMMessageLoop" java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError:
  R2013b/sys/jxbrowser/glnxa64/xulrunner/xulrunner-linux-64/libxul.so:
    dlopen: cannot load any more object with static TLS
on some systems and in some cases reports files as not being available. The exception can be avoided by issuing
  webutils.htmlrenderer('basic')
to the matlab prompt; this setting is preserved across sessions until
  webutils.htmlrenderer('default')
However, whether the basic renderer is explicitly invoked or if the exception is simply ignored, the resulting browser is not capable of using the high quality mathjax rendering of mathematics. The fallback rendering is however hopefully understandable in most cases. MathWorks recommend that you use your standard web browser and browse the help files in the installed toolbox location. Alternatively, you could browse the help files on the NAG website https://www.nag.co.uk/numeric/mb/manual64_24_1/html/index.html.

6. Support from NAG

NAG will provide free support for this product for a period of 90 days from the date of purchase. Beyond that period, support will continue to be provided for users who have a current support agreement.

(a) NAG Technical Support Service

The NAG Technical Support Service is available for general enquiries from all users and also for technical queries from sites with an annually licensed product or support service.

The technical support desks are open during office hours, but contact is possible by email and phone (answering machine) at all times.

When contacting us, it helps us deal with your enquiry quickly if you can quote your NAG customer reference number and NAG product code (in this case MBL6A24DNL).

(b) NAG Websites

The NAG websites provide information about implementation availability, descriptions of products, downloadable software, product documentation and technical reports. The NAG websites can be accessed at the following URLs:

http://www.nag.co.uk/, http://www.nag.com/ or http://www.nag-j.co.jp/

(c) NAG Electronic Newsletter

If you would like to be kept up to date with news from NAG then please register to receive our free electronic newsletter, which will alert you to announcements about new products or product/service enhancements, technical tips, customer stories and NAG's event diary. You can register via one of our websites, or by contacting us at nagnews@nag.co.uk.

7. User Feedback

Many factors influence the way that NAG's products and services evolve, and your ideas are invaluable in helping us to ensure that we meet your needs. If you would like to contribute to this process, we would be delighted to receive your comments. Please contact any of the NAG offices (shown below).

Appendix - Contact Addresses

NAG Ltd
Wilkinson House
Jordan Hill Road
OXFORD  OX2 8DR                         Technical Support (Europe & ROW)
United Kingdom                          email: support@nag.co.uk

Tel: +44 (0)1865 511245                 Tel: +44 (0)1865 311744

NAG Inc
801 Warrenville Road
Suite 185
Lisle, IL  60532-4332                   Technical Support (North America)
USA                                     email: support@nag.com

Tel: +1 630 971 2337                    Tel: +1 630 971 2337

Nihon NAG KK
Hatchobori Frontier Building 2F
4-9-9
Hatchobori
Chuo-ku
Tokyo 104-0032                          Technical Support (Japan)
Japan                                   email: naghelp@nag-j.co.jp

Tel: +81 3 5542 6311                    Tel: +81 3 5542 6311