Ubuntu – How to get Scilab 6.0.1 working on Ubuntu 18.10

18.10javaopenjdkscilab

I have installed clean Ubuntu MATE 18.10 and installed Scilab from repository here with

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install scilab

After installation I tried to launch it from GUI (Applications → Other → Scilab) – it does not start.
Then I tried to launch it from terminal with scilab command. Terminal output is as follows:

$ scilab
Picked up _JAVA_OPTIONS: -Djava.class.path=/usr/share/java/flexdock.jar:/usr/share/java/skinlf.jar:/usr/share/java/looks.jar:/usr/share/java/commons-logging.jar:/usr/share/java/jhall.jar:/usr/share/java/lucene-core-4.10.4.jar:/usr/share/java/lucene-analyzers-common-4.10.4.jar:/usr/share/java/lucene-queryparser-4.10.4.jar:/usr/share/maven-repo/org/freehep/freehep-util/debian/freehep-util-debian.jar:/usr/share/maven-repo/org/freehep/freehep-io/debian/freehep-io-debian.jar:/usr/share/maven-repo/org/freehep/freehep-graphicsio/debian/freehep-graphicsio-debian.jar:/usr/share/java/freehep-graphicsio-emf-2.1.jar:/usr/share/java/freehep-graphics2d-2.1.1.jar:/usr/share/java/jrosetta-API.jar:/usr/share/java/jrosetta-engine-1.0.4.jar:/usr/share/java/jgraphx.jar:/usr/share/java/jogl2.jar:/usr/share/java/gluegen2-rt.jar:/usr/share/java/jeuclid-core.jar:/usr/share/java/jlatexmath-fop-1.0.7.jar:/usr/share/java/fop.jar:/usr/share/java/saxon.jar:/usr/share/java/batik.jar:/usr/share/java/xml-apis-ext.jar:/usr/share/java/commons-io.jar:/usr/share/java/xmlgraphics-commons.jar:/usr/share/java/avalon-framework.jar:/usr/share/java/jlatexmath-1.0.7.jar:/usr/share/java/ecj.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/helptools/jar/org.scilab.modules.helptools.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/helptools/jar/scilab_ru_RU_help.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/helptools/jar/scilab_images.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/helptools/jar/scilab_en_US_help.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/graphic_objects/jar/org.scilab.modules.graphic_objects.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/renderer/jar/org.scilab.modules.renderer.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/scinotes/jar/org.scilab.modules.scinotes.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/localization/jar/org.scilab.modules.localization.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/graph/jar/org.scilab.modules.graph.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/jvm/jar/org.scilab.modules.jvm.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/preferences/jar/org.scilab.modules.preferences.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/scirenderer/jar/scirenderer.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/gui/jar/org.scilab.modules.gui.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/graphic_export/jar/org.scilab.modules.graphic_export.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/action_binding/jar/org.scilab.modules.action_binding.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/xcos/jar/org.scilab.modules.xcos.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/ui_data/jar/org.scilab.modules.ui_data.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/types/jar/org.scilab.modules.types.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/history_manager/jar/org.scilab.modules.history_manager.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/external_objects_java/jar/org.scilab.modules.external_objects_java.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/console/jar/org.scilab.modules.console.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/history_browser/jar/org.scilab.modules.history_browser.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/javasci/jar/org.scilab.modules.javasci.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/completion/jar/org.scilab.modules.completion.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/commons/jar/org.scilab.modules.commons.jar:/usr/share/scilab/modules/core/jar/org.scilab.modules.core.jar:
–add-modules=java.activation,java.xml.bind
Error occurred during initialization of boot layer
java.lang.module.FindException: Module java.xml.bind not found

So I reported bug 1798661 to the LaunchPad.

It seems that I need to get java.xml.bind from some package.
According to search on packages.ubuntu.com I need to install openjdk-11-jdk-headless package, but it does not have needed file in Ubuntu 18.10 Cosmic.

Note: I do not want to download and extract binary archive from Scilab web-site (but this is a workaround). I need the solution with deb-packages using APT.

What else should I try?

Best Answer

Nowadays Scilab is ported to OpenJDK 11. So we have to install it with (if not installed before):

sudo apt-get install scilab

So we can use latest scilab package 6.0.1-7ubuntu1~18.10 as usual from GUI, but scilab-cli and scilab-adv-cli are now broken (it is new bug 1825037).

Note 1: Scilab color theme is incompatible with dark Gtk themes, so user should set light one (this is bug 1547561) such as Radiance or Radiant-MATE.

Note 2: Scilab ATOMS system is broken too (see bug 1765503) because of problems with HDF5.

To prevent this bugs we need to install binary version as written in my answer for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS .

* Repository-based method (Scilab itself and ATOMS will not work)

Update 2020-12-07. Nowadays Scilab is broken again as indicated in bug 1884277.

* Binary download method (fully-functional, seems to be really recommended)

So if you need fully-functional Scilab you should remove deb-packaged version with

sudo apt-get purge scilab scilab scilab-cli scilab-data scilab-doc scilab-full-bin scilab-include scilab-minimal-bin scilab-sivp scilab-test
sudo apt-get autoremove

and use latest binary archive 6.1.0 from official site and run the commands below (download, extract, add to PATH, set shortcuts and MIME-association):

mkdir ~/Software
cd  ~/Software
wget https://www.scilab.org/download/6.1.0/scilab-6.1.0.bin.linux-x86_64.tar.gz
tar -xzf scilab-6.1.0.bin.linux-x86_64.tar.gz
cd scilab-6.1.0
echo "PATH=$PATH:/home/$USER/Software/scilab-6.1.0/bin" >> ~/.bashrc
echo "PATH=$PATH:/home/$USER/Software/scilab-6.1.0/bin" >> ~/.profile
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/applications
cp -a ~/Software/scilab-6.1.0/share/{icons,applications,mime} ~/.local/share/
update-mime-database ~/.local/share/mime/
update-menus

The ATOMS and other components will work as expected. Do not forget to install build-essential package to run Xcos Modelica simulations.

* AppImage download method (fully-functional)

We need to download the latest release from corresponding page or manually:

mkdir ~/Software
cd ~/Software
wget https://github.com/davidcl/Scilab.AppDir/releases/download/6.1.0-1/Scilab-x86_64.AppImage
chmod +x Scilab-x86_64.AppImage
ln -s Scilab-x86_64.AppImage scilab

and then add it to PATH with

echo "PATH=$PATH:/home/$USER/Software/" >> ~/.bashrc
echo "PATH=$PATH:/home/$USER/Software/" >> ~/.profile

As the result you will get Scilab working. But there is no MIME associations (yet).

If you want to get Scilab 5.5.2 working on Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS see other answer. But be careful with libcurl4 removal!

Ubuntu – How to get Scilab 6.1.0 working on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

It is known that Scilab is working normally in the Ubuntu 20.10, so one can download packages from it and install into the 20.04 LTS system:

mkdir -p ~/Downloads/scilab
cd ~/Downloads/scilab

wget -c http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/s/scilab/scilab-cli_6.1.0+dfsg1-6build2_all.deb
wget -c http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/s/scilab/scilab-data_6.1.0+dfsg1-6build2_all.deb
wget -c http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/s/scilab/scilab-doc-fr_6.1.0+dfsg1-6build2_all.deb
wget -c http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/s/scilab/scilab-doc-ja_6.1.0+dfsg1-6build2_all.deb
wget -c http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/s/scilab/scilab-doc-pt-br_6.1.0+dfsg1-6build2_all.deb
wget -c http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/s/scilab/scilab-doc_6.1.0+dfsg1-6build2_all.deb
wget -c http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/s/scilab/scilab-full-bin_6.1.0+dfsg1-6build2_amd64.deb
wget -c http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/s/scilab/scilab-include_6.1.0+dfsg1-6build2_amd64.deb
wget -c http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/s/scilab/scilab-minimal-bin_6.1.0+dfsg1-6build2_amd64.deb
wget -c http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/s/scilab/scilab-test_6.1.0+dfsg1-6build2_all.deb
wget -c http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/s/scilab/scilab_6.1.0+dfsg1-6build2_all.deb
wget -c http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/h/hdf5/libhdf5-103-1_1.10.6+repack-2_amd64.deb
wget -c http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/h/hdf5/libhdf5-hl-100_1.10.6+repack-2_amd64.deb
wget -c http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/libm/libmatio/libmatio9_1.5.17-5_amd64.deb

sudo apt-get install ./lib*.deb
sudo apt-get install ./scilab*.deb

But anyway it is strange method, and the Scilab packages should be fixed on the repository level by its maintainers.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – How to get Scilab 6.0.1 working on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

* Repository-based method (Scilab itself and ATOMS will not work)

* Binary download method (fully-functional, seems to be really recommended)

* AppImage download method (fully-functional)

Ubuntu – How to get Scilab 6.1.0 working on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

Related Question