Docker compose interactive Matlab license fail (infinite loop)

Hello

I want to run a docker compose with 1 matlab container and 1 app container. Running the matlab container on its own works - it interactively prompts for username, I sign in on the browser and enter OTA license in the terminal and it connects. This is the dockerfile:

```

ARG MATLAB_RELEASE=R2023b

ARG ADDITIONAL_PRODUCTS="Simulink"

FROM mathworks/matlab:$MATLAB_RELEASE

ARG MATLAB_RELEASE

ARG ADDITIONAL_PRODUCTS

USER root

RUN export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive \

&& apt-get update \

&& apt-get install --no-install-recommends --yes \

wget \

unzip \

ca-certificates \

&& apt-get clean \

&& apt-get autoremove \

&& rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

WORKDIR /tmp

USER matlab

RUN wget -q https://www.mathworks.com/mpm/glnxa64/mpm \

&& chmod +x mpm \

&& EXISTING_MATLAB_LOCATION=$(dirname $(dirname $(readlink -f $(which matlab)))) \

&& sudo HOME=${HOME} ./mpm install \

--destination=${EXISTING_MATLAB_LOCATION} \

--release=${MATLAB_RELEASE} \

--products ${ADDITIONAL_PRODUCTS} \

|| (echo "MPM Installation Failure. See below for more information:" && cat /tmp/mathworks_root.log && false) \

&& sudo rm -rf mpm /tmp/mathworks_root.log ${HOME}/.MathWorks

USER root

RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y software-properties-common && \

add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa && \

apt-get update && apt-get install -y python3.9 python3-pip

RUN cd /opt/matlab/$MATLAB_RELEASE/extern/engines/python && \

python3 setup.py install

USER matlab

ENV MW_DDUX_FORCE_ENABLE=true MW_CONTEXT_TAGS=$MW_CONTEXT_TAGS,MATLAB:TOOLBOXES:DOCKERFILE:V1

WORKDIR /home/matlab

```

However, when I run in as part of a docker compose, it prompts me for my password and it fails infinite times:

```

✔ Network dev_default Created 0.1s

✔ Container dev-matlab-1 Created 0.1s

✔ Container dev-app-1 Created 0.1s

Attaching to app-1, matlab-1

matlab-1 |

matlab-1 | Running matlab -licmode online

app-1 | python: can't open file '/app/app.py': [Errno 2] No such file or directory

matlab-1 | MATLAB is selecting SOFTWARE OPENGL rendering.

matlab-1 | Please enter your MathWorks Account email address and press Enter:

app-1 exited with code 0

app-1 exited with code 2

app-1 exited with code 2

app-1 exited with code 2

matlab-1 | Password input failed

matlab-1 | Would you like to retry? y/n [n]

matlab-1 | Please enter your MathWorks Account password and press Enter:

matlab-1 exited with code 0

app-1 exited with code 2

matlab-1 | MATLAB is selecting SOFTWARE OPENGL rendering.

matlab-1 | Please enter your MathWorks Account email address and press Enter:

app-1 exited with code 2

matlab-1 | Password input failed

matlab-1 | Would you like to retry? y/n [n]

matlab-1 | Please enter your MathWorks Account password and press Enter:

matlab-1 exited with code 0

matlab-1 | MATLAB is selecting SOFTWARE OPENGL rendering.

matlab-1 | Please enter your MathWorks Account email address and press Enter:

app-1 exited with code 2

matlab-1 | Password input failed

matlab-1 | Would you like to retry? y/n [n]

matlab-1 | Please enter your MathWorks Account password and press Enter:

matlab-1 exited with code 255

matlab-1 |

matlab-1 | Running matlab -licmode online

matlab-1 | MATLAB is selecting SOFTWARE OPENGL rendering.

matlab-1 | Please enter your MathWorks Account email address and press Enter:

matlab-1 | Please enter your MathWorks Account password and press Enter:

matlab-1 | Password input failed

matlab-1 | Would you like to retry? y/n [n]

matlab-1 exited with code 255

...

```

I am not able to download a license file. Is there any other way to solve this?

[Prabhakar]

Can you share the docker compose file?

[Hud Bin]

```

version: "3"

services:

matlab:

build:

context: .

dockerfile: matlab.Dockerfile

restart: always

app:

build:

context: .

dockerfile: dev.Dockerfile

ports:

- "80:80"

depends_on:

- matlab

restart: always

```

Answer 1

[Prabhakar]

Hi @Hud Bin

The issue here is with your docker compose file. It needs to be configured to notify the container to run in interactively.

# docker-compose.yml
version: "3"
services:
  matlab:
    image: mathworks/matlab:r2023b
    stdin_open: true # docker run -i
    tty: true # docker run -t
  app:
    image: nginx
    ports:
      - "81:80"
    depends_on:
      - matlab
    restart: always

Then start the services using:

docker compose up -d

[+] Building 0.0s (0/0)                                                                   
[+] Running 3/2
 ✔ Network 2105411_default     Created                                               0.1s 
 ✔ Container 2105411-matlab-1  Created                                               0.0s 
 ✔ Container 2105411-app-1     Created                                               0.0s

Finally, attach to the running matlab container using:

 docker attach 2105411-matlab-1

Replace 2105411-matlab-1 with the name of the running container in your environment

When you are attached here, you will see an empty screen because the text prompting you for the email address was already printed before you could attach.

To continue, enter your email address and follow the prompts as shown below:

docker attach 2105411-matlab-1

[e-mail]

Single-Sign-On(SSO) is not available in this environment. You need a one-time password to sign in to MATLAB.
        Step 1. Visit https://www.mathworks.com/mwa/otp
        Step 2. Copy the password.
        Step 3. Return here, and input the password.
Please enter the one-time password:
377669

Starting MATLAB with license: 4044XXXX - MATLAB - Staff Use

                                 < M A T L A B (R) >
                       Copyright 1984-2023 The MathWorks, Inc.
                  R2023b Update 6 (23.2.0.2485118) 64-bit (glnxa64)
                                  December 28, 2023

 
To get started, type doc.
For product information, visit www.mathworks.com.
 
>> 

To avoid the empty screen when you attach to the matlab container you could update the entrypoint in the docker compose file to /usr/bin/bash so that when you attach into the container, you will be presented with a BASH prompt. There you could execute the default entrypoint for the mathworks/matlab container ie: run.sh

# docker-compose.yml
version: "3"
services:
  matlab:
    image: mathworks/matlab:r2023b
    entrypoint: /usr/bin/bash
    stdin_open: true # docker run -i
    tty: true # docker run -t
  app:
    image: nginx
    ports:
      - "81:80"
    depends_on:
      - matlab
    restart: always

Start the services in detached mode:

docker compose -d
[+] Building 0.0s (0/0)                                                                   
[+] Running 3/3
 ✔ Network 2105411_default     Created                                               0.1s 
 ✔ Container 2105411-matlab-1  Started                                               0.8s 
 ✔ Container 2105411-app-1     Started                                               1.4s

Attach to the matlab container

 docker attach 2105411-matlab-1
 
matlab@35ded52975da:~/Documents/MATLAB$ run.sh

Running matlab -licmode online 
MATLAB is selecting SOFTWARE OPENGL rendering.
Please enter your MathWorks Account email address and press Enter:

Hope this helps!

[Hud Bin]

Thank you @Prabhakar - I kinda solved it by interactively authenticating via the web and committing to a new docker container image