If you call Matlab from, say, Perl, and it segfaults on startup with this message, please note that you must set the HOME environment variable, as Matlab requires a home directory. I used /tmp, but feel free to set it to whatever accessible directory you wish. It took me nearly 2 hours to figure this out, so I am posting this in the hope that it will save others from repeating this.
< M A T L A B >
Copyright 1984-2005 The MathWorks, Inc.
Version 7.0.4.352 (R14) Service Pack 2
January 29, 2005

————————————————————————
Segmentation violation detected at Wed Jul 25 13:37:45 2007
————————————————————————

Configuration:
MATLAB Version:   7.0.4.352 (R14) Service Pack 2
MATLAB License:   213660
Operating System: Linux 2.6.8-1.521smp #1 SMP Mon Aug 16 09:32:47 EDT 2004 x86_64
Window System:    No active display
Current Visual:   None
Virtual Machine:  Java is not enabled
Default Charset:  US-ASCII

Register State:
rax = 0000000000000000   rbx = 0000000000000001
rcx = 0000000000000000   rdx = 0000002a959cf9a0
rbp = 0000007fbfffbdf0   rsi = 0000000000000000
rdi = 0000000000000000   rsp = 0000007fbfffbdb8
r8 = fefefefefefefeff    r9 = 0000002a96c8cb50
r10 = 0000000000000001   r11 = 0000002a9593ccb0
r12 = 0000000000000000   r13 = 0000007fbfffcf50
r14 = 0000002a95af70e0   r15 = 0000002a959cf9a0
rip = 0000002a96bfe790   flg = 0000000000010246

Stack Trace:
[0] libc.so.6:strlen~(0x7fbfffcfa0, 0x2a95c4ffa5, 0, 0) + 48 bytes
[1] libmwservices.so:svGetToolboxCacheFile(0, 0, 0, 0) + 31 bytes
[2] libmwbridge.so:mnRunLoginScript()(0x7fbfffd008, 0x00590420, 0x7fbfffd170, 0x2a95d7d61b) + 549 bytes
[3] libmwbridge.so:mnRunPathDependentInitialization()(0, 0x004015a0, 0, 0x7fbfffd1b9) + 28 bytes
[4] libmwmcr.so:mcr_init_handler(long)(0x7fbfffd430, 0x0058e360, 0x00592470, 0x2a96d99cf8) + 539 bytes
[5] libmwmcr.so:mcrInstance::mcrInstance(mcrOptions&, MfileReader*)(0x2a97559b79 “libc.so.6”, 0x2a97673dc3 “libc.so.6”, 0x7fbffff120, 0x2a97673dc3 “libc.so.6”) + 484 bytes
[6] MATLAB:mcrMain(int, char**)(0x00401730, 0, 0, 0x004015c0) + 226 bytes
[7] libc.so.6:__libc_start_main~(0x7fbffff7df “-nosplash”, 0x7fbffff7e9 “-r”, 0x7fbffff7ec “test”, 0x7fbffff7f1 “-logfile”) + 164 bytes

Please follow these steps in reporting this problem to The MathWorks so
that we have the best chance of correcting it:

1. Send this crash report to segv@mathworks.com for automated analysis.
For your convenience, this information has been recorded in:
test.out

2. Also, if the problem is reproducible, send the crash report to
support@mathworks.com along with:
– A specific list of steps that will reproduce the problem
– Any M, MEX, MDL or other files required to reproduce the problem
– Any error messages displayed to the command window
A technical support engineer will contact you with further information.

Thank you for your assistance.  Please save your workspace and restart
MATLAB before continuing your work.