You're right the problem comes from mathlab, see http://people.debian.org/~terpstra/message/20061127.041128.8a08d75f.en.html
Since mathlab is not in ubuntu, I will reject this bug. Please report it upstream, thanks ** Changed in: libx11 (Ubuntu) Status: Unconfirmed => Rejected -- [feisty/x86] new libX11 with XCB crashes Matlab https://launchpad.net/bugs/87791 -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs