Yongjun Cho
Summary (AI Generation)

Installing SideFX Houdini on Linux systems like Rocky Linux 9.4 involves a few more steps compared to other platforms. The process includes downloading the installer package, extracting the contents from a tar.gz file, executing the installation script, and completing setup with administrator privileges. Though it requires additional effort, working with Linux installations helps build valuable system knowledge and troubleshooting capabilities.

WARNING

Tested on Rocky, Fedora Linux

Install SideFX Houdini ​

Get Houdini install file ​

WARNING

Installing through 'Launcher' will not be covered in this post.

Unzip your tar.gz ​

bash
tar -xzvf houdini-20.*-linux_x86_64_gcc11.2.tar.gz

Locate to unzip folder and run the script ​

bash
cd houdini*
./houdini.install

Go ahead and install ​

Installer requires sudo permission, go ahead and install.

TIP

Hit spacebar to rapidly scroll down license agreement

        SIDE EFFECTS SOFTWARE HOUDINI 20.5.370 INSTALLATION

    The installer is not being run as root.  You may not be able to
    install the desired features unless the installer is run as root.
    
    Re-run installer as root (y or n) ==> y // [!code focus]

...

                    SIDE EFFECTS SOFTWARE
                      LICENSE AGREEMENT


(*) For greater certainty, SideFX reserves the right to decline
to consent to any relocation of the License from the dedicated
Computer or License Server beyond the number expressly permitted
above, in its sole and absolute discretion.
Do you agree to the above license terms? [yes or no] yes // [!code focus]

After Installation ​

Other RHEL distros ​

Might require libGLU or libxcb.

In case of libXss.so.1 missing, go ahead install libXScrnSaver

bash
sudo dnf install libXScrnSaver-devel

Fedora ​

SELinux is probably blocking your sesinetd from starting. Below will solve the problem.

DANGER

Do not disable your SELinux. Sesinetd can still work in'Enforced' mode.

Register your service to systemd if not.

bash
sudo cp /usr/lib/sesi/sesinetd.service /etc/systemd/system/
sudo systemctl enable sesinetd.

Result ​

Synchronizing state of sesinetd.service with SysV service script with /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install.
Executing: /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install enable sesinetd
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/sesinetd.service → /etc/systemd/system/sesinetd.service.

Now enable your service

bash
sudo systemctl enable sesinetd.service

Change Wayland to X11 ​

As of Oct 2024, Houdini will crash on Wayland windowing system.

Change to X11

bash
sudo vim /etc/gdm/custom.conf

Uncomment the following line

#WaylandEnable=false

After Changing to X11 ​

Houdini will not detect your GPU as OpenCL driver.

bash
dnf install xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-cuda

Verify OpenCL with clinfo ​

bash
dnf install clinfo
clinfo