Hi All,
some considerations about Houdini and RHEL/CentOS support;

from the the System Requirements page:
for Houdini 16.5
RHEL/CentOS 6+ is supported,but the below note says: “gcc 4.8 required”

for Houdini 17,
RHEL/CentOS 7+ is supported,but the below note says: “gcc 6.3.1 required”

well….it's rather confusing/misleading to me…
since the system ggc compiler that comes along with RHEL/CentOS 6.x is 4.4.x while RHEL/CentOS 7 is 4.8.x
I know that one can use a “non-standard” gcc compiler via non-system repos such as RH developer toolset etc..
but it's not a vanilla configuration


Cheers,
Luca

The 2018 VFX Reference Platform [www.vfxplatform.com] requires GCC 6.3.1 with C++14 enabled when compiling C++ plugins on Linux, so other 3D software packages will require it this year also. GCC 4.8.x doesn't support C++14, so some things would probably not compile. I don't know whether there would be any issues if you're not compiling C++ plugins, (though I'm not an expert on Linux library dependencies and such).

I recommend trying Oracle Linux. It is 100% compatible with RHEL and far better than Centos with very fresh kernel. It has free updates. I run Houdini on this and it is perfect.

It is 100% compatible with RHEL

So is Centos as they are both ‘derived’ from RHEL.

far better than Centos with very fresh kernel.

I've read that yes Oracle tends to have updates quicker, but that doesn't mean a ‘fresh’ kernel is better.

There is nothing wrong with previous kernel versions. And in terms of Houdini use, I doubt this becomes a factor.

I've done some searching on the matter and can't see any differences that warrant one over the other, other than preferences for particular needs.

Like, if you want what's most recent the quickest. As looking at available libraries I see for Oracle has gcc 8.2.1 available.

In my case I would choose ( if the only choice between the two - Centos and Oracle ) would be Centos.

Because they have a larger community for support and I am more likely to get answers and resolve issues; For example if I was unsure about how to install gcc 6.3.1 ( which is available for Centos ).

Or to configure the OS to suite my Houdini needs in some way.

It has free updates

.

So is Centos

Of course my intention is not to fight what is better etc. Everyone can freely choose, but I can't agree with you because:
Oracle has nothing to do with Centos. I mean it is derived from RHEL directly by a group of hired developers. So Oracle is free from pure Centos related bugs. I was working on rhel, centos and now oracle and for me centos was always in some way worse. Community is a little bit overestimated. I think it is better to buy the cheapeast rhel subscription and find something in their huge database instead of asking on the centos forums as all this systems are compatible. Second thing Oracle runs mostly on many databases and they can test it and harden by their unbrekable kernel. I just wanted to show that there is another option. I don't care if something is driven by community or not. It should work properly.

“Of course my intention is not to fight what is better etc. Everyone can freely choose, but I can't agree with you because:”

Yeah mine neither. And my reason for commenting is for some ‘good trolling’, meaning to open up the discussion so others can benefit including myself; As I may have some misconceptions that can be cleared up by people like you with your comments.

It's been a while since I've worked with different Linux distos, and it's like starting over at this point.

But working with Houdini on Windows for the last two years has me convinced that at some point I would benefit from running Houdini on a version of Linux; mainly for getting better use out of the hardware in the area of memory management.

Oracle has nothing to do with Centos. I mean it is derived from RHEL directly by a group of hired developers. So Oracle is free from pure Centos related bugs.

I never said Oracle had anything to do with Centos. You were saying Oracle is 100% compatable with RHEL; but it's not any more ‘compatable’ with RHEL than Centos is; both are derived from the same ‘source’; As much as Oracle is naturally free from Centos bugs(since it's RHEL derived and not Centos derived, Centos could also be free from Oracle bugs, since Centos is RHEL derived and not Oracle. From what I've read Centos appears to aim for duplicating RHEL without the ‘branding’ and removing/replacing elements that might keep it out of the ‘opensource domain’ catagory. Even though Oracle is derived from the same RHEL it's aim appears to be modifying that source for the purpose/s, for one, like you mention to run their own Oracle databases optimialy, and their hardware. Their ‘free’ version doesn't seem to be for the purpose of providing open source option, but rather as a gateway for their paid support subscription. Nothing wrong with that and I am not implying anything underhanded.

I was working on rhel, centos and now oracle and for me centos was always in some way worse. Community is a little bit overestimated. I think it is better to buy the cheapeast rhel subscription and find something in their huge database instead of asking on the centos forums as all this systems are compatible.

In what way was it ‘worse’, simply finding an answer on the forums along with having to resolve too many ‘bug’ issues?

Second thing Oracle runs mostly on many databases and they can test it and harden by their unbrekable kernel. I just wanted to show that there is another option. I don't care if something is driven by community or not. It should work properly.

But for Houdini, whether it runs on a database is irrelevent? As for ‘unbreakable’ kernel; No kernel is unbreakable, but along with what your saying and from what I've been reading, Oracle is very good at quickly and getting on top of bug issues and resolving them.

So thank you for mentioning this other option(Oracle Linux) to give it try,

Yeah, you are right.

Maybe something has changed with version 7.5 but I found that Centos out of the box is not 100% clone of RHEL thus configuration is worse. One story: For example mp3 was not working just after installation. In rhel it worked + some other useful things added that was not present in centos version. Finding answer on forums generally leveas you with nothing if you are not an expert. My experience. I gave up.

Well because of what you've said..which prompted me to do some searching…I was originaly going to give Centos a go, but now I will try Oracle first.

I think I could manage with almost any Linux build…but I'm not wanting to tinker that much at this point when I do run Houdini on it at first; And I want to avoid a ‘bloated’ Linux build too. It's been a long time since I played with Linux distros, but at the time I thought Ubuntu was a bit too ‘bloated’ - ended up working with Zenwalk.

I'll save my tinkering project with something like seeing how mininal I can get with a Linux From Scratch build to run Houdini.

So thanks for the post and recommendation.

The only crazy thing that you will need to make, is to install nvidia. Remeber that
function to disable graphical user interface in oracle uses word set instead of get that is in centos. That's the only difference I spotted.

#systemctl set-default multi-user.target
#reboot

Hi,

I didn't want to start a debate on RHEL and derivatives…
but thank you all for the amount of information…
Anyway I'd like to know if Houdini 17 works with RHEL 7.x (or CentOS,Oracle etc..) with the standard gcc compiler shipped with the distribution;
From what I understand a more recent version (6.3.1) is necessary only if you plan to write plug-ins;

Cheers,

Luca

nichimen-75
Hi,
From what I understand a more recent version (6.3.1) is necessary only if you plan to write plug-ins;

Cheers,

Luca

Hi Luca,

That is correct. You only need to worry about the gcc version requirement if you plan on building plug-ins for Houdini. If you are simply running Houdini, then you can ignore the “gcc X.Y is required” part.

Cheers,
Rob

Hi Rob,
thank you so much for your clarification

Cheers,
Luca