package file that points to shared packages folder

Forums Technical Discussion package file that points to shared packages folder

2298 10 1


Nathan Apffel: Member; 52 posts; Joined: 1月 2016; Offline

2023年12月17日 14:41

I'm trying to set up a single package file that points to a shared packages folder for machines on a small network.
I've gone over the documentation but haven't been able to make it work.
here is the contents of the package file i'm working on. I know its redundant. I've tried various combinations but not sure if im on the right track.

{
    "hpath" : "/mnt/Z/Framework/houdini"
}
{
    "package_path" : "/mnt/Z/Framework/houdini/packages"
}
{
    "env": [
        {
            "HOUDINI_PACKAGE_DIR": ["/mnt/Z/Framework/houdini/packages"]
        }
    ]
}

I thought i might only need to set HOUDINI_PACKAGE_DIR which didn't work so i put it the hpath etc

Help would be appreciated


edward: Member; 7963 posts; Joined: 7月 2005; Offline

2023年12月17日 17:23

For HOUDINI_PACKAGE_DIR,

... do not add a packages directory under these folders.

(https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/ref/plugins.html#using_packages [www.sidefx.com] )

Also I think you need to set HOUDINI_PACKAGE_DIR as a real environment variable. ie. it won't work if you use houdini.env.


Nathan Apffel: Member; 52 posts; Joined: 1月 2016; Offline

2023年12月17日 22:24

edward
For HOUDINI_PACKAGE_DIR,
... do not add a packages directory under these folders.
(https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/ref/plugins.html#using_packages [www.sidefx.com] )

Also I think you need to set HOUDINI_PACKAGE_DIR as a real environment variable. ie. it won't work if you use houdini.env.

Thanks for the response. How do i set HOUDINI_PACKAGE_DIR as a real environment variable? is that done with bash like this: export HOUDINI_PACKAGE_DIR = /mnt/Z/Framework/houdini/packages

also why not add a packages directory under these folders? these folders are shared on my network and client machines will be able to access them. this way I could have a common packages folder. which is what i'm going for. is there a better shared location i could put a packages folder?

thanks.


edward: Member; 7963 posts; Joined: 7月 2005; Offline

2023年12月18日 8:17

Nathan Apffel
Thanks for the response. How do i set HOUDINI_PACKAGE_DIR as a real environment variable? is that done with bash like this: export HOUDINI_PACKAGE_DIR = /mnt/Z/Framework/houdini/packages

With bash, yes it's done using the export command. But export doesn't use spaces and you're not support to include packages so from your shell it would be more like

export HOUDINI_PACKAGE_DIR=/mnt/Z/Framework/houdini/packages

Nathan Apffel
I could have a common packages folder. which is what i'm going for. is there a better shared location i could put a packages folder?

Now that I think about it, I'm not sure actually. Add "export HOUDINI_PACKAGE_VERBOSE=1" as well to see what's actually happening to know if HOUDINI_PACKAGE_DIR requires "packages" at the end or not.


Nathan Apffel: Member; 52 posts; Joined: 1月 2016; Offline

2023年12月18日 10:23

edward
Now that I think about it, I'm not sure actually. Add "export HOUDINI_PACKAGE_VERBOSE=1" as well to see what's actually happening to know if HOUDINI_PACKAGE_DIR requires "packages" at the end or not.

Thanks, i set HOUDINI_PACKAGE_DIR to the my houdini folder with and without the /packages I set HOUDINI_PACKAGE_VERBOSE=1. i'm not sure what that did. but Houdini still isn't finding my package files in /mnt/Z/Framework/houdini/packages
also i don't know if my json file in my /home/user/houdini20.0/packages/ is necessary or correct.
do i need to set
"hpath" :
"package_path" :
to my shared folder as well?


edward: Member; 7963 posts; Joined: 7月 2005; Offline

2023年12月18日 10:38

Are you launching Houdini from the shell? With HOUDINI_PACKAGE_VERBOSE=1, that should give you a detailed log in the shell for what/where it loaded packages from.


Nathan Apffel: Member; 52 posts; Joined: 1月 2016; Offline

2023年12月18日 12:45

edward
Are you launching Houdini from the shell? With HOUDINI_PACKAGE_VERBOSE=1, that should give you a detailed log in the shell for what/where it loaded packages from.

Oh thanks, I hadn't been launching from the shell.
when I do I don't get any info about packages even though HOUDINI_PACKAGE_VERBOSE=1
when I do hconfig-bin -a from the shell I see its calling the package files from the default location in the home folder. even with HOUDINI_PACKAGE_DIR = mnt/Z/Framework/houdini

this is the log from the shell on launch. (aparetly i have an issue with ocl devicetype)

No OpenCL platform has the specified device type (HOUDINI_OCL_DEVICETYPE): GPU.
  Falling back to built-in CPU OpenCL driver (see HOUDINI_USE_HFS_OCL)
No OpenCL platform has the specified device type (HOUDINI_OCL_DEVICETYPE): GPU.
  Falling back to built-in CPU OpenCL driver (see HOUDINI_USE_HFS_OCL)

I appreciate your help here. If you know of any other variables i can change to get useful output or to make houdini look for package files where i tell it to, that would be welcome.

thanks


edward: Member; 7963 posts; Joined: 7月 2005; Offline

2023年12月18日 14:21

Why do you need to run "hconfig-bin -a" instead of "hconfig -a"? Try starting Houdini from your shell using "HOUDINI_PACKAGE_VERBOSE=1 houdini -foreground". You should be getting some output, including a line that says "= = = Houdini Package log = = ="


Nathan Apffel: Member; 52 posts; Joined: 1月 2016; Offline

2023年12月18日 22:29

edward
Why do you need to run "hconfig-bin -a" instead of "hconfig -a"? Try starting Houdini from your shell using "HOUDINI_PACKAGE_VERBOSE=1 houdini -foreground". You should be getting some output, including a line that says "= = = Houdini Package log = = ="

thanks for clarifying. I got the package log this time.


edward: Member; 7963 posts; Joined: 7月 2005; Offline

2023年12月19日 9:32

Ok, I hope the log gives you the info you need to figure this out!


druitre: Member; 65 posts; Joined: 5月 2006; Offline

2023年12月20日 10:24

I don't know if I'm simplyfying things here too much, but at our studio this works with this simple json in each workstation's standard houdini packages dir. No need to do anything with your .env.:

{
    "enable" : true,
    "package_path" : "X:/Application Specific/Houdini/packages"
}

Quick Links

                    
                        Search links
                        Show recent posts
                        Show unanswered posts
                        
                    
                

                    
	

                

                    
                    ▼Jump to
Houdini
News
Houdini Indie and Apprentice
Houdini Lounge
Technical Discussion
Work in Progress
Houdini Learning Materials
BYOC + Illume
Houdini for Realtime
Solaris and Karma
Rigging
Animation
PDG/TOPs
The Orbolt Smart 3D Asset Store
Houdini Jobs
日本語フォーラム
Licensing
Houdini Engine
Houdini Engine API
Houdini Engine for Unreal
Houdini Engine for Unity
Houdini Engine for Maya
Houdini Engine for 3ds Max
Private
Contests
2025 Game Art Challenge
Mardini 2025
Mardini 2023
H20 Tech Art Challenge
Mardini 2024
SideFX Labs Tech Art Challenge 2022
MARDINI Daily Art Challenge 2022
SideFX Labs Tech Art Challenge 2021
MARDINI Daily Challenge 2021
Nodevember 2020
HOULY Daily Challenge
3rd Party Software and Tools
3rd Party
SI Users

                    
                