Hey everyone,

I've searched around the install help posts and can't seem to match one that is relevant to my problem. I've just installed Linux (debian) specifically to use the Houdini Apprentice program as the Mac version is extremely buggy and I've been unable to work in it. I've went through the entire installation process up until the install instructions ask you to run houdini_setup to initialize the environment, then hkey to setup the license. When I type hkey I get this error:

/opt/hfs9.5.241/bin/hkey: line 8: /opt/hfs9.5.241/bin/hkey-bin: cannot execute binary file
/opt/hfs9.5.241/bin/hkey: line 8: /opt/hfs9.5.241/bin/hkey-bin: Success

Houdini will not open. When I try and run Houdini it responds with the same messge. I'm sure this is a newbie error, can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks in advance.

Terror.

Are you on a 64bit sytem? Which version of houdini did you install? What happens if you run the command as root?

yes I am on a 64bit system.. running command as root gives same result.

Are you attempting the installation from the commandline?

ive tried using a terminal window and hitting ctl+alt+f1 and trying from there.

Alright, since I only install from the commandline I'm not familiar with running the gui install script.

You seem to have the app. in /opt, which is where it should be.
If you have extracted the .tar.gz file then go into the installation director, you run “houdini.install”

You follow the instructions to install both the app. and the license server. You won't be asked to initialize the app. or run hkey.

Once the installation is done you go into the installed directory. There you
“source houdini_setup_bash”, provided you shell is a bash shell.

Then from the same shell you launch houdini. A gui window will pop up asking you if you want a non-commercial or commercial license.

ok..ive tried using source houdini_setup but not the bash version..I'll try this again using bash and I'm assuming I need to have root access, so using su should do the trick, yes?

i believe these past couple of tries it told me that i couldnt install the license server at this time..so maybe the bash version will let me.

still no luck…tried from the command line and get the same results. when i run source houdini_setup_bash it does tell me the environment variable has been setup. when i type houdini (thinking to start the program) it gives me the same error:

/opt/hfs9.5.241/bin/houdini: line 8 /opt/hfs9.5.241.bin.houdini-bin: cannot execute binary file
/opt/hfs9.5.241/bin/houdini: line 8 /opt/hfs9.5.241.bin.houdini-bin: success

Hi Terror,
What was the file that you downloaded? I'm running a 64bit Debian system with gcc4.3. I installed houdini-9.5.241-linux_x86_64_gcc4.2.tar.gz as root in /opt with success. What is your gcc version?

I downloaded houdini-9.5.241-linux_x86_64_gcc4.1.tar.gz. Should I try the newer build? Also, I noticed when trying to run the unistall script, I get the same error and it doesn't install anything.

I think this may have been a total noob error and I apologize for it in advance. I was curious if maybe I installed a 32-bit kernal by mistake when I wanted to run 64 bit. After doing some looking online I found the file that would tell me and I do in fact have a 32 bit system. I went and downloaded the 32-bit Apprentice and it installed fine. I'm not sure if that was the whole problem, but it seems likely. Thanks again for everyone's help.

Terror.

It worked for me as well. Can you post your output from:
gcc -v and uname -ar

Good news! That's what I was suspecting which is why I asked for the output of uname -ar.
you can grab the 32bit installer and use that for now. Enjoy!