RedHat 7.3, Houdini 5.5.151

First problem, making an .sh script to get Houdini to start automagically. I've written several scripts, and none of them work. What happens when I run the scripts is, I see “The Houdini environment has been initialized” in the console, but Houdini never starts. If I then type houdini in the console, I get an error, like the Houdini environment had never been initialized. As an example of one of the many scripts I've tried.

#!/bin/csh
cd /usr/hfs5.5/
source houdini_setup
cd /usr/hfs5.5/bin
houdini

I've even appended /hfs5.5/ and /hfs5.5/bin to my path, nothing works. The only way I can start Houdini is to type everything into the console. I've written several other scripts to start other programs, like one that starts my DSL connection, and then starts Netscape, and they all work fine. I can't get Houdini to work this way for the life of me.

Next, Houdini never maximizes to my full desktop. There's always 12 or so pixels on each edge of the screen that Houdini leaves exposed. It's just a little annoying. Maximizing or dragging the window does nothing. I saw the note in the install guide about the HOUDINI_OVERRIDE env variable but couldn't locate it in the other manual. I did find RE_OVERRIDE_XRES and YRES, and tried those, but they didn't work, neither did changing the 4Dwm* variables in in my .Xresources. I'm running at 1280x1024x24.

Lastly, I want to upgrade to 197, but I didn't see any info on uninstallation procedures on Linux in the guide. What's the deal? can I just install right over 151?

Thanks for your time.

not really sure what your problem is but just wanted point something out about shells in general. if you look inside houdini_setup, you will note that it sets several environment variables. since it's only sourced from within your script, those variables won't work once outside your script. this is how all shells (Unix-type shells and DOS as well) work. for example, try these commands at your shell:
csh
setenv FOO bar
echo $FOO
exit
echo $FOO

Dante is right about your scripts. What is probably simpler is to ask: what exactly do you want to do? I can understand if it's simply that you don't want to type:

cd /hfs;source houdini_setup;houdini

everytime you want to start houdini. All I do is type:

ho

The way to do that us to have the following in your .cshrc file(home dir):

if ( ! $?HFS ) then
cd /hfs
source houdini_setup
endif
alias ho ‘houdini’

Note this assumes you're running csh, and also I always have a link /hfs linked to the distro directory - you can change that above to wherever Houdini is. Note that it's sometimes evil for shells to output text, like houdini_setup, so I always edit out the line “Houdini is now initialized” - that plays havoc with a number of utilities we run here. I know it seems weird why that works and yours does not, but welcome to the bizarre world of the shell. There's lots of annoying things which actually have some logic behind them. In this case - every single shell that is spawned has the important links setup automatically(and after I edit houdini_setup - silently).

The maximize problem sounds like Gnome - what are you running for an OS - Redhat 7.x? I've found that Gnome always insists on leaving that gap - supposedly so you can easily access the toolbar. Sigh. I'm running KDE with no such problem. If you decide to go this route, be sure you're using KDE3 - previous versions sucked…

Installing Houdini Linux - I never install over top of a previous release - I always install to a unique directory each time, then link /hfs to that(or /usr/hfs for that matter). Linking is your friend - use it liberally. That way, if I ever need to pop back to an older release, I just re-link /hfs to the older one and *boom* I'm back where I need to be.

Hope this was useful…

J.C.

Thanks for all the help. I'll try that script in a bit. Basicly I wanted a script that would initialize the Houdini environment and start Houdini. I've set up a work environment for myself in Window Maker that's completely free of distractions. Not sure which version of WM; I installed it off the RH 7.3 disk. Anyway, I need the script so I can attach it to an icon on my docking bar. That way I can just click and go. I also use KDE for other things, but the maximize problem happens in both KDE and Window Maker, altough KDE isn't nearly as bad. I don't really like Gnome, but I'm a Linux noob. Is there anything I'm missing by not using Gnome?

Anyway, thanks again for the help.

Ahh, I see. If you still have troubles, try editing that houdini_setup file to comment out that “initialized” echo - sometimes shells will lock out when something's being writted to stdout and it's not available(which is what happens when you “click” on a script using a GUI). I've bitched about that script but it seems some people like the feedback. Go figure. Otherwise, setting that stuff up in your .cshrc can only help. I can make this script:

#!/bin/csh -f
cd /hfs
source houdini_setup
houdini


and it successfully starts houdini. It doesn't seem all that much different than your original post.

WM, eh? There's a growing undercurrent of users that are using the nofrills approach like this lately. Actually, should I choose, I can make KDE or Gnome pretty damned clean - but there's no question you're minimizing your overhead that way.
Nope, you're not missing out on anything by not using Gnome - it's all very personal.
The maximize problem may be related to Houdini config stuff. I'm running RH7.3 and KDE - just like you, and I don't have the problem. Odd!

Cheers,

J.C.

YES! It works now. The problem with my script I guess is that I didn't have the -f argument. Guess I'll have to look that one up.

Thanks a ton

If anyone cares, I found the answer to maximizing Houdini to cover the desktop, and boy is it stupid. Setting the Window decoractions width in look and feel options for KDE or WindowMaker to it's widest allows Houdini to be maximized over the whole desktop for me.