Tk-houdini startup errors in linux

Hi, I would like to run shotgun - houdini in fedora linux. When I execute houdini from the shotgun menu, following errors appears:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/opt/Shotgun/Resources/Python/bundle_cache/app_store/tk-houdini/v1.7.1/plugins/basic/python2.7libs/pythonrc.py", line 79, in plugin_startup
    plugin_bootstrap.bootstrap(plugin_root_path)
  File "/opt/Shotgun/Resources/Python/bundle_cache/app_store/tk-houdini/v1.7.1/plugins/basic/python/tk_houdini_basic/plugin_bootstrap.py", line 124, in bootstrap
    toolkit_mgr.bootstrap_engine("tk-houdini", entity)
  File "/home/magic/.shotgun/praguebased/p456c198.basic.houdini/cfg/install/core/python/tank/bootstrap/manager.py", line 492, in bootstrap_engine
    engine = self._start_engine(tk, engine_name, entity)
  File "/home/magic/.shotgun/praguebased/p456c198.basic.houdini/cfg/install/core/python/tank/bootstrap/manager.py", line 1201, in _start_engine
    engine = tank.platform.start_engine(engine_name, tk, ctx)
  File "/home/magic/.shotgun/praguebased/p456c198.basic.houdini/cfg/install/core/python/tank/platform/engine.py", line 3012, in start_engine
    return _start_engine(engine_name, tk, None, context)
  File "/home/magic/.shotgun/praguebased/p456c198.basic.houdini/cfg/install/core/python/tank/platform/engine.py", line 3145, in _start_engine
    "tank.platform.current_engine().destroy()." % current_engine()
TankError: An engine (<Sgtk Engine 0x7fab95244410: tk-houdini, env: project>) is already running! Before you can start a new engine, please shut down the previous one using the command tank.platform.current_engine().destroy().
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/opt/Shotgun/Resources/Python/bundle_cache/app_store/tk-houdini/v1.7.1/engine.py", line 744, in run_when_idle
    command()
  File "/home/magic/.shotgun/praguebased/p456c198.basic.houdini/cfg/install/core/python/tank/platform/engine.py", line 1082, in callback_wrapper
    return callback(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/opt/Shotgun/Resources/Python/bundle_cache/app_store/tk-multi-shotgunpanel/v1.7.1/app.py", line 210, in create_panel
    self._unique_panel_id, "Shotgun", self, app_payload.AppDialog
  File "/opt/Shotgun/Resources/Python/bundle_cache/app_store/tk-houdini/v1.7.1/engine.py", line 418, in show_panel
    for pane_tab in hou.ui.curDesktop().paneTabs():
  File "/opt/hfs18.0/houdini/python2.7libs/hou.py", line 63548, in curDesktop
    return _hou.ui_curDesktop(*args)
NotAvailable: Not available in this context.
The UI is not created yet

Then it looks like it is working - houdini has started and I see shotgun panel, but it is annoying to see the errors after every launch of houdini…

Versions:
tk-houdini: v1.7.1
Houdini: 18.0.348
Fedora: 32

1 Like

Hi @zavinator welcome to the forums!

I have seen issues on Windows where it tries to launch the engine twice depending on how you have the environment variables set. However, I’ve not heard of this for Linux before. The first error suggests it might be running the startup script twice.

What does the HOUDINI_PATH env var look like when printed out in Houdini’s python console?

import os
print(os.environ["HOUDINI_PATH"]

Best
Phil

Hmm, you’re right. This path is present twice in HOUDINI_PATH:

/tmp/tk-houdini4h903J:/opt/Shotgun/Resources/Python/bundle_cache/app_store/tk-houdini/v1.7.1/plugins/basic

Edit:
I’ve cleanup my houdini.env and both errors disappers…
Thanks for help!

1 Like

Btw it works if I remove the $HOUDINI_PATH like this:

HOUDINI_PATH = /example/of/an/existing/path;&

This shows the error:

HOUDINI_PATH = /example/of/an/existing/path;$HOUDINI_PATH;&

So it works exactly opposite the docs :slight_smile:

1 Like

ugh! OK thanks a lot for pointing that out.
It sounds then like the Linux behaviour is different to that of Windows, and I think Mac as well.