package file that points to shared packages folder

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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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
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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 = = ="
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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.
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Ok, I hope the log gives you the info you need to figure this out!
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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"
}
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