Installing Maya on a Rocky Linux 9 container

2024-05-03T00:00:00+00:00

I've recently crafted a dockerfile</code> which will install Maya in an OCI compatible Rocky Linux 9.2 image, which then can be used to create distrobox</code> (or toolbx</code>) compatible containers, on the process I've learned a couple of "tricks" when it comes to debugging what a binary needs in order to work.</p>

As of this writing, the runtime packages needed to run Maya 2024 are the following:</p>

libpng libjpeg libtiff freetype libXpm libXi fontconfig libXinerama alsa-lib libXcomposite libXdamage libXrandr libXrender libXtst libxcrypt-compat libxkbcommon nspr nss nss-util pciutils-libs libnsl xcb-util-wm xcb-util-image xcb-util-image xcb-util-renderutil libxkbcommon-x11 libmng libXcursor
</span></code></pre>
Historically, whenever I faced this situation, after installing the officially specified packages from the Maya Help page and still not getting it to launch (???), I would be running maya</code> , note whatever .so</code> failed to load, do a dnf provides <library-name>.so</code>, then installing the package that had it, rinse and repeat.</p>
Well that is not fun isn't it? (Maybe the first time you do it yes, but when you had had to do this for the n</code>th time you start wondering why Autodesk likes to punish their users this way).</p>
So some shortcuts I discovered this time around are ldd</code> and QT_DEBUG_PLUGINS=1</code>, I knew about the former, but never clicked that it would work for this, is you run:
ldd /path/to/maya.bin</code> notice the bin</code> which is the actual binary run after some round trips following symbolic links and the python file that sets up some environment variables.</p>
If we chain it with grep: ldd /path/to/maya.bin | grep not</code> we'll get a list of all missing libraries in our system, example:</p>
ldd /usr/autodesk/maya2024/bin/maya.bin  | grep "not found"
</span>	libcrypt.so.1 => not found
</span>	libsmime3.so => not found
</span>	libnss3.so => not found
</span>	libnssutil3.so => not found
</span>	libplds4.so => not found
</span>	libplc4.so => not found
</span>	libnspr4.so => not found
</span>	libXcomposite.so.1 => not found
</span>	libXdamage.so.1 => not found
</span>	libXrender.so.1 => not found
</span>	libXrandr.so.2 => not found
</span>	libXtst.so.6 => not found
</span>	libxkbcommon.so.0 => not found
</span>	libpci.so.3 => not found
</span>	libasound.so.2 => not found
</span></code></pre>
You can then come out with a list to pass to dnf provides</code>, such as:</p>
dnf provides libcrypt.so.1 libsmime3.so libnss3.so libnssutil3.so libplds4.so libplc4.so libnspr4.so libXcomposite.so.1 libXdamage.so.1 libXrender.so.1 libXrandr.so.2 libXtst.so.6 libxkbcommon.so.0 libpci.so.3 libasound.so.2
</span></code></pre>
And then install every package that shows up in that command, pretty sure all this could be automated with either a python</code> script or some mad</del> brilliant bash one liner.</p>
Anyhow, we got all the things we need to launch maya, right? Right? I guess it would be too easy on IT/Pipe devs so once you launch you'll be greeted with the infamous:</p>
qt.qpa.plugin: Could not load the Qt platform plugin "xcb" in "" even though it was found.
</span>This application failed to start because no Qt platform plugin could be initialized. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem.
</span>
</span>Available platform plugins are: linuxfb, minimal, offscreen, vnc, xcb.
</span></code></pre>
Okay, what now then... you can google that, and chances is you'll end up installing a package that does fix it, but in the effort of keeping the image</code> as slim as possible, I just want to install what's absolutely necessary for me to open maya, debug whatever esoteric self-inflicted issue, fix it, close it and hopefully never have to open it again (hah).</p>
Enter QT_DEBUG_PLUGINS=1 maya</code> , credit to this SO answer</a>, this will dump a lot of Qt</code> related information and errors, we can use grep again such as: QT_DEBUG_PLUGINS=1 maya | grep cannot</code> which will provide us again a list of x11</code> related libraries we need to install in order to get maya</code> to open.</p>
There you have it, go and push some pixels; in an ideal world, Autodesk would have caught up by now with better ways to distribute their Linux software</a> (please vote if you can?) or maybe declare the dependencies on their rpms</code> (even tho vendored tcl</code> and tk</code> conflict with what you get when installing with dnf</code> so go figure) but for the time being we'll left to suffer.</p>
I'll be that guy and tell you to push for Blender</a> at your company, and if they can donate or contribute back the better :)</p>

`Onwards</h2> I am not sure what to write really, I will keep the blog as open ended topic, but most likely will fall in the technology realm, I have some stuff written already, so will start by polishing those and publishing it.</p>`

Oscar Domingo - Software Engineer.

Installing Maya on a Rocky Linux 9 container

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