Thanks for the contribution to nixpkgs @emptyflask :)

lib.makeLibraryPath [
nss nspr expat libxcb libXScrnSaver pciutils libpciaccess #xorg
libglvnd
cairo libdrm wayland wayland-protocols openssl libffi
libomxil-bellagio libva-minimal libva flex libelf libvdpau
mesa mesa_glu
vaapiIntel libvdpau-va-gl vaapiVdpau intel-ocl
# add houdini-18

...
I'd like to houdini-18.

ERROR:
Crash report; Unknown App Version 18.0.287 [linux-x86_64-gcc6.3]
Uptime 0 seconds
Sun Dec 1 22:37:28 2019
Caught signal 6

Traceback from 5757 ThreadId=0x74ee21626b40
AP_Interface::coreDumpChaser(UTsignalHandlerArg) <libhoudiniui.so>
AP_Interface::si_CrashHandler::chaser(UTsignalHandlerArg) <libhoudiniui.so>
signalCallback(UTsignalHandlerArg) <libhoudiniut.so>
UT_Signal::UT_ComboSignalHandler::operator()(int, siginfo_t*, void*) const <libhoudiniut.so>
UT_Signal::processSignal(int, siginfo_t*, void*) <libhoudiniut.so>
__funlockfile <libpthread.so.0>
__GI_raise <libc.so.6>
__GI_abort <libc.so.6>
QMessageLogger::fatal(char const*, ...) const <libqt5core.so.5>
QGuiApplicationPrivate::createPlatformIntegration() <libqt5gui.so.5>
QGuiApplicationPrivate::createEventDispatcher() <libqt5gui.so.5>
QCoreApplicationPrivate::init() <libqt5core.so.5>
QGuiApplicationPrivate::init() <libqt5gui.so.5>
QApplicationPrivate::init() <libqt5widgets.so.5>
QDialog::sizeHint() const
QDialog::sizeHint() const
__libc_start_main <libc.so.6>
QDialog::sizeHint() const

@PlumpMath Looks like you might have gotten further with v18.0 than me, this is what I ran into. I also sent an email to SideFX to see if they had any insight.

After adding some dependencies that the binary appeared to require (nss, nspr, expat, xorg.libXScrnSaver, libxcb, pciutils), I ended up getting this error message:

    Qt Error: This application failed to start because no Qt platform plugin could be initialized. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem.

    Available platform plugins are: eglfs, linuxfb, minimal, minimalegl, offscreen, vnc, wayland-egl, wayland, wayland-xcomposite-egl, wayland-xcomposite-glx, webgl, xcb.

    Qt Error: This application failed to start because no Qt platform plugin could be initialized. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem.

    Available platform plugins are: eglfs, linuxfb, minimal, minimalegl, offscreen, vnc, wayland-egl, wayland, wayland-xcomposite-egl, wayland-xcomposite-glx, webgl, xcb.

    18323:  (sent by pid 18323)
    Crash log saved to /tmp/houdini_temp/crash.jon_18323_log.txt

    Crash report from jon; Unknown App Version 18.0.287 [linux-x86_64-gcc6.3]
    Uptime 0 seconds
    Sun Dec  1 21:09:24 2019
    Caught signal 6
    Traceback from 18323 ThreadId=0x7fd666adfb40
    AP_Interface::coreDumpChaser(UTsignalHandlerArg)
    AP_Interface::si_CrashHandler::chaser(UTsignalHandlerArg)
    signalCallback(UTsignalHandlerArg)
    UT_Signal::UT_ComboSignalHandler::operator()(int, siginfo_t*, void*) const
    UT_Signal::processSignal(int, siginfo_t*, void*)
    __funlockfile
    __GI_raise
    __GI_abort
    QMessageLogger::fatal(char const*, ...) const
    QGuiApplicationPrivate::createPlatformIntegration()
    QGuiApplicationPrivate::createEventDispatcher()
    QCoreApplicationPrivate::init()
    QGuiApplicationPrivate::init()
    QApplicationPrivate::init()
    QDialog::sizeHint() const
    QDialog::sizeHint() const
    __libc_start_main
    QDialog::sizeHint() const  

SideFX responded with:

Houdini 18 bumped up its Qt version to 5.12 which has a new package dependency on Linux.

If you install the "libxkbcommon-x11" package (might be named slightly differently on your OS), then I believe that would fix the startup problems.

The new package dependency is subtly mentioned on our System Requirements page:
https://www.sidefx.com/Support/system-requirements/

I haven't had a chance to look into it any further yet...