I have run the repository version on Ubuntu 14,16 and 18 as well as Mint 17 and 18. As I recall they all worked as expected in regards to sleeping/pausing processing.

As a home user using Ubuntu/Mint I think it works just fine as is. Getting 'sauced' in not the average home user, but the normal supplied apps seem to work just fine from my experience.

The NVidia driver auto update could be one to bite you, but I think it's still a LOT better than for Win 10 users have it. Yes an auto update while running can toast all your GPU tasks until a reboot, or at the worst until a driver fix is released 2 weeks later. But I think we are talking the average user here with 2-8h of computer usage a day, so not really a big deal if their background project stopped for awhile. Unlike Win 10 users that have to find info on why it quit, go to the NVidia web site, download and install the proper drivers to restore operation.

I think the BIGGEST complaint about the repository version of BOINC is the inability to edit project files like app_config.xml or the settings in cc_config.xml without knowing how to edit them as admin (sudo etc ...) you just can't do it. Also getting BOINC to restart via the Manager.

I think a simple solution would be to simply provide a script (or documentation) on how to add your username into the boinc-client access group (which is the owner of the files) that 'should' allow the client to start when restarting the Manger (not tested by me), as well as being able to freely edit config files.

As for auto start, I think most home users want that. Or the ability to disable it. In cc_config there is "start_delay>N</start_delay>" for those that want it. Maybe a '-1' option for no auto start? One could expand that to the init.d (autostart script) reading that option from cc_config and not auto start the Manager on boot up.

---

Gene makes a great point about some things that can only be done via the Manager. And that is the "ghost recovery protocol"

---

Seti@Home classic workunits:20,676 CPU time:74,226 hours

A proud member of the OFA (Old Farts Association)

Gene makes a great point about some things that can only be done via the Manager. And that is the "ghost recovery protocol"

I think that one can probably be worked round. There are difficulties for which solutions need to be in place:

* editing rights to the data directory
* controls for stopping and starting the service
* Manager reconnects to client after restart

but I think those can and should be fixed (if they aren't already).

I think Gene's other point is more of a show-stopper - running multiple client instances. It might be relatively easy to add --allow_multiple_clients to the first (service) installation, and then to set up a second (user mode) client alongside it. But it would be harder to set up two parallel services. The automated installation tools couldn't do it, and setting up a new service at system level isn't something which would normally be attempted by hand.

I think Tom's comment about repo vs "other", in the context of BOINC needs to be explored a bit more.
There are basically two "preferred" locations under Linux.
- The first, and the oldest, is in var/lib, which makes the application available to all users with only minimal ownership or access changes.
- The second is to place the application in the user's own "home" structure, OK on single user system, but not so easy on systems that are potentially multi user where there are all sorts of access and security ramifications for other users.

Neither of these is a "service" installation in the way that Windows does services, which is more akin to a kernel module application, which has to be bound to the kernel - which might be "nice" from a programmers point of view, with its quicker access to the system hardware, but may cause users a few headaches when performing administration tasks on something like BOINC - I guess that's why the developers want to get rid of things like suspend (GPU), suspend (all), etc., they probably aren't as easy to code as they are under Windows....

There are two major strands of Linux RPM & Debian, and each of those has a number of branches (which may in turn have sub-branches), and, in general, the further from the main branch one gets the more likely one is to have "problems". That said some of the major sub-branches are "frilly wrappers", or different sets of apps and tools, or for specific hardware, which are "something of nothing" variations. But some have "tinkered" kernels and that can cause issues. (It's a bit of an education to look at the (incomplete) list of Linux distros on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions)

. . Well I have 2 Linux boxes, the original I installed with the repo version of Linux 7.2.42 and the second I installed the discreet version in my home directory and is also 7.2.42 . The latter setup is easier to use and control but for the repo version I keep a terminal window open for the commands to start or stop the boinc client which as I understand it runs as a service. It is a simple command 'service boinc-client start' or 'service boinc-client stop'. And that works just fine. The big bugbear as a refugee from Windows was the hassle with permissions which is avoided with the second setup. But since the whole purpose for me to run Linux at all was to access Petri's special sauce and run CUDA90 any changes that would prevent crunching access to the GPU/s would be TOTALLY unacceptable. Of course a Windows version of CUDA90 would solve that problem but I cannot see that happening.

. . Linux is definitely not as user friendly an environment as Windows but then it gets you away from the uninvited fupdates that M$ inflicts on you at their whim. A big plus for Linux. But still, you are less likely to have a successful Windows update make your system unusable as I have experienced several times with Linux. I am running Ubuntu 14.04. The saving grace there is the ease of simply rebooting into the previous release which is preserved until you manually remove it, thus allowing you to selectively remove the 'new' defective version with something like Synaptic. Problem solved without too much pain.

. . On the topic of app boot sequence I don't know anything of altering the app boot sequence or setting 'delayed-start', but when I have to restart the box with the repo version Manager auto-starts but cannot connect to the client et al. I simply close the manager, check that the video drivers are running and re-start the manager which then finds the client AOK.

Stephen

. .

Greetings

Running BOINC 7.14.2 (x64) repository (PPA Version) with NVIDIA drivers 481.43, again PPA version, NVIDIA Drivers installed by using Driver Manager progam.

I have the GTX 1060 on this computer running the Special App.

Running MINT, to be precise - Mint 19.1 Tessa running the MATE desktop a few things I like so far;

No autostart of BOINC, unless I add it to the Startup applications, which I havent done as yet, but I also believe in the Mint Cinnamon desktop you can edit the startup delays.

The update manager advises me of which updates are available and I choose when to install (this I love), and as advised by those with higher linux knowledge, I empty the cache and then run updates.

I do not use for daily operations though, its set and forget, with remote monitoring through BOINCTasks, for job control, also I use Nomachine to remote login, if there is a requirement.

I have a couple more to transfer from Win 10 to Linux on the todo list, well when I decent GPU's for them that is lol.

I would have moved my daily driver (win 10 - Ryzen PC) on Linux, but some programs the Wife uses (work related) not supported under Linux.

Cheers

Have run Ubuntu on a few systems but stick mostly to windows 10. Why?

Ubuntu
Problem:
I cannot always get temperatures back from AMD , Nvidia and occasionally the CPU and am not competent enough to figure out which sensor driver is missing nor how to control fans on GPU as a function of temps plus the minimal install (server) lacks all the desktop features (are not need for a BOINC anyway). Several years ago I put together a task that send temps back to BOINCTASKS but it required full desktop and broke on every new update. I gave up on that project.
Benefits: free download to latest, don't have to install an SLIC to get the most recent version.

Windows
benefits: AMD & Nvidia temps can be controlled and, depending on manufacturer (dell, etc) CPU & Case cans can be controlled automatically as a function of temp
Cost: free windows 10 if your systems has an SLIC 2.1 in the BIOS as there is still a free upgrade path to win10. Most used computers have SLIC and the majority of the ones that do not can easily have the SLIC installed so just about any used motherboard from eBay (HP Z-400, Lenovo S20,) Generally if it has a 1366 socket win10 can go in with no hassle Socket 775 and a few early 1366 that came with Vista need SLIC 2.1 to get win10.

?Benchmarks in "service mode"?
After sleeping on it... Could benchmarks still be run without "user mode" boinc-manager and/or boinc-client apps?
That is, again, not in the typical user repertoir but nobody claims Linux users are typical anyway:-) To run benchmarks one needs to suspend or stop the running Seti tasks and I use the boinc-manager commands to do that. I suppose "terminate service" and "restart service" would accomplish the same thing.
The OP asked for "opinions" from Linux users and my opinion is that benchmarking is an important capability that should not be impaired by boinc developers even though relatively few users do it.

---

Thanks all - keep them coming :-)

Tazzduke (and others) mentions using BOINCTasks to monitor multiple machines. Did anybody have problems setting up the necessary gui_rpc_auth.cfg and remote_hosts.cfg files (or equivalent command lines) - especially in service mode if the data directory is protected?

Myself, I really dislike the repository BOINC due to its propensity for unnecessarily spreading files around and installing as a service, versus the much simpler one-folder BOINC that is easy to stop, start, and configure, last version 7.2.42. I was hoping that development would have proceeded in the opposite direction , and was saddened when this became no longer usable on newer distros due to missing dependencies... thank goodness for TBar and the All-In-One.

I use the Snooze GPU often as I run BOINC on the daily driver I use, and with the GPUs going I can't watch movies or other graphic-intensive tasks on it due to stuttering, and then I can keep the CPU processing going.

---

One the average home user needs is a decent installer that can run under the package manager. One that detects missing dependencies then loads them in a manner that is transparent to the user, sets the access and execution rights correctly for all users on that computer. This is far from impossible, just a bit of thought required.
Also there needs to be a sensible updater (included?) that does the same when an update is made available.
Until these are in place Linux will always be a "hard climb" for many users.

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

One the average home user needs is a decent installer that can run under the package manager. One that detects missing dependencies then loads them in a manner that is transparent to the user, sets the access and execution rights correctly for all users on that computer.

Reading posts relating to people getting Seti processing on LINUX, that would appear to be the biggest issue. Permissions always cause people grief, but the biggest one most recently that seems to occur over & over again is missing libwebkitgtk and libcurl3 libraries.
People making use of later more current distributions, that only have libcurl4 installed, and for those that have libcurl3 (depending on their distribution) updates removing that & replacing it with libcurl4 which then breaks BOINC.

---

Grant
Darwin NT

Tazzduke (and others) mentions using BOINCTasks to monitor multiple machines. Did anybody have problems setting up the necessary gui_rpc_auth.cfg and remote_hosts.cfg files (or equivalent command lines) - especially in service mode if the data directory is protected?

The only thing different for setting up BoincTasks with a repository version of BOINC is the problems encountered with file permissions, otherwise it is the same as Windows.

EDIT: The biggest problem with service mode (or command line) editing would be the users knowledge of how to navigate the file system, and what text editor is available on the system. A novice user stuck with the vi editor better have another computer with Google :D

---

Reading posts relating to people getting Seti processing on LINUX, that would appear to be the biggest issue. Permissions always cause people grief, but the biggest one most recently that seems to occur over & over again is missing libwebkitgtk and libcurl3 libraries.

Not having those libraries installed arise from using TBarr's AllInOne drop in app. Since the app isn't installed by the system, it doesn't do a dependency check to see what is missing. It's no biggie, they just need to be manually installed. But is not from a 'standard' install.

---

Old news people. From almost a month ago; https://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=84013&postid=1986607#1986607

So, the next All-In-One will have the BOINC compiled in 15.04 as the Default, and the version for Ubuntu 14.04 in a separate folder for Manual installation. The 14.04 version will work in 14.04 and above with 2 dependencies, the Default version will work in 15.04 and above without dependencies....

The current version doesn't require ANY Dependencies.

Greetings All

No problems with those two files in regards to using BOINCTasks, I just followed the procedure for Linux as per on BOINCTasks website.

But that was in user mode, I have no experience with the service mode.

Cheers

Regarding BOINC on Linux:
1) I want possibility of BOINC autostart on Linux _along with_ correct GPU processing, that is unattended config. This would allow simple host reviving by non-computer familiar relatives with simple switch off/switch ON sequence.
2) I want possibility to snooze BOINC easely just as in Windows for very same reasons as in Windows , reasons to snooze are not OS-dependend.

Regarding sudo:

In Windows bench script we emulate snooze with:

"%InstDir%boinccmd" --set_gpu_mode never 172800 2>NUL
"%InstDir%boinccmd" --set_run_mode never 172800 2>NUL

AFAIK it doesn't require any service restart or does?

---

SETI apps news
We're not gonna fight them. We're gonna transcend them.

AFAIK it doesn't require any service restart or does?

Boinccmd (uses GUI RPC network protocol) is fine for the bench test - no restart. My installer did need to stop and restart so that BOINC could recognise the changed files.

Reading posts relating to people getting Seti processing on LINUX, that would appear to be the biggest issue. Permissions always cause people grief, but the biggest one most recently that seems to occur over & over again is missing libwebkitgtk and libcurl3 libraries.
People making use of later more current distributions, that only have libcurl4 installed, and for those that have libcurl3 (depending on their distribution) updates removing that & replacing it with libcurl4 which then breaks BOINC.

Can we nail whether this is happening with the distro repository installations, please? That's my concern in this thread, and a question I can't answer for myself. I have read about libcurl4 uninstalling libcurl3, about libcurl4 and libcurl3 (separate installs) not being able to run together on the same system, and about the existence of libcurl34 for (or is that 43?) which combines both.

But have the package managers cracked all that?

EDIT: The biggest problem with service mode (or command line) editing would be the users knowledge of how to navigate the file system, and what text editor is available on the system. A novice user stuck with the vi editor better have another computer with Google :D

And getting permission. Or is 'sudo' well enough known even by Windows users like me that it isn't a problem?

Can we nail whether this is happening with the distro repository installations, please? That's my concern in this thread, and a question I can't answer for myself. I have read about libcurl4 uninstalling libcurl3, about libcurl4 and libcurl3 (separate installs) not being able to run together on the same system, and about the existence of libcurl34 for (or is that 43?) which combines both.

But have the package managers cracked all that?

The reports I have seen only seemed to be Ubuntu users.. I haven’t had this issue using the packaged BOINC under Debian.

The current release of Debian (called Stretch) has libcurl3. The next release (called Buster) has libcurl4. They don’t have a libcurl34 package.

---

BOINC blog