So, as I'm sure some people on this list know, AMD/ATi proprietary drivers are a nightmare on Linux (especially right now) and I had to give up trying to make them work after a recent Linux upgrade. It got me thinking, though, why doesn't BOINC recognize my OpenCL GPUs with the open-source drivers, which seem to be quite mature, now. I've looked into this twice before, but didn't pursue it because I was able to get proprietary drivers working.

Now, I have to ask: does anyone know how to get BOINC to work this way?

clinfo finds my GPUs just as it did two years ago and now the open-source drivers have even made it to OpenCL v1.2 compliance. BOINC actually does recognize OpenCL CPU resources (pocl). So, why not the other ones that clinfo finds?

I know this doesn't mean the project I want to run will support such GPUs; I remember that. That's a separate issue. But, the first step is getting BOINC to support it, right? So, where are we now and what's between us and that goal? If you don't know, can you suggest who I might ask?

BOINC supports any OpenCL driver that works as an OpenCL ICD regardless of the driver's license.

It's pretty hard to tell why it doesn't work for you as you didn't provide all that many details. Please see When requesting help on these forums thread.

Thanks Juha!

I didn't provide details because I thought it was common experience in this community, but I'm glad to hear it is not! I hope that means someone can help me fix it. My mistake!

I install all the OpenCL-related software I can find available in my distribution and when I switch to the open-source drivers--i.e. remove proprietary driver--BOINC says this:

Mon 01 Feb 2016 04:30:38 PM PST |  | cc_config.xml not found - using defaults
Mon 01 Feb 2016 04:30:38 PM PST |  | Starting BOINC client version 7.2.42 for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
Mon 01 Feb 2016 04:30:38 PM PST |  | log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
Mon 01 Feb 2016 04:30:38 PM PST |  | Libraries: libcurl/7.43.0 NSS/3.21 Basic ECC zlib/1.2.8 libidn/1.32 libssh2/1.6.0 nghttp2/1.6.0
Mon 01 Feb 2016 04:30:38 PM PST |  | Data directory: /var/lib/boinc
Mon 01 Feb 2016 04:30:38 PM PST |  | OpenCL CPU: pthread-AMD FX(tm)-8350 Eight-Core Processor (OpenCL driver vendor: The pocl project, driver version 0.12, device version OpenCL 1.2 pocl)
Mon 01 Feb 2016 04:30:38 PM PST |  | No usable GPUs found

Yet, clinfo shows not only the CPU resources (via POCL), but also GPU resources (via MESA):

Number of platforms                               2
  Platform Name                                   Clover
  Platform Vendor                                 Mesa
  Platform Version                                OpenCL 1.1 MESA 11.1.0
  Platform Profile                                FULL_PROFILE
  Platform Extensions                             cl_khr_icd
  Platform Extensions function suffix             MESA

  Platform Name                                   Portable Computing Language
  Platform Vendor                                 The pocl project
  Platform Version                                OpenCL 1.2 pocl 0.12
  Platform Profile                                FULL_PROFILE
  Platform Extensions                             cl_khr_icd
  Platform Extensions function suffix             POCL

  Platform Name                                   Clover
Number of devices                                 2
  Device Name                                     AMD PITCAIRN (DRM 2.43.0, LLVM 3.7.0)
  Device Vendor                                   AMD
  Device Vendor ID                                0x1002
  Device Version                                  OpenCL 1.1 MESA 11.1.0
  Driver Version                                  11.1.0
  Device OpenCL C Version                         OpenCL C 1.1 
  Device Type                                     GPU
  Device Profile                                  FULL_PROFILE
  Max compute units                               20
  Max clock frequency                             1050MHz
  Max work item dimensions                        3
  Max work item sizes                             256x256x256
  Max work group size                             256
  Preferred work group size multiple              64
  Preferred / native vector sizes                 
    char                                                16 / 16      
    short                                                8 / 8       
    int                                                  4 / 4       
    long                                                 2 / 2       
    half                                                 0 / 0        (n/a)
    float                                                4 / 4       
    double                                               2 / 2        (cl_khr_fp64)
  Half-precision Floating-point support           (n/a)
  Single-precision Floating-point support         (core)
    Denormals                                     No
    Infinity and NANs                             Yes
    Round to nearest                              Yes
    Round to zero                                 No
    Round to infinity                             No
    IEEE754-2008 fused multiply-add               No
    Support is emulated in software               No
    Correctly-rounded divide and sqrt operations  No
  Double-precision Floating-point support         (cl_khr_fp64)
    Denormals                                     Yes
    Infinity and NANs                             Yes
    Round to nearest                              Yes
    Round to zero                                 Yes
    Round to infinity                             Yes
    IEEE754-2008 fused multiply-add               Yes
    Support is emulated in software               No
    Correctly-rounded divide and sqrt operations  No
  Address bits                                    32, Little-Endian
  Global memory size                              1073741824 (1024MiB)
  Error Correction support                        No
  Max memory allocation                           268435456 (256MiB)
  Unified memory for Host and Device              Yes
  Minimum alignment for any data type             128 bytes
  Alignment of base address                       1024 bits (128 bytes)
  Global Memory cache type                        None
  Image support                                   No
  Local memory type                               Local
  Local memory size                               32768 (32KiB)
  Max constant buffer size                        268435456 (256MiB)
  Max number of constant args                     16
  Max size of kernel argument                     1024
  Queue properties                                
    Out-of-order execution                        No
    Profiling                                     Yes
  Profiling timer resolution                      0ns
  Execution capabilities                          
    Run OpenCL kernels                            Yes
    Run native kernels                            No
  Device Available                                Yes
  Compiler Available                              Yes
  Device Extensions                               cl_khr_global_int32_base_atomics cl_khr_global_int32_extended_atomics cl_khr_local_int32_base_atomics cl_khr_local_int32_extended_atomics cl_khr_byte_addressable_store cl_khr_fp64

  Device Name                                     AMD PITCAIRN (DRM 2.43.0, LLVM 3.7.0)
  Device Vendor                                   AMD
  Device Vendor ID                                0x1002
  Device Version                                  OpenCL 1.1 MESA 11.1.0
  Driver Version                                  11.1.0
  Device OpenCL C Version                         OpenCL C 1.1 
  Device Type                                     GPU
  Device Profile                                  FULL_PROFILE
  Max compute units                               20
  Max clock frequency                             1050MHz
  Max work item dimensions                        3
  Max work item sizes                             256x256x256
  Max work group size                             256
  Preferred work group size multiple              64
  Preferred / native vector sizes                 
    char                                                16 / 16      
    short                                                8 / 8       
    int                                                  4 / 4       
    long                                                 2 / 2       
    half                                                 0 / 0        (n/a)
    float                                                4 / 4       
    double                                               2 / 2        (cl_khr_fp64)
  Half-precision Floating-point support           (n/a)
  Single-precision Floating-point support         (core)
    Denormals                                     No
    Infinity and NANs                             Yes
    Round to nearest                              Yes
    Round to zero                                 No
    Round to infinity                             No
    IEEE754-2008 fused multiply-add               No
    Support is emulated in software               No
    Correctly-rounded divide and sqrt operations  No
  Double-precision Floating-point support         (cl_khr_fp64)
    Denormals                                     Yes
    Infinity and NANs                             Yes
    Round to nearest                              Yes
    Round to zero                                 Yes
    Round to infinity                             Yes
    IEEE754-2008 fused multiply-add               Yes
    Support is emulated in software               No
    Correctly-rounded divide and sqrt operations  No
  Address bits                                    32, Little-Endian
  Global memory size                              1073741824 (1024MiB)
  Error Correction support                        No
  Max memory allocation                           268435456 (256MiB)
  Unified memory for Host and Device              Yes
  Minimum alignment for any data type             128 bytes
  Alignment of base address                       1024 bits (128 bytes)
  Global Memory cache type                        None
  Image support                                   No
  Local memory type                               Local
  Local memory size                               32768 (32KiB)
  Max constant buffer size                        268435456 (256MiB)
  Max number of constant args                     16
  Max size of kernel argument                     1024
  Queue properties                                
    Out-of-order execution                        No
    Profiling                                     Yes
  Profiling timer resolution                      0ns
  Execution capabilities                          
    Run OpenCL kernels                            Yes
    Run native kernels                            No
  Device Available                                Yes
  Compiler Available                              Yes
  Device Extensions                               cl_khr_global_int32_base_atomics cl_khr_global_int32_extended_atomics cl_khr_local_int32_base_atomics cl_khr_local_int32_extended_atomics cl_khr_byte_addressable_store cl_khr_fp64

  Platform Name                                   Portable Computing Language
Number of devices                                 1
  Device Name                                     pthread-AMD FX(tm)-8350 Eight-Core Processor
  Device Vendor                                   AuthenticAMD
  Device Vendor ID                                0x1002
  Device Version                                  OpenCL 1.2 pocl
  Driver Version                                  0.12
  Device OpenCL C Version                         OpenCL C 1.2
  Device Type                                     CPU, Default
  Device Profile                                  FULL_PROFILE
  Max compute units                               8
  Max clock frequency                             4013MHz
  Device Partition                                (core)
    Max number of sub-devices                     8
    Supported partition types                     equally, by counts
  Max work item dimensions                        3
  Max work item sizes                             4096x4096x4096
  Max work group size                             4096
  Preferred work group size multiple              8
  Preferred / native vector sizes                 
    char                                                16 / 16      
    short                                                8 / 8       
    int                                                  4 / 4       
    long                                                 2 / 2       
    half                                                 8 / 8        (n/a)
    float                                                4 / 4       
    double                                               2 / 2        (cl_khr_fp64)
  Half-precision Floating-point support           (n/a)
  Single-precision Floating-point support         (core)
    Denormals                                     No
    Infinity and NANs                             Yes
    Round to nearest                              Yes
    Round to zero                                 No
    Round to infinity                             No
    IEEE754-2008 fused multiply-add               No
    Support is emulated in software               No
    Correctly-rounded divide and sqrt operations  No
  Double-precision Floating-point support         (cl_khr_fp64)
    Denormals                                     No
    Infinity and NANs                             Yes
    Round to nearest                              Yes
    Round to zero                                 No
    Round to infinity                             No
    IEEE754-2008 fused multiply-add               No
    Support is emulated in software               No
    Correctly-rounded divide and sqrt operations  No
  Address bits                                    64, Little-Endian
  Global memory size                              33651027968 (31.34GiB)
  Error Correction support                        No
  Max memory allocation                           33651027968 (31.34GiB)
  Unified memory for Host and Device              Yes
  Minimum alignment for any data type             128 bytes
  Alignment of base address                       1024 bits (128 bytes)
  Global Memory cache type                        Read/Write
  Global Memory cache size                        16384
  Global Memory cache line                        64 bytes
  Image support                                   Yes
    Max number of samplers per kernel             16
    Max size for 1D images from buffer            2103189248 pixels
    Max 1D or 2D image array size                 2048 images
    Max 2D image size                             32768x32768 pixels
    Max 3D image size                             2048x2048x2048 pixels
    Max number of read image args                 128
    Max number of write image args                128
  Local memory type                               Global
  Local memory size                               33651027968 (31.34GiB)
  Max constant buffer size                        33651027968 (31.34GiB)
  Max number of constant args                     8
  Max size of kernel argument                     1024
  Queue properties                                
    Out-of-order execution                        No
    Profiling                                     Yes
  Profiling timer resolution                      0ns
  Execution capabilities                          
    Run OpenCL kernels                            Yes
    Run native kernels                            Yes
  Prefer user sync for interop                    Yes
  printf() buffer size                            1048576 (1024KiB)
  Built-in kernels                                
  Device Available                                Yes
  Compiler Available                              Yes
  Linker Available                                Yes
  Device Extensions                               cl_khr_fp64 cl_khr_byte_addressable_store cl_khr_global_int32_base_atomics cl_khr_global_int32_extended_atomics cl_khr_local_int32_base_atomics cl_khr_local_int32_extended_atomics cl_khr_int64_base_atomics cl_khr_int64_extended_atomics

NULL platform behavior
  clGetPlatformInfo(NULL, CL_PLATFORM_NAME, ...)  Clover
  clGetDeviceIDs(NULL, CL_DEVICE_TYPE_ALL, ...)   Success [MESA]
  clCreateContext(NULL, ...) [default]            Success [MESA]
  clCreateContext(NULL, ...) [other]              Success [POCL]
  clCreateContextFromType(NULL, CL_DEVICE_TYPE_CPU)  No devices found in platform
  clCreateContextFromType(NULL, CL_DEVICE_TYPE_GPU)  Success (2)
    Platform Name                                 Clover
    Device Name                                   AMD PITCAIRN (DRM 2.43.0, LLVM 3.7.0)
    Device Name                                   AMD PITCAIRN (DRM 2.43.0, LLVM 3.7.0)
  clCreateContextFromType(NULL, CL_DEVICE_TYPE_ACCELERATOR)  No devices found in platform
  clCreateContextFromType(NULL, CL_DEVICE_TYPE_CUSTOM)  No devices found in platform
  clCreateContextFromType(NULL, CL_DEVICE_TYPE_ALL)  Success (2)
    Platform Name                                 Clover
    Device Name                                   AMD PITCAIRN (DRM 2.43.0, LLVM 3.7.0)
    Device Name                                   AMD PITCAIRN (DRM 2.43.0, LLVM 3.7.0)

ICD loader properties
  ICD loader Name                                 OpenCL ICD Loader
  ICD loader Vendor                               OCL Icd free software
  ICD loader Version                              2.2.7
  ICD loader Profile                              OpenCL 1.2

So, looking more closely, I see that my GPUs are only OpenCL 1.1 capability, but I think that is the same as before with proprietary drivers.

I am very surprised by your statement about OpenCL drivers, but also very pleased and excited. Can you help me get from here to a working configuration? Can you tell what I'm missing from this information? I'm happy to do any testing you ask.

Paul hi

there is a small assumption you have tried

$ sudo /etc/init.d/boinc-client restart

I use the AMD supplied OpenCL but can you

1) post some OpenCL library information - it should be something like

$ ldconfig -p | grep -i opencl
libOpenCL.so.1 (libc6,x86-64) => /usr/lib/libOpenCL.so.1
libOpenCL.so.1 (libc6) => /usr/lib32/libOpenCL.so.1
libOpenCL.so (libc6,x86-64) => /usr/lib/libOpenCL.so
$ ls -l /usr/lib/libOpenCL*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 23 Jun 4 2015 /usr/lib/libOpenCL.so -> /usr/lib/libOpenCL.so.1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 26184 Jun 2 2015 /usr/lib/libOpenCL.so.1

and

2) version of OS

3) output from xhost

Thanks.

Thanks for your help!

$ sudo /etc/init.d/boinc-client restart

Yes, I've been doing that action for a long time, every time I log in. (I also use AMD/ATi as you can see. Proprietary drivers working for you? I'm having a hell of a time getting them to work with kernel 4.3+)

I use the AMD supplied OpenCL but can you

1) post some OpenCL library information - it should be something like

Sure, no problem.

$ ldconfig -p | grep -i opencl
libboinc_opencl.so.7 (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/libboinc_opencl.so.7
libOpenCL.so.1 (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/libOpenCL.so.1
libOpenCL.so.1 (libc6) => /lib/libOpenCL.so.1
libOpenCL.so (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/libOpenCL.so
libOpenCL.so (libc6) => /lib/libOpenCL.so
libMesaOpenCL.so.1 (libc6,x86-64) => /lib64/libMesaOpenCL.so.1

Ooh, never noticed libboinc_opencl before. I tried to find BOINC OpenCL requirements but only found references to proprietary driver instructions and specific projects. This is the sort of thing I was looking for. Is this the latest version for this component? My distribution only has BOINC 7.2; is it worth trying 7.4?

$ ls -ltr /usr/lib/*OpenCL*
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 23 Dec 16 2013 /usr/lib/libOpenCL.so -> /usr/lib/libOpenCL.so.1*
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 18 Jun 17 2015 /usr/lib/libOpenCL.so.1 -> libOpenCL.so.1.0.0*
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 118500 Jun 17 2015 /usr/lib/libOpenCL.so.1.0.0*

$ ls -ltr /usr/lib64/*OpenCL*
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 25 Dec 16 2013 /usr/lib64/libOpenCL.so -> /usr/lib64/libOpenCL.so.1*
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 119128 Jun 17 2015 /usr/lib64/libOpenCL.so.1.0.0*
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 18 Jun 17 2015 /usr/lib64/libOpenCL.so.1 -> libOpenCL.so.1.0.0*
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 22 Jan 13 13:39 /usr/lib64/libMesaOpenCL.so.1 -> libMesaOpenCL.so.1.0.0*
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 17043352 Jan 13 13:42 /usr/lib64/libMesaOpenCL.so.1.0.0*

2) version of OS

$ uname -a
Linux wrangler 4.3.4-300.fc23.x86_64 #1 SMP Mon Jan 25 13:39:23 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

3) output from xhost

$ xhost
access control enabled, only authorized clients can connect
SI:localuser:boinc
SI:localuser:<my username>

My distribution only has BOINC 7.2; is it worth trying 7.4?

If you can update then preferably to 7.6.22-ish. It's got a bit more error reporting than earlier versions. Also enable <coproc_debug> and repost startup messages.

So, looking more closely, I see that my GPUs are only OpenCL 1.1 capability, but I think that is the same as before with proprietary drivers.

I think that depends on the drivers, though. Do you know what model AMD GPU you have? I see it's a Pitcairn, so that's either a HD78xx, HD8870 or one of the R7/R9 low level GPUs. Those are all OpenCL 1.2 capable though, unless the drivers aren't and then they show as OpenCL 1.1

---

Proprietary drivers working for you?

yes, with Ubuntu 14.04

and also could you...

$ ls -ltr /lib/*OpenCL*

2) version of OS

$ uname -a
Linux wrangler 4.3.4-300.fc23.x86_64 #1 SMP Mon Jan 25 13:39:23 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Fedora ?

If you can get to 7.6.22+ as Juha suggests there is a *lot* better debugging info.

Excellent! Thanks for all the suggestions.

$ ls -ltr /lib/*OpenCL*
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 23 Dec 16 2013 /lib/libOpenCL.so -> /usr/lib/libOpenCL.so.1*
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 18 Jun 17 2015 /lib/libOpenCL.so.1 -> libOpenCL.so.1.0.0*
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 118500 Jun 17 2015 /lib/libOpenCL.so.1.0.0*
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 22 Jan 13 13:25 /lib/libMesaOpenCL.so.1 -> libMesaOpenCL.so.1.0.0*
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 17756580 Jan 13 13:27 /lib/libMesaOpenCL.so.1.0.0*

(/lib -> /usr/lib64)

Yeah, Fedora.

Okay! I'll see what I get with 7.6.22. I started using my distro version about 3 years ago, but until then, I was using official release.

PITCARN is S. Islands, my card is 7870. It is 1.2 capable according to specs. (But, I don't think my version of Mesa OCL is latest.) PTICARN is supported by crimson and it works under kernel 4.2 and old X11, but wasn't 100% stable. I had trouble installing any driver with 4.3, so, I gave up and thought I would try open-source drivers and wait to see what happens in the next few months.

FYI, there isn't any v7.6 for Linux on the download page. I'm downloading 7.4 now, though, but that is development only.

Oh right, now I remember. The official releases don't run on Fedora; can't find any libraries. Ugh. Okay, there will be a slight delay while I try to fix this.

Okay, so best I can tell, I have to build BOINC myself. That's fine, but I don't know what version to build?

I was thinking 7.4.22 because that is the leading version number linked on the download page. But, if you are recommending 7.6.x, can you recommend at version (git tag, specifically) that I should try to build?

Hmm, on second though, I guess I'll just try 7.6.22. Might as well if I'm going to the trouble. Let me know if you think I should start somewhere else.

I was able to configure the build, but I'm not confident. The build didn't appear to check or opencl stuff, so I'm not sure what to make of it. If you have some thoughts on this please let me know.

wxWidgets is a problem, but I think I only need to build the client for this test and I'm sure I can build the wxWidgets libs if I need to.

I'm going to start the build now and check in the morning.

Oh I almost forgot. In addition to the build not mentioning opencl, the dependencies and build instructions don't mention it either! There were several minor dependencies that were not listed that were caught by ./configure, but I'm very suspicious.

You're sure this is supposed to work?

wxWidgets is a problem, but I think I only need to build the client for this test and I'm sure I can build the wxWidgets libs if I need to.

wxWidgets is the problem why Berkeley no longer builds BOINC for Linux. Since wxWidgets 3.0 broke for Linux and not all distros out there have since updated to wxWidgets 3.0.1 with a fix, it's impossible to build a working BOINC (Manager) for Linux.

And as such the developers are now relying on volunteers and package maintainers to build BOINC for their distros.

---

my card is 7870. It is

Umm, just how many cards you have? clinfo says you have two.

Don't worry about configure not saying anything about OpenCL. All the GPU libraries are loaded dynamically at runtime. This way the same client can be run on hosts with and without GPUs.

Jord,

Got it, thanks. Interesting. I'm curious about the details, but I don't think it's important at the moment.

I can handle building one extra library. But, correct me if I'm wrong, I don't need the manager to test the client's coproc detection.

Umm, just how many cards you have? clinfo says you have two.

Just two.

Don't worry about configure not saying anything about OpenCL. All the GPU libraries are loaded dynamically at runtime. This way the same client can be run on hosts with and without GPUs.

Sweet! But, it seems to be worse...(see next post)

But, correct me if I'm wrong, I don't need the manager to test the client's coproc detection.

That's correct, you do not need BOINC Manager for that as it is the client doing the detection.

---

Well, the build was successful, AFAICT.

But, when I run it, the coproc detection is even worse with 7.6.23! 7.2.42 from my distribution detects my CPU OpenCL coprocs. But 7.6.23 doesn't. And, it also doesn't detect my GPUs, either.

$ boinc_client
05-Feb-2016 13:29:25 [---] Starting BOINC client version 7.6.23 for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
05-Feb-2016 13:29:25 [---] log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task, coproc_debug
05-Feb-2016 13:29:25 [---] Libraries: libcurl/7.43.0 NSS/3.21 Basic ECC zlib/1.2.8 libidn/1.32 libssh2/1.6.0 nghttp2/1.6.0
05-Feb-2016 13:29:25 [---] Data directory: /home/<username>/local/BOINC
05-Feb-2016 13:29:25 [---] [coproc] launching child process at boinc_client
05-Feb-2016 13:29:25 [---] [coproc] relative to directory /home/<username>/local/BOINC
05-Feb-2016 13:29:25 [---] [coproc] with data directory /home/<username>/local/BOINC
execv: No such file or directory
05-Feb-2016 13:29:25 [---] GPU detection failed. error code 512
05-Feb-2016 13:29:25 [---] [coproc] read_coproc_info_file() returned error -108
05-Feb-2016 13:29:25 [---] No usable GPUs found

(username redacted)

Notice the error log that has no header. I'm not sure if this is important or not. Seems like it is since that's just at the point of coproc detection. I did enable coproc_debug, though, so I hope that helps.

One problem is that 'make install' failed because it tried to update my /etc/init.d/ files. That's not even how my distribution works, so that would work anyway, but I cannot install this test globally. Why did the install try to do this? I expected the default build to build for local installation, just like the official release shell-extractable packages. I just created BOINC/ and ran boinc_client from there. Is that valid? Can I reconfigure the build to work better for my test?

(I think I'll strace this later to see what it tried to run. I don't think the install finished.)

I'm pretty far into this, now, so if you have any ideas or want me to try anything, please let me know.