Thread 'Ubuntu 20.10 but getting error on BOINC'

Author	Message
Kusho Send message Joined: 23 Oct 20 Posts: 7	Message 101239 - Posted: 23 Oct 2020, 17:49:19 UTC Just upgraded to Ubuntu 20.10 with a clean install and now BOINC does not work. BOINC MANAGER - Conection Error gui_npc_auth.cfg exists but can't be read. Check the file permissions. I found posts about this but for different versions of Ubuntu and I am not that good at Ubuntu. I do not know how to check file permissions. Any help would be appreciated ID: 101239 ·

Keith Myers Volunteer tester Help desk expert Send message Joined: 17 Nov 16 Posts: 890	Message 101241 - Posted: 23 Oct 2020, 18:48:06 UTC - in response to Message 101239. Simplest way is to use the Files app and navigate to the /etc/boinc-client directory and right-click the file. Look at the Permissions tab and see who owns the file. Owner should be root and group should be boinc. Also the latest BOINC does not allow the gui_npc_auth.cfg file to be empty now. It should either have a random generated password in the file or one you create yourself. This is for security reasons and makes sure that the Manager is allowed to connect to the client. ID: 101241 ·

Kusho Send message Joined: 23 Oct 20 Posts: 7	Message 101244 - Posted: 23 Oct 2020, 19:25:21 UTC - in response to Message 101241. okay says owner is root group is BOINC but its Read only for BOINC. It wont let me change it because I am not the owner. So how do I log in as root and change the properties. Im guessing I need it to be read and write for BOINC ID: 101244 ·

Dave Help desk expert Send message Joined: 28 Jun 10 Posts: 2691	Message 101245 - Posted: 23 Oct 2020, 20:08:33 UTC - in response to Message 101244. Last modified: 23 Oct 2020, 20:26:03 UTC okay says owner is root group is BOINC but its Read only for BOINC. It wont let me change it because I am not the owner. So how do I log in as root and change the properties. Im guessing I need it to be read and write for BOINC I see the problem as being because the manager is run by the user so you need to add yourself to the boinc group. Usermod is the commmand and usage is, sudo usermod -a -G examplegroup exampleusername So in my case, sudo usermod -a -G boinc fredblogs Replace fredblogs with your username. Edit: It will ask you for your password Here the upgrade to Groovy didn't cause any problems but that may be because I had added myself to the boinc group previously. ID: 101245 ·

Kusho Send message Joined: 23 Oct 20 Posts: 7	Message 101246 - Posted: 23 Oct 2020, 21:08:14 UTC - in response to Message 101245. ok. did that but still no change. When I launch BOINC i still get the same error. ID: 101246 ·

Richard Haselgrove Volunteer tester Help desk expert Send message Joined: 5 Oct 06 Posts: 5128	Message 101247 - Posted: 23 Oct 2020, 21:16:53 UTC - in response to Message 101246. You possibly need to restart the computer for those last changes to take effect. ID: 101247 ·

Kusho Send message Joined: 23 Oct 20 Posts: 7	Message 101248 - Posted: 23 Oct 2020, 21:32:43 UTC - in response to Message 101247. Ok that changed the error. Now it says Invalid client RPC password. Try reinstalling BOINC And i went to Ubuntu Software and removed BOINC then reinstalled it. Error didnt go away. ID: 101248 ·

Keith Myers Volunteer tester Help desk expert Send message Joined: 17 Nov 16 Posts: 890	Message 101249 - Posted: 23 Oct 2020, 21:41:25 UTC - in response to Message 101248. Now that you have write access to the file. Put in your own password into the file. Save and reboot. ID: 101249 ·

Kusho Send message Joined: 23 Oct 20 Posts: 7	Message 101252 - Posted: 23 Oct 2020, 22:59:14 UTC - in response to Message 101249. Last modified: 23 Oct 2020, 23:27:02 UTC I went thru the Files to that directory and double clicked on the file but it still says it is read only. So I still don't know how to edit the file. And I am supposed to type in my password for this Ubuntu user login? ID: 101252 ·

Keith Myers Volunteer tester Help desk expert Send message Joined: 17 Nov 16 Posts: 890	Message 101253 - Posted: 23 Oct 2020, 23:52:20 UTC - in response to Message 101252. Last modified: 23 Oct 2020, 23:55:30 UTC Owner is root. So you have to access it as root. sudo gedit gui_rpc_auth.cfg You might find the nautilus-admin application useful in the future. That way you can right-click any file or directory with the Files application and you will be prompted to edit it as Administrator or in other words as superuser sudo apt install nautilus-admin ID: 101253 ·

Kusho Send message Joined: 23 Oct 20 Posts: 7	Message 101254 - Posted: 24 Oct 2020, 0:07:45 UTC - in response to Message 101253. Last modified: 24 Oct 2020, 0:08:56 UTC Ok the file now has my main user password for this user. it just says 1 Password and by Password it is my password. but I still get the same error Invalid client RPC password. Try reinstalling BOINC and yes i rebooted. ID: 101254 ·

Keith Myers Volunteer tester Help desk expert Send message Joined: 17 Nov 16 Posts: 890	Message 101255 - Posted: 24 Oct 2020, 0:26:33 UTC - in response to Message 101254. You didn't I hope hit a return key or Enter. The new editor by default puts in line numbers. There is a toggle to not display line numbers in the Text Editor's Preferences. It shouldn't have actually put a 1 in the file though. That is just for display. However, any extraneous character like a CR-LF character at the end of the password,which is hidden, can mess up the password. So just input your password for your user and then just Save the file. Also look at the permissions after the edit. It still should have the root:boinc ownership. If it has been changed to root:root you need to change it back. sudo chown root:boinc gui_rpc_auth.cfg ID: 101255 ·

Jord Volunteer tester Help desk expert Send message Joined: 29 Aug 05 Posts: 15560	Message 101256 - Posted: 24 Oct 2020, 1:33:19 UTC Following how difficult this is, can anyone do a write up of it so I'll put it in the Wiki? And shouldn't we ask the developers if there's an easier way to do this? Because it doesn't sound like BOINC on Linux can be used by everyone, while the point of BOINC is that it should be usable by anyone (with permission). ID: 101256 ·

Keith Myers Volunteer tester Help desk expert Send message Joined: 17 Nov 16 Posts: 890	Message 101257 - Posted: 24 Oct 2020, 1:53:27 UTC - in response to Message 101256. I haven't messed with Ubuntu 20.10 yet. Still on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. There might be changes that I am not aware of. That said, I only have one host using a repository version of BOINC that I can refer to for troubleshooting help. That is the Raspberry Pi with the distros BOINC 7.14.2. I don't have any experience yet with the 7.16 branch which is in the distros now for Ubuntu and Debian now. I normally use a local installed version of BOINC which is of not much use for troubleshooting the service install versions that most people use. The latest version which requires a password in the gui_rpc_auth.cfg file sure is causing lots of troubles it seems from the plethora of posts for help lately. ID: 101257 ·

Keith Myers Volunteer tester Help desk expert Send message Joined: 17 Nov 16 Posts: 890	Message 101258 - Posted: 24 Oct 2020, 2:00:07 UTC Can you remember if the gui_rpc_auth.cfg file was empty after you reinstalled the BOINC application? Or did it have some random password letters in it? Also, please verify what version of BOINC you are retrieving from the Ubuntu Groovy Gorilla repository? If the new version requires a password, it should install a random generated password in the file if the install is being done correctly by the developers. ID: 101258 ·

ProDigit Send message Joined: 8 Nov 19 Posts: 718	Message 101264 - Posted: 24 Oct 2020, 8:28:03 UTC After an uninstall, make sure you purge. Either by doing the 'sudo apt autoremove' command, or by uninstalling via the 'sudo apt purge boinc-client' command. If you don't purge the files, a reinstall will re-use the existing files. ID: 101264 ·

1PE Send message Joined: 11 Dec 15 Posts: 13	Message 101270 - Posted: 24 Oct 2020, 9:25:33 UTC - in response to Message 101258. Last modified: 24 Oct 2020, 9:30:56 UTC A null message. Deletable... ID: 101270 ·

1PE Send message Joined: 11 Dec 15 Posts: 13	Message 101271 - Posted: 24 Oct 2020, 9:30:20 UTC - in response to Message 101258. Last modified: 24 Oct 2020, 9:40:04 UTC Another null message; please ignore. Why can't I delete it myself? ID: 101271 ·

1PE Send message Joined: 11 Dec 15 Posts: 13	Message 101272 - Posted: 24 Oct 2020, 9:35:34 UTC - in response to Message 101271. Last modified: 24 Oct 2020, 9:36:34 UTC [quote]Can you remember if the gui_rpc_auth.cfg file was empty after you reinstalled the BOINC application? Or did it have some random password letters in it? [quote]Also, please verify what version of BOINC you are retrieving from the Ubuntu Groovy Gorilla repository? I have the IDENTICAL problem, and had already done much of the advice in this thread before I found it. I, too, have done ALL the advice here. Yes, I added my username to the group boinc. My gui_rpc_auth.cfg has a password of my making, that I generated in Text Editor, cd /var/lib/boinc, sudo rm the file, cd back to where the new file was held (Desktop), then sudo cp to the folder. The file icon in the folder has a small X in the lower right corner. My BOINC Client and Manager are "7.16.15+dfsg.is.7.16.11.dfsg-1". This appears to be a "system" issue for BOINC sys-admins to negotiate with Ubuntu. Regards, Peter ID: 101272 ·

Keith Myers Volunteer tester Help desk expert Send message Joined: 17 Nov 16 Posts: 890	Message 101283 - Posted: 24 Oct 2020, 19:18:41 UTC - in response to Message 101272. I suggest you navigate to the /var/lib/boinc-client directory and open a Terminal and try executing the client. sudo systemctl start boinc-client You should see the client start and print out the normal startup messages. If that doesn't work, then navigate to /usr/bin and open a Terminal and try running the client executable directly there, without starting the service. Should see the standard client startup messages. ./boinc If you can get the client running, then open another Terminal session in /usr/bin and run the Manager executable there. ./boincmgr The Manager should have no issues connecting to the client. That has always been my fail-proof method of proving the viabilities of the BOINC executables. ID: 101283 ·

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