Hi there,
i am running climateprediction with the last boinc linux client under Fedora Core 5.

I need to completely reinstall the distribution,
and i may need to go back to FC4.

What do i do with the boinc client ?
Can i just tar, gzip and save the entire boinc directory, reinstall the system, and then unzip the folder and just run the client again ??

Do i need to detach from the project ane re-attach later on ? Winn i lose any work if i do so ?

thanks
giampy

When you detach, you will lose all work you are presently doing. So whatever you do, don't do that. Nor reset, as that will also delete all your work.

Is BOINC installed in the BOINC directory? If so, do you only need to change Linux, do you want to reformat the drive? I'd say, reinstall Linux, it should leave all other directories alone if you don't reformat the harddrive. Then after you're done, reinstall BOINC so all paths are complete again and continue where you left off.

Rethinking this from a Windows point of view. If I had WinXP but wanted to go back to Win2k for instance, I'd backup the BOINC folder (if it were on the same drive as the OS, which in my case it isn't ;)), put it in a zip or RAR file someplace save, reformat the drive, put the zip/RAR file back, then reinstall BOINC to the same location and continue.

You will get a new host ID anyway, since you are changing Operating Systems. But that shouldn't hurt the work that you are still doing. If you don't trust it anyway, put CPDN to No New Work, then reset the project, exit BOINC and make the backup. Then continue on as I said above.

I am confused now. ;)
Leaving the ultimate answer to someone else if the changing of the host ID number will have trouble for the work you actually have at this moment. As far as I know, the work you have on your computer is registered to your Host ID. So if that one changes....

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I think you will loose your work. The project expected the same computer that DL the WU to send back the result. A change in the OS will make it look like a different computer and the results will be rejected.

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Boinc V 7.4.36
Win7 i5 3.33G 4GB NVidia 470

I think you will loose your work. The project expected the same computer that DL the WU to send back the result.

I think that is worse than unfortunate.

I'm somebody who every month "tinkers" with at least one of my computers. This might involve replacement of the (Linux) kernel, or of the (OS) platform, or of the motherboard. And I do NOT have the patience to wait-to-upgrade until *all* the previously-downloaded BOINC WUs have been finished.

(The BOINC projects in which I participate all use long-duration WUs. And I'm on a dial-up line, connect only a couple times each week, and like to keep many days of work "queued up" at my computer - in case I don't get around to connecting regularly.)


I don't mind BOINC not accepting work that was *begun* on one computer and *finished* on 'another' computer. [But what if after three months into the execution of a CPDN WU that computer suffers a (non-disk) hardware failure? Ought not that WU (as reloaded from a disk backup) be allowed to finish on a _substitute_ computer, thereby NOT "losing" those three previous months of effort?]

But requiring that computer upgrades be deferred until all previously downloaded (but not yet processed) BOINC-project work has been completed and uploaded seems to me overly burdensome for someone voluntarily participating in a BOINC project.
.

I doubt that a large number of volunteer crunchers tinker with their computers every month to that extent, so it's not unreasonable for BOINC to have developed in that direction.
And climate models CAN be completed on a different computer, provided that the OS is the same. Definately not moved from Linux to Windows, or vice versa.

Well,
i sure planned to keep using FC5 for a few years, otherwise i wouldn't have boinc installed. I am still somehow hoping i can keep FC5, but since, unepectedly, a key element of my line of work (the efltk library) does not compile anymore thanks to "improvements" in gcc 4.1, chances are i have to revert back to FC4.

I have upgraded kernels in the past but i did not lose my work. So the ID is not related to the kernel but only to the "upper" part of the OS.

If i could submit the partial result i would, but apparently the only thing to try is untar the directory in the new installation and see what happens.
I'll keep you updated.

On the bright side i am only losing one week of cpdn work, not too much.

giampy

Just letting you know that contrary to the expectations, after installing FC3, unzipping the folder, and running the client (for a few days now), everything seems to work just fine, both in computing and in talking with the cpdn servers ...

giampy

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