Posts by Ken Sharp

1) Message boards : Questions and problems : Eternal Sleep (Message 98390)
Posted 8 May 2020 by Ken Sharp
Post:
The system log files will likely tell you something.

Also, how much RAM do you have?
2) Message boards : Questions and problems : BOINC Manager will not connect with BOINC in Linux (Disconnected, Error -155 & -180) (Message 98389)
Posted 8 May 2020 by Ken Sharp
Post:
Are you using the correct password?

 $ sudo cat /etc/boinc-client/gui_rpc_auth.cfg

If you've been uninstalling/reinstalling you've likely messed up any configuration you had already set.

They don't appear in any folder I see or in the "Running Processes" list.

Show all processes

Try htop.
3) Message boards : Questions and problems : What is project GoofyxGrid@Home? (Message 98386)
Posted 8 May 2020 by Ken Sharp
Post:
It's not dead. I'm processing WU right now.
4) Message boards : Questions and problems : Power Supply Failed after a few hours of latest BOINC update (Message 98385)
Posted 8 May 2020 by Ken Sharp
Post:
BOINC definitely is not to blame for your PSU blowing up. ::rolleyes::
5) Message boards : Questions and problems : Mounting subdirectories blows BOINC's mind (Message 98383)
Posted 8 May 2020 by Ken Sharp
Post:
Interesting to see that Win 9x isn't listed as supported, but that a lot of projects still support Win 9x.

That's fine, but if you're running old OS then you're running an old BOINC anyway. And it will always be available.

Saying that, disk compression was definitely available during the Win 9x and DOS era (Doublespace, etc.), though I see the code is different for Windows and I haven't taken much notice of it.

Looks like a very old issue that won't go away on its own.
6) Message boards : Questions and problems : Mounting subdirectories blows BOINC's mind (Message 98377)
Posted 8 May 2020 by Ken Sharp
Post: 
    total_space = (double)fs_info.f_frsize * (double)fs_info.f_blocks;
    free_space = (double)fs_info.f_frsize * (double)fs_info.f_bavail;

Well this is clearly correct and gives correct values.

$ stat -f /var/lib/boinc-client
  File: "/var/lib/boinc-client"
    ID: 165a0cf0f966f308 Namelen: 255     Type: btrfs
Block size: 4096       Fundamental block size: 4096
Blocks: Total: 2621440    Free: 2310694    Available: 2239902
Inodes: Total: 0          Free: 0

get_filesystem_info will return the correct values. So something else is going on.

I see in cs_scheduler.cpp that get_disk_usages() is called:
int CLIENT_STATE::get_disk_usages() {
    unsigned int i;
    double size;
    PROJECT* p;
    int retval;
    char buf[MAXPATHLEN];

    client_disk_usage = 0;
    total_disk_usage = 0;
    for (i=0; i<projects.size(); i++) {
        p = projects[i];
        p->disk_usage = 0;
        retval = dir_size(p->project_dir(), size);
        if (!retval) p->disk_usage = size;
    }

    for (i=0; i<active_tasks.active_tasks.size(); i++) {
        ACTIVE_TASK* atp = active_tasks.active_tasks[i];
        get_slot_dir(atp->slot, buf, sizeof(buf));
        retval = dir_size(buf, size);
        if (retval) continue;
        atp->wup->project->disk_usage += size;
    }
    for (i=0; i<projects.size(); i++) {
        p = projects[i];
        total_disk_usage += p->disk_usage;
    }
    retval = dir_size(".", size, false);
    if (!retval) {
        client_disk_usage = size;
        total_disk_usage += size;
    }
    return 0;
}

Here we can see that dir_size is called, which does as you might expect.

$ sudo du -sh /var/lib/boinc-client
1.8G	/var/lib/boinc-client

$ df -h /var/lib/boinc-client
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdb         10G  1.2G  8.6G  13% /var/lib/boinc-client

So, on calculating the amount of disk space used so that the information can be sent to the server, the client simply adds up the amount of data in the relevant directories. This process is unaware of TRUE disk use (i.e. after any deduplication and/or compression). The two numbers above show how this information varies.

BOINC looks at the size of the disk (20 GB), and looks at the size of its data directory (18 GB).

Unfortunately BOINC simply sees the 18 GB and so believes there is only 2 GB remaining, which of course there isn't. BOINC will never try to exceed 20 GB of stored data.

Please correct me if I'm wrong. :-)

Note: The disk size and amount of stored data differs from when I first looked at this, but the result can still be seen.
7) Message boards : Questions and problems : Limit CPU Speed (Message 98325)
Posted 4 May 2020 by Ken Sharp
Post:
Would limiting the processes with cgroups to, say, 90% prevent the turbo boost from occurring? It would allow other non-limited processes to use the boost as needed, in theory.

I haven't tested this, though I do have a machine I could test it on, so may do this at some point.

It might depend on the scheduler, and changing that for a general purpose computer isn't usually a great idea.
8) Message boards : Questions and problems : Mounting subdirectories blows BOINC's mind (Message 98323)
Posted 4 May 2020 by Ken Sharp
Post:
That's what I ended up doing. My second post is still relevant to this setup though.

I don't know how BOINC can look at the actual disk space used, though there are userspace tools do so, so it might be possible.
9) Message boards : Questions and problems : Multiple Storage Devices for BOINC. (Message 98198)
Posted 29 Apr 2020 by Ken Sharp
Post:
Under Linux, yes, with difficulty.

Under Windows... oh dear.

Note that adding symlinks in the slots directory won't work under Linux as anything added there is simply removed when BOINC does its startup checks.

BTRFS will let you span subvolumes across separate drives. I'll just leave that there.
10) Message boards : Questions and problems : How do I 0.25 CPU and 0.25 GPU? (Message 98196)
Posted 29 Apr 2020 by Ken Sharp
Post:
World Community Grid (application)
Computer: Windows 10.
CPU: Pentium G3420 (2 Core).
tasks on World Community Grid (application):
Core 1
Task 1 (cpu0.25)
Task 2 (cpu0.25)
Task 3 (cpu0.25)
Task 4 (cpu0.25)
Core 2
Task 5 (cpu0.25)
Task 6 (cpu0.25)
Task 7 (cpu0.25)
Task 8 (cpu0.25)


By the look of this you're wanting to run each core at 25%, rather than running on 25% of the available cores?

Under Linux, you would use cgroups*. Windows 10 runs Linux so that may work, but I haven't tested it because I run Windows 10 in Linux, and won't be changing that soon.

There's probably some awful third-party app you can use in Windows, but that's for you to discover.

* Article is fairly old and refers to cgroups v1, however the principle for cgroups v2 is exactly the same.
11) Message boards : Questions and problems : Smallest CPU WUs? (Message 98194)
Posted 29 Apr 2020 by Ken Sharp
Post:
You can set target WU runtime at Rosetta@Home, who are currently crunching COVID-19 WU.

12) Message boards : Questions and problems : Mounting subdirectories blows BOINC's mind (Message 98190)
Posted 29 Apr 2020 by Ken Sharp
Post:
Okay, so this does have a pretty annoying consequence.

BOINC looks at the size of the disk (20 GB), and looks at the size of its data directory (18 GB).

This 18 GB I got down to 2 GB thanks to compression and deduplication. Very nice.

Unfortunately BOINC simply sees the 18 GB and so believes there is only 2 GB remaining, which of course there isn't. BOINC will never try to exceed 20 GB of stored data. This is disappointing.

Indeed, there is a general problem with how BOINC looks at free space.

My guess is that it can be tricked with overprovisioning, but we'll see how things go.
13) Message boards : Questions and problems : Mounting subdirectories blows BOINC's mind (Message 98152)
Posted 29 Apr 2020 by Ken Sharp
Post:
Mounting a subdirectory, such as slots, on a different disk to the BOINC data directory results in disk space calculations that are incorrect. It would appear that the client checks the disk usage overall, and compares this to the available disk space of the data directory.

I bumped my head on this over at this Rosetta@Home thread.

It may be that this is intentional, but if it isn't then I thought I'd shout out, just in case anyone has looked into this.

This method of checking disk free space is, of course, incorrect, but it may simply be too much of an unusual situation for anyone to really care.
14) Message boards : Promotion : Petition for IoS Boinc app (Message 79665)
Posted 18 Jul 2017 by Ken Sharp
Post:
It's Apple so you've got no chance. Plus nobody in their right mind buys Apple, and of those they don't even know what BOINC is. It would be a total waste of time. May as well port it to a Texas Instrument calculator.
15) Message boards : Promotion : BOINC for unusual devices ? (Message 20792)
Posted 14 Oct 2008 by Ken Sharp
Post:
Boincoid (boincoid.sf.net) have been developing a Java port. It's still in the pre-alpha stage, but the potential is there.

The crunching would not be as efficient as compiling for the architecture, but a Java client would make it possible to run on just about any machine.

The problem I have with Boincoid (or Java Boinc) at the moment is that it has been designed specifically for Java SE, and as those who have anything to do with mobile applications will know, there should be some focus on Java ME - which is what most smart phones run.

However, as I say, the potential is enormous, and this is only the very early stages after all.

I see no problem in crunching WUs on my mobile while it's charging. :-)



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