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World Community Grid Forums
Category: Support
Forum: BOINC Agent Support
Thread: Linux: how to run BOINC as an application instead of as a service? |
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Thread Status: Active Total posts in this thread: 9
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jonathandl
Advanced Cruncher Joined: Nov 12, 2007 Post Count: 106 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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I recently installed BOINC on an Xubuntu computer, and noticed that by default it runs automatically at startup. Instead, though, want it to run the same way as a normal program on a Mac or PC, that is, crunch when I open the BOINC Manager manually; so I skipped the second step of the installation instructions, "sudo systemctl boinc-client enable."
----------------------------------------Skipping that step didn't prevent automatic execution at boot time, so I tried "systemctl boinc-client disable," but got these error messages: $ systemctl disable boinc-client When I tried with "sudo" in front of it, I got a whole bunch more errors: $ sudo systemctl disable boinc-client What do these error messages mean, and do they reflect a condition that could impair the accuracy of Results? Should I uninstall and reinstall BOINC, or at least reset the World Community Grid Project? Anyway, opening the BOINC manager does not start the BOINC client; either I have to leave automatic startup enabled, or manually enter "systemctl start boinc-client" from a Terminal window. How can I start the BOINC manager and BOINC client (simultaneously) from the Linux desktop? [Edit 3 times, last edit by jonathandl at Sep 20, 2019 2:26:30 AM] |
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floyd
Cruncher Joined: May 28, 2016 Post Count: 47 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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I recently installed BOINC on an Xubuntu computer, and noticed that by default it runs automatically at startup. Instead, though, want it to run the same way as a normal program on a Mac or PC, that is, crunch when I open the BOINC Manager manually A clear description of what you want, a good start. Just a side note. I skipped the second step of the installation instructions, "sudo systemctl boinc-client enable." Strange. I would expect the client to be enabled and running after installation, so no need to do that manually. But anyhow, you want it disabled and you achieved that. I tried "systemctl boinc-client disable," but got these error messages It's systemctl disable boinc-client as you quoted. That doesn't stop the client by the way. Don't try to explain the exact error messages, it all comes down to missing permissions. When I tried with "sudo" in front of it, I got a whole bunch more errors That's just warnings about the way autostart is configured. If (not) starting the client automatically works as expected you can ignore them. No action required. Anyway, opening the BOINC manager does not start the BOINC client So that's the whole problem here. Unfortunately I don't have a clear idea on how to solve it. Maybe more information could help someone to work it out, so I'll just ask a few assorted questions that come to mind. What's the boinc version? I see the 7.14.2 Manager has a "Run the client" option that my previous 7.6.33 did not have. Not sure if it works as expected though. Exactly how do you start the Manager? Did you add yourself to the boinc group? What's the permissions of /var/lib/boinc-client, /etc/boinc-client and their contents? Any useful output in /var/log or ~/.BOINC, maybe even in /var/lib/boinc-client, or in the terminal if you start the Manager from there? |
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jonathandl
Advanced Cruncher Joined: Nov 12, 2007 Post Count: 106 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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So that's the whole problem here. Unfortunately I don't have a clear idea on how to solve it. Maybe more information could help someone to work it out, so I'll just ask a few assorted questions that come to mind. What's the boinc version? I see the 7.14.2 Manager has a "Run the client" option that my previous 7.6.33 did not have. Not sure if it works as expected though. Exactly how do you start the Manager? Did you add yourself to the boinc group? What's the permissions of /var/lib/boinc-client, /etc/boinc-client and their contents? Any useful output in /var/log or ~/.BOINC, maybe even in /var/lib/boinc-client, or in the terminal if you start the Manager from there? Sorry about the delay in responding. I actually installed BOINC on a second Xubuntu computer, and got a similar (but not the same) result. Firstly, the Manager that I installed now does have a "Run the Client" preference option that the manager on the other computer doesn't. But interestingly, I installed BOINC only a few days apart... ...That being said, both computers are running XUbuntu but one is running the 32-bit OS version 16.04.6 LTS, and the newer computer is running 64-bit Xubuntu 19.04. On both computers I followed the instructions by going to https://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/ms/viewDownloadAgain.action# then clicking the radio button for Linux Ubuntu/Debian except that on the first computer I had skipped the "sudo systemctl enable boinc-client" step and on the new computer I followed the instructions to the letter and then, after running some jobs, decided to do "systemctl disable boinc-client" followed by "sudo systemctl disable boinc-client." On the first computer (Xubuntu 16.04.6), if I restart the computer then launch the BOINC manager by typing "boincmgr -d /var/lib/boinc" the GUI comes up but it doesn't seem to try to start the client. On the new computer (Xubuntu 19.04), if I launch the BOINC manager from the xfce4 Whisker menu then I can see with ps axwf that it tries to launch the BOINC client once, then it displays an error: "The BOINC client has exited unexpectedly 3 times in the last 3 minutes. Would you like to restart it again?" Following information is from the new computer only: BOINC manager version 7.14.2 (x64) BOINC client version 7.14.2 for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu CPU: AMD Opteron(tm) X3216 APU. I added myself to the BOINC group according to step #4 of the instructions. Permissions and ownership of /var/lib/boinc-client folder: drwxr-xr-x 5 boinc boinc And its contents: Varies, but most files owned by boinc boinc with -rw-r--r-- permissions, symbolic links owned by root root with lrwxrwxrwx permissions, and directories with drwxrwx--x 2 boinc boinc permissions and ownership. Permissions and ownership of /etc/boinc-client folder: drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Sep 25 04:14 . drwxr-xr-x 141 root root 12288 Sep 25 20:39 .. -rw-rw-r-- 1 boinc boinc 356 Jan 30 2019 cc_config.xml -rw-rw-r-- 1 root boinc 1501 Sep 25 05:04 global_prefs_override.xml -rw-r----- 1 root boinc 1 Jan 30 2019 gui_rpc_auth.cfg -rw-r--r-- 1 root boinc 296 Jan 30 2019 remote_hosts.cfg Interesting log entries from /var/log/syslog (But this only happened once): Sep 25 19:38:18 ProLiant-MicroServer-Gen10 boinccmd[6932]: can't connect to local host .Sep 25 19:38:18 ProLiant-MicroServer-Gen10 systemd[1]: boinc-client.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE Sep 25 19:38:18 ProLiant-MicroServer-Gen10 systemd[1]: boinc-client.service: Failed with result 'exit-code' |
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floyd
Cruncher Joined: May 28, 2016 Post Count: 47 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Firstly, the Manager that I installed now does have a "Run the Client" preference option that the manager on the other computer doesn't. But interestingly, I installed BOINC only a few days apart... If I understand the Ubuntu version scheme correctly these two releases are three years apart and so will be the included BOINC versions....That being said, both computers are running XUbuntu but one is running the 32-bit OS version 16.04.6 LTS, and the newer computer is running 64-bit Xubuntu 19.04. it displays an error: "The BOINC client has exited unexpectedly 3 times in the last 3 minutes. Would you like to restart it again?" It would be nice if the reason for that was logged somewhere. Maybe you can find it but I think I know what's wrong.It's the permissions. Members of the boinc group don't have the same permissions as the boinc user and that's not sufficient to run the client. Most important is the lack of write permissions on the data directory. Instead of trying to fix that completely and permanently you could just create your own data directory where you have full access, say $HOME/my-boinc, and then pass that to the Manager instead of /var/lib/boinc. That way you would have two separate data directories, the global one which is inactive, and your personal one which you'll use from now on. I expect that to be detected as a new device but that could depend on the individual projects. If you want to avoid it you can initially make your personal directory a copy of the global one but then you'll have to make sure to never access the global data directory again. It will be permanently out of sync and that is sure to cause new trouble should it ever be used again, even accidentally. I advise against this approach. |
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OldChap
Veteran Cruncher UK Joined: Jun 5, 2009 Post Count: 978 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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I have never felt the need to stop Boinc running at startup but....
----------------------------------------In view of the fact you have Boinc already installed you could use command line as follows: Ubuntu versions use: systemctl disable service Which will disable the service and it won't restart after a reboot. The other commands are as follows: service --status-all To find the service name systemctl start service Start a service. Does not persist after reboot systemctl stop service Stop a service. Does not persist after reboot systemctl restart service Restart a service systemctl status service Shows the status of a service. Shows if a service is currently running. systemctl enable service Turns the service on. It persists after reboot. systemctl disable service Turns the service off. It persists after reboot. From what is written in above posts the key one here seems to be service --status-all You need to see what is running and what it is called for the purposes of this command. You might also want to play around after reading this: https://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Installing_on_Linux Also from the Wiki: n Debian-based Linux distributions you use the update-rc.d command to turn a system service (daemon) on or off at boot time. update-rc.d boinc-client defaults 98 -tells the system to start the BOINC client as a daemon at boot time update-rc.d boinc-client remove - tells the system not to start the BOINC client at boot time See the man page for update-rc.d for more details. https://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Stop_or_start_BOINC_daemon_after_boot  [Edit 1 times, last edit by OldChap at Sep 28, 2019 12:12:19 PM] |
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floyd
Cruncher Joined: May 28, 2016 Post Count: 47 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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systemctl disable service systemctl start service Start a service. Does not persist after reboot systemctl stop service Stop a service. Does not persist after reboot
Not exactly what was asked for but maybe the best solution. It would always use the existing installation, whether that was permanently running or not. Also from the Wiki: I'm not sure if this is still true with systemd all over the place.n Debian-based Linux distributions you use the update-rc.d command to turn a system service (daemon) on or off at boot time. |
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jonathandl
Advanced Cruncher Joined: Nov 12, 2007 Post Count: 106 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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It would be nice if the reason for that was logged somewhere. Maybe you can find it but I think I know what's wrong. It's the permissions. Members of the boinc group don't have the same permissions as the boinc user and that's not sufficient to run the client. Most important is the lack of write permissions on the data directory. Instead of trying to fix that completely and permanently you could just create your own data directory where you have full access, say $HOME/my-boinc, and then pass that to the Manager instead of /var/lib/boinc. I just ran the boinc_manager while doing tail -f on the /var/log/syslog. Nothing relevant to BOINC at all. Simultaneously I did a ps axwf: $ ps axwf | grep -A 3 boinc 1386 ? Sl 0:03 | \_ boincmgr 1411 ? SLl 0:00 | \_ /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/webkit2gtk-4.0/WebKitWebProcess 4 17 1412 ? SLl 0:00 | \_ /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/webkit2gtk-4.0/WebKitNetworkProcess 5 17 1454 ? S 0:00 | \_ /usr/bin/boinc --redirectio --launched_by_manager But if it's a permissions error then don't I just need to do chmod -v -R g+w /var/lib/boinc-client and then reset the project? That won't corrupt any Results, will it? (I assume that reseting the project would eliminate any risk of that happening.) [Edit 1 times, last edit by jonathandl at Sep 30, 2019 11:38:06 PM] |
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floyd
Cruncher Joined: May 28, 2016 Post Count: 47 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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But if it's a permissions error then don't I just need to do Don't reset the project, that will destroy any work in progress. You could do the recursive chmod while boinc is not running and you should be okay right after that. But what happens to new files or files being rewritten? Yours will get your ownership and permissions, the daemon, if ever run again, will use others. That might work or not, in any case it's not a clean solution. Don't insist on using the daemon's working directory for yourself. Either make the daemon run when you want it or run the client yourself (through the manager) and use your own directory. I like the former solution better now as you can easily switch between this and the original setup.chmod -v -R g+w /var/lib/boinc-client and then reset the project? |
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jonathandl
Advanced Cruncher Joined: Nov 12, 2007 Post Count: 106 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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But if it's a permissions error then don't I just need to do chmod -v -R g+w /var/lib/boinc-client and then reset the project? Don't reset the project, that will destroy any work in progress. You could do the recursive chmod while boinc is not running and you should be okay right after that. But what happens to new files or files being rewritten? Yours will get your ownership and permissions, the daemon, if ever run again, will use others. That might work or not, in any case it's not a clean solution. Don't insist on using the daemon's working directory for yourself. Either make the daemon run when you want it or run the client yourself (through the manager) and use your own directory. I like the former solution better now as you can easily switch between this and the original setup.Thanks for your help; now I got an update. First I upgraded Xubuntu itself from 19.04 to 19.10, and now when I open the BOINC manager I get an empty BOINC-manager window (no longer any error messages at all). Then I tried the "sudo chmod --verbose --recursive g+w /var/lib/boinc-client" solution, and it didn't work; no change before and after. So I wonder if the original diagnosis of a permissions issue is correct. (Interestingly, the new BOINC manager that comes with Xubuntu 19.10 doesn't even have a "quit" command, just a command to close the window.) |
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