LHC@home: Theory Application

Theory 300.93 (vbox64) for MacOS

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:18:28 GMT

Toby Broom already mentioned that the VirtualBox app will not run on your Mx Mac (since the guest is x86_64 based).

What may run is the Theory docker app, but it reports an error since it requires /cvmfs to test whether a local CVMFS client is available.
Although running a local CVMFS would be the preferred solution I suggest to first test the following method.

Creating a subfolder directly under '/' seems to be a pain on MacOS.
See here for a possible solution and report if it works:
https://lhcathome.cern.ch/lhcathome//forum_thread.php?id=6481&postid=53450

Erreur systématique pendant le calcul ....

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:06:54 GMT

Since Catalina 10.15 (introduced in 2019!) the root filesystem is read-only.
To fake a subfolder there you may need an entry in /etc/synthetic.conf that looks like this:
cvmfsSystem/Volumes/Data/cvmfs

After a reboot /cvmfs should be available for the Theory docker app.
For more info see:
https://keith.github.io/xcode-man-pages/synthetic.conf.5.html

Since I don't have a Mac I can't verify this method, so please post a comment whether it worked or not.
To check the logs it would be good that you make your computers visible in the prefs:
https://lhcathome.cern.ch/lhcathome/prefs.php?subset=project

Failed Theory tasks cause container to hang forever

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 05:36:55 GMT

Name Theory_2922-4881498-693
Anwendung Theory Simulation
batch 19854517
erstellt 6 Mar 2026, 12:21:50 UTC
Mindestanzahl 1
Anfängliche Kopien 1
max # von Fehler/Gesamt/Erfolg Aufgaben 3, 3, 1
Fehler Zu viele Ergebnisse insgesamt
Command line
Priority 0
Job instances
Aufgabe
anklicken für Einzelheiten Computer Gesendet Meldezeit
oder Ablaufdatum
Erklärung Status Laufzeit
(sek) CPU Zeit
(sek) Punkte Anwendung
433463131 10870847 7 Mar 2026, 1:17:10 UTC 14 Mar 2026, 9:37:54 UTC Abgebrochen 627,659.94 595,418.10 --- Theory Simulation v302.10 (docker)
windows_x86_64
433857762 10915803 14 Mar 2026, 12:17:41 UTC 25 Mar 2026, 7:45:25 UTC Abgebrochen 137,481.22 112,932.80 --- Theory Simulation v302.10 (docker)
windows_x86_64
434120529 10797673 25 Mar 2026, 10:45:38 UTC 8 Apr 2026, 7:52:12 UTC Abgebrochen 1,197,623.06 1,139,443.00 --- Theory Simulation v302.10 (docker)
windows_x86_64
Input files

Error while computing

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 08:58:45 GMT

if you run boinc as the boinc user you might need to make the config global e.g.

/etc/containers/containers.conf

or put the the boinc users folder., wherever this might be for your install.

New version v302.10 for docker

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 17:28:34 GMT

I also faked that VirtualBox is installed as alternate

New-Item "C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\virtualbox.exe"
New-Item -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Oracle\VirtualBox"
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Oracle\VirtualBox" -Name "Version" -Value "7.2.2" -PropertyType "String"
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Oracle\VirtualBox" -Name "VersionExt" -Value "7.2.2" -PropertyType "String"
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Oracle\VirtualBox" -Name "InstallDir" -Value "C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\" -PropertyType "String"

Seems like the don't use vbox would stop the tasks being sent from server.

This gonna be long

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 09:19:31 GMT

Good decision to cancel that task.
According to mcplots none of them succeeded so far:

run 	events 	attempts 	success 	failure 	unknown
pp z1j 8000 - - sherpa 2.2.9 default 	0 	56 	0 	13	43

Theory Simulation tasks stuck at 100% — docker_wrapper_18 infinite loop on container exit

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 18:16:24 GMT

The wrapper is part of the main BOINC code base:

https://github.com/BOINC/boinc

Its maintained.

Some Theory tasks on VirtualBox hang Probing /cvmfs/alice.cern.ch...

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 08:46:07 GMT

MadGraph5

These types of tasks are rare, but I see the same scenario on one of my PCs.
1. For about half an hour, there is some activity in the VM: Guest shows some CPU load, it downloads around 200 MB, and writes about 100 MB to the disk.
2. After that, Guest activity drops to zero, all performance graphs are flat, and the task log file becomes unreachable.

Here is an excerpt from the log:

===> [runRivet] Wed Apr  8 07:03:39 AM UTC 2026 [boinc pp zinclusive 13000 -,-,200 - madgraph5amc 2.7.2.atlas3...]
...
ValueError: unsupported hash type md5
AttributeError : 'module' object has no attribute 'md5'
...
ERROR: missing LHE output file: /scratch/tmp/tmp.UjcDJkl2wh/MG5RUN/Events/run_01/unweighted_events.lhe
...
[2]+  2535 Running                 ( $rivetExecString; exit $? ) &
ERROR: fail to run madgraph5amc 2.7.2.atlas3 or Rivet (error exit code)

My preliminary, but not yet firm conclusion: The simulation never started because the angry Python strangled everything, maybe even itself. :)
My action: Brick therapy for that VM.

P.S. For those who are experienced or have real knowledge – please comment, is this "Brick therapy" a correct solution?

Feedback on the Theory docker app

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 08:04:53 GMT

Thanks for correction, sorry.

Task at 100% and still running

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 14:05:39 GMT

This task is now under ERROR but continued to run after BOINC & PC shutdown and restart...
Name Theory_2922-4882143-675_2
Workunit 239288667
Created 11 Mar 2026, 21:53:12 UTC
Sent 12 Mar 2026, 1:12:12 UTC
Report deadline 23 Mar 2026, 1:12:12 UTC
Received ---
Server state Over
Outcome No reply
Client state New
Exit status 0 (0x00000000)
Computer ID 10970528
Run time 0 sec
CPU time 0 sec
Priority 0
Validate state Initial
Credit 0.00
Device peak FLOPS 5.56 GFLOPS
Application version Theory Simulation v302.10 (docker)
windows_x86_64