LHC@home

Hello,

I noticed that report deadlines in SixTrack web pages and in BOINC client view differs exaxtly 24h (86400s) -
SixTrack web pages display the deadline date 24h later than client displays the same deadline for the same WU.

Is it bug or feature?
Does anybody else experience that behaviour or is it just me?

-----------------------
For example:
-----------------------
http://lhcathomeclassic.cern.ch/sixtrack/result.php?resultid=7290849
it states the following for that WU:
Report deadline 24 Sep 2012 | 5:53:54 UTC

If I look at the same WU in client side (boinccmd --get_results for example) then it shows:
report deadline: Sun Sep 23 05:53:54 2012

excerpt from client_state.xml:

<result>
   <name>wlxscan_wcbb0__16__s__64.31_59.32__5_6__6__4.5_1_sixvf_boinc30927_0</name>
    ...
    <report_deadline>1348379634.000000</report_deadline>
    <received_time>1347805303.705030</received_time>
    ...
</result>

lets convert epoch seconds into date:

<report_deadline>1348379634.000000</report_deadline>
gives us Sun Sep 23 05:53:54 UTC 2012 which is the same as provided by client,
which hints that this is not a bug in the client side but rather a bug in the server side..

Any ideas/thoughts?


I'm running SixTrack on 3 machines:
http://lhcathomeclassic.cern.ch/sixtrack/hosts_user.php?userid=123105
and this behaviour occuring in all of them..

Note that the same hosts are running some other BOINC projects also
but this behaviour occurs only for LHC@home.

---

--
chrs.
i.p.

I have the same "problem". All my deadlines on the webpage are one day later than on my computers.

(they are also additional 2 hours apart, but that is because I am in UTC+2 timezone, so that is perfectly normal).

I have a hunch this is what Eric was seeing when he mentioned BOINC client seems to recalculate the deadlines. I think the deadline shown in the client is the real deadline whereas the deadline shown on the website is the deadline plus the 24 hour grace period. Or is the deadline on the website the real deadline? If I was an Azimov style positronic brained robot I would be in roblock at this point.

Hi,

.. I think the deadline shown in the client is the real deadline whereas the deadline shown on the website is the deadline plus the 24 hour grace period. Or is the deadline on the website the real deadline?
...

ok, lets figure it out...

I suspended one task which has deadline tomorrow (19 Sep 2012 | 20:44:32 UTC) according to the timestamp on server.
whereas timestamp in WU points to 18 Sep 2012 | 20:44:32 UTC

So lets see when it 'll expire -
tonight (as client suggests) or tomorrow (as server suggests)

---

--
chrs.
i.p.

Hello,

so, tests are done and there is a conclusion:

Task deadline provided to LHC@home client is incorrect
(24h ahead from real deadline seen in server)

Is it intentional or is it bug?
Can any staff member bring a light into this topic, please?

---

--
chrs.
i.p.

Ummmm, what makes you think the staff knows how this works?

It's as I described... The real deadline is sent to the BOINC client and it was 18 Sep 2012 | 20:44:32 UTC for the task you mentioned in your previous post. However, the server allows an extra 24 hours in addition to the deadline sent to BOINC client. Of course that means the real deadline sent to BOINC client is not really the real deadline. The actual real deadline was 19 Sep 2012 | 20:44:32 UTC for your example task. In case the situation is not sufficiently bizarre at this point then realize that if the task is resent to a third host and if that host returns a valid result before your host does then you would get 0 credits but if you manage to get your result validated before the third host then you receive credit and the third host receives 0.

I can't understand why a deadline can't be a deadline. Why does it need to be so confusing? If a deadline of X days is not sufficient, if it needs to be X + 1 days then why not just make it X + 1 days?

Well, I think it might be specific for the project. Since I just checked collatz, and there it shows the same date as on my computer. So it is a LHC thing. Thats just my 2 cents.