LHC@home

Hi there,

I am getting errors running the theory simulation task.
Here is the output:
11:56:56 (2212): wrapper: running ../../projects/lhcathome.cern.ch_lhcathome/cranky-0.1.4 ()
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [INFO] Detected Theory App
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [INFO] This application must have permanent access to
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [INFO] online repositories via a local CVMFS service.
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [INFO] It supports suspend/resume if a couple of
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [INFO] requirements are fulfilled.
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [INFO] Most important:
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [INFO] - init process is systemd
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [INFO] - cgroups v2 is enabled and 'freezer' is available
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [INFO] - the user running this application is a member of the 'boinc' group
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [INFO] - sudo is at least version 1.9.10
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [INFO] - sudoer file provided by LHC@home is installed
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [INFO] Checking local requirements.
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [INFO] Init process is not 'systemd'.
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [INFO] Can't find 'systemd-run'.
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [INFO] Can't find 'cgroups v2'.
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [INFO] User 'sun' is missing in group 'boinc'.
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [INFO] To add 'sun' to 'boinc' run 'sudo usermod -aG boinc sun'.
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [INFO] Found Sudo-Version .
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [INFO] Can't compare sudo version number.
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [ERROR] Can't find 'cvmfs_config'.
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [ERROR] This usually means a local CVMFS client is not installed
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [ERROR] although it is a MUST to get data from online repositories.
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [INFO] Can't find 'runc'.
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [ERROR] Major requirements are missing. Can't run this task.
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [INFO] Early shutdown initiated due to previous errors.
11:56:56 CST +08:00 2024-04-08: cranky-0.1.4: [INFO] Cleanup will take a few minutes...

Unfortunately it is a bit technical for me.
I tried to check cvmfs. It seems to run fine:
ThinkPad-R480:~$ sudo cvmfs_config probe
[sudo] password for sun:
Probing /cvmfs/atlas.cern.ch... OK
Probing /cvmfs/atlas-condb.cern.ch... OK
Probing /cvmfs/grid.cern.ch... OK
What is wrong here?

Ubuntu 22 LTS installed, Flatpak version of Boinc 7.22.1 installed, computer model Thinkpad R480, CPU Intel core i5 8250U

Thanks.

Flatpak version of Boinc 7.22.1 installed

This runs in a container/sandbox right?
Then it has no access to commands like systemd-run.

You need to install a BOINC version that runs directly on your Linux OS.

Beside that:
Theory native tasks run up to 10 days and during this period the computer and the BOINC client must not be shut down or restarted.
If you can't ensure this you may better run the vbox versions of ATLAS/Theory.

Thanks for the help.

I thought that Flatpak versions of Boinc were not sandboxed because the Mangaer app detected my old version of APT Boinc client before I purged it.

I will try turning off the native tasks instead.

Is there a way that I can get a non-sandboxed Boinc which is stable (not alpha testing etc)?

Apt gives me an old 2020 version which says it is only for testing and unstable.

Ubuntu 22 LTS installed

This comes with BOINC 7.18.1 which is (was) known to have issues as it was an Android only version.
Don't know if the Ubuntu maintainers published a corrected packet under the unchanged version number.

Since you try to run Theory native you would run into other problems like sudo not being recent enough (1.9.9) to support regular expressions.
Hence, the suggestion would be to upgrade your Ubuntu, e.g. to 23.10.
That one comes with BOINC 7.20.5 and sudo 1.9.14.

You can look at Ubuntu 24 LTS and see if it has the requirements for the package versions you need. It is supposed to be releases about April 25th.

Link to daily build if you wanted to try it before April 25th.
https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/

Thanks for all your help!
I just upgraded to 22 LTS from 20 LTS back in December last year. And my GPU drivers only provide support for LTS releases. Personally, I also prefer LTS builds since I moved to Ubuntu due to Windows Update annoyances. I think upgrading again would be overkill.
I also disabled native tasks as it seems Virtualbox versions would be more stable in my case.
I was wondering if there is another way to install a stable version of Boinc...
I did find this thread https://lhcathome.cern.ch/lhcathome/forum_thread.php?id=4840#36880 teaching how to build from source, however it seems a bit outdated and I am not sure if anything has changed.
I could also just steal the deb packages from the Ubuntu 23 apt sources, but I am not sure if this would introduce compatibility issues etc. I am a linux noob after all.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

I could also just steal the deb packages from the Ubuntu 23 apt sources

You can try this with a precompiled packet, but there's a risk that the new packet is build against libraries that are not up to date on your running system.
In most cases this affects BOINC Manager which is build against wxWidgets.

You may follow these steps:
1. Download the new BOINC client packet to a temporary directory but do NOT install it
2. cd to that directory
3. extract the files boinc, boinccmd and boincmgr
4. run "ldd boinc", "ldd boinccmd", "ldd boincmgr"

If any of the commands (mostly "ldd boincmgr") prints errors like "foobar.x.yz => not found" that library is missing.
Either install it (exactly the requested version) or do not use that BOINC version.

If "ldd ..." doesn't print an error you have a really good chance that it works.
Try the manager first.
1. make a backup of the old "boincmgr" file
2. replace the old file with the new one
3. Run the new BOINC manager

If this succeeds it should be save to also replace boinc/boinccmd and restart BOINC.

I built BOINC from source, these instructions are working, I made some comments that were updated in the documentation.

https://github.com/BOINC/boinc/wiki/BuildSystem

I could not build a release version with static linking however, I didn't see any issues with 7.24.1

If you want to go bleeding edge, you can get the 8.0.1 alpha, I'm using on 23.10, I also didn't see any issues but ymmv

Hi, sorry for the late reply.

I ran sudo apt upgrade and AMDGPU ran into installation problems.
APT now shows Brokencount>0 and I can do nothing with apt now. Trying to install anything would just return:

But that is not going to be installed

That (might) include compiling with APT.
The official website of Boinc also does not have up-to-date versions of Boinc for Linux.

I never knew getting an up-to-date version of Boinc was that complicated. Taking from the Ubuntu 23 sources does not seem easier either.
Guess I ran into the very problem that flatpak was designed to solve-yet flatpak somehow cannot be used? I am not familiar with the flatpak concept. I only know it is designed to be a bundle with all the dependencies. If I could get Atlas/theory to run in Virtualbox only, would that solve the problem?
Is there some way I could get Flatpak to ignore the container/direct it to virtualbox? The process is not a sandbox so it should not be that hard.

I could also try using an appimage of Boinc. Not sure if that would somehow work.

I might try the Boinc forum and see if they have any way to deal with this issue.

I would also like to note that there is no warning/notice that additional software needs to be installed to run LHC tasks (except sixtrack) I do not know why. The detection should happen before tasks get downloaded (maybe a dummy task that detects the dependencies). CVMFS only comes up after a log check and another forum post. Newbies like me would keep asking questions and keep downloading ~300MB of files only for the programs to throw up an error. Unnecessary trouble for both sides.

Anyway, thanks for the cues and I will try to learn more about (GNU?) Linux in the meantime.

I would also like to note that there is no warning/notice that additional software needs to be installed to run LHC tasks

It is mentioned at the homepage as well as a couple of times at the FAQ page:

https://lhcathome.cern.ch/lhcathome/
"Please note that some of the applications on LHC@home requre Virtual Box to be installed."

https://lhcathome.web.cern.ch/faq


As for CVMFS there's a pinned thread in "Number crunching":
Recommended CVMFS Configuration for Native Apps - HowTo v2

I accept that new volunteers might think this project works like "attach and forget", but I don't agree with those who immediately complain but obviously don't check the requirements, the forum and their logfiles when they get nothing but errors.

I would also like to note that there is no warning/notice that additional software needs to be installed to run LHC tasks

It is mentioned at the homepage as well as a couple of times at the FAQ page:

https://lhcathome.cern.ch/lhcathome/
"Please note that some of the applications on LHC@home requre Virtual Box to be installed."

I am aware of that notice and (just like any other newbie that follows guidance) I installed Virtualbox when installing Boinc.
It should be more specific. Something like "LHC@home requires Virtualbox and CVMFS to be installed for most tasks to run properly. This is how to install CVMFS: https://lhcathome.cern.ch/lhcathome/forum_thread.php?id=5594#44232"

Otherwise the task would not run, a search on bing would provide useless, the Boinc event logs would only report a failure and the newbie would (if they even know how to use the forums) ask the same question I did.

I would also like to note that there is no warning/notice that additional software needs to be installed to run LHC tasks

It is mentioned at the homepage as well as a couple of times at the FAQ page:

https://lhcathome.cern.ch/lhcathome/
"Please note that some of the applications on LHC@home requre Virtual Box to be installed."

I am aware of that notice and (just like any other newbie that follows guidance) I installed Virtualbox when installing Boinc.
It should be more specific. Something like "LHC@home requires Virtualbox and CVMFS to be installed for most tasks to run properly. This is how to install CVMFS: https://lhcathome.cern.ch/lhcathome/forum_thread.php?id=5594#44232"

Otherwise the task would not run, a search on bing would provide useless, the Boinc event logs would only report a failure and the newbie would (if they even know how to use the forums) ask the same question I did.

You don't need CVMFS AND Virtualbox for things to run. You only need CVMFS if you plant to run Linux Native tasks. If you do not select that specific option then you can run CMS, Theory, and Atlas tasks with Virtualbox alone.