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Re: Why Linux p*$$e$ me off....

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 12:36 pm
by Woodles
You'll start off in your /home directory.

Open terminal

Code: Select all

cd /var/lib
sudo chmod -R 777 boinc-client
Enter your admin password.

Re: Why Linux p*$$e$ me off....

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 12:45 pm
by UBT - Timbo
HI Mark

AHA !! That's done it :-)

I can now see/view all the slot directories - and there's lots of them, even though only about 30 tasks are running...(this is my 32-core Xeon so, it is crunching away on some other projects ;-) ).

In fact there's about 75 sub-folders...so, THAT'S where the LHC tasks are hiding and taking up so much HDD space.

I'll let BOINC Manager run down all the current tasks, set it to "No new work" and then I can delete the "ghost" files and get me back some disk space - as I think that's what caused the host to crash as it was complaining about having "no free space" - I assume VBox was taking up too much room.

Cheers for the help !!

regards
Tim

Re: Why Linux p*$$e$ me off....

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 12:52 pm
by Woodles
Glad it's working :)

You'll get a slot opened every time a task starts, if some are suspended or not finished running yet then the slots will keep increasing.

If you "reset" LHC it should clear away any files it's using. Of course, if it doesn't think you have any tasks running anyway then it won't remove those slots/files.

Re: Why Linux p*$$e$ me off....

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 2:00 pm
by ChelseaOilman
Hi Tim,

I've never done the OEM installation of Linux Mint so I don't know what may be different about it. When I go to var and right click on the lib folder there, right in the middle of the menu is the selection to open as root. When you choose that it opens another instance of the file manager with elevated privileges.

Re: Why Linux p*$$e$ me off....

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 2:15 pm
by ChelseaOilman
Screenshot from 2020-08-06 08-05-38.png
Screenshot from 2020-08-06 08-05-38.png

Re: Why Linux p*$$e$ me off....

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 2:17 pm
by ChelseaOilman
Screenshot from 2020-08-06 08-07-27.png

Re: Why Linux p*$$e$ me off....

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 6:04 pm
by UBT - Timbo
Hi Carl

Thanks for the screenshots - as you can see from my install, it looks a wee bit different...with only the "Home" and "File System" directories showing in File Manager and no "My Computer", "Devices" or "Network" drop downs.

So, a bit of a curve ball from me there !! And to be honest, your screenshots looks more like what I would have expected to see...

Anyways - I've got a bit further on and just need to wait until the host has finished all it's tasks and then I can sort out any slots that are left.

regards
Tim

Re: Why Linux p*$$e$ me off....

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 7:08 pm
by ChelseaOilman
Hi Tim,

Your just in a different view of File Manager I believe. See the three icons on the bottom left of the Window? That's how you switch views. The icons on the bottom left switch views in the left pane and the icons on the top right change the views in the right pane of the window.

Are you right clicking on the var>lib folder in the right pane or the left pane? I do it in the right pane. I'm guessing your doing it in the left pane and that's why your not seeing the menu selection for "Open as Root" with the key icon next to it.

Re: Why Linux p*$$e$ me off....

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 11:05 pm
by UBT - Timbo
Hi Carl

Ok - got it now - your further assistance has opened my eyes further to what was going on...and yes, I hadn't really experimented with all the icons (and the changes to the views) within the File Manager.

So, now my "view" matches your screenshots, and I can "open as root" by using the middle pane (the right pane is a file listing) and right clicking on "lib" folder...when then opens the "elevated" view in File Manager.

I've just got to get used to how this works I guess...but some things in Linux are just more complicated...and you just need to get a feel for how the programmers mind works, to understand and comprehend it all...I guess I'm too used to the Windows way of doing things, which does seem a bit more polished, whereas the Linux version just seems like it's trying very hard to do what Windows does, but in a different way.

So, thanks to you for the "hand-holding" on this :-)

regards
Tim

Re: Why Linux p*$$e$ me off....

Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2020 1:50 am
by ChelseaOilman
Linux Mint Cinnamon is as close to Windows as your going to get with Linux. Pretty sure that's why it's so popular.

Re: Why Linux p*$$e$ me off....

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2020 12:44 am
by UBT - Timbo
Hi all

OK, so my Linux installation on my Xeon 32-core mobo, has somehow gone bad.

Let me explain.

It was (until Sunday 30 Aug), crunching away merrily on some GPU and CPU projects, at my office. And I occasionally remote log into it, to make sure it's OK. I tried to do so on Bank Holiday Monday and it appears to have rebooted at some point before this, and although it was set to "auto-run" BOINC Manager (BM) everytime it boots up, BM was running but it was displaying the "Add a Project" tab.

I rebooted it a couple of times (remotely) and the same thing kept happening.

I was at work today (Wednesday) and the PC was working, but BM was still asking for me to "Add a Project URL".

But BM was not showing ANY projects in the "Projects" tab and no tasks were shown in the "Tasks" tab (of BM).

Doing a quick command line "top" command, I could see that BOINC itself was running (as it was crunching Collatz GPU tasks, tho' it had no CPU tasks).

I took a quick look through the File System and sure enough all the projects are all displayed in the /var/lib/boinc-client directory...so, the files for BM do exist.

And BM is still saying "Disconnected" at the bottom of its window.

I've tried to use the "File > Select computer..." option to select "127.0.0.1" as the host, but still I get "Disconnected".

I've checked again this evening and the PC is still running AND is returning validated Collatz tasks. But I cannot get BM to actually display any Projects or Tasks that are active. And hence I cannot control what projects can accept work and which tasks to actually crunch.

So, there seems to be a "disconnect" between the BOINC program and BM.

I thought of re-installing BM, but I'm running v7.9.3 and the latest version on the BOINC website is 7.4.22 - and there are no instructions to teach this Linux noob, how to re-install BM on a PC running Mint (though there are instruction for installing on a Ubuntu/RedHat/Debian/Fedora OS) - and the Mint Software Manager only has the 7.9.3 version.

So, I'm stuck.

I've switched my Collatz Preferences on their website, so that this Mint host will run dry of work...and I'm tempted to just re-install Linux from scratch - but it's a real pain to do that and I'd rather figure out why BM on this host has lost contact with the BOINC tasks running on it.

If anyone has any pointers, I'd appreciate it. :-)

regards
Tim

Re: Why Linux p*$$e$ me off....

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2020 2:42 am
by ChelseaOilman
Instead of using "127.0.0.1", try "localhost"

Re: Why Linux p*$$e$ me off....

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2020 8:53 am
by Woodles
Carl is correct, 'localhost' is the right way to connect locally.

I have a similar problem on one of my hosts (also a Linux 32 core Xeon coincidentally) but after a power cycle, BM just sits there "disconnected" rather than asking for a project.

Usually selecting "localhost" as the computer to connect to will fill in the password automatically but not in this case, to get it to work I have to select "localhost" then manually type the password in. All fine after that.

Doesn't happen on any other host so I expect there's a file corrupted somewhere or a setting that needs changing. I don't reboot too often and don't really use BM much on that host (I CAN connect remotely) so I haven't bothered finding out why it does it or how to fix it.

Re: Why Linux p*$$e$ me off....

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2020 11:11 am
by UBT - Timbo
ChelseaOilman wrote: Thu Sep 03, 2020 2:42 am Instead of using "127.0.0.1", try "localhost"
Hi Carl and Mark

Thanks for the tip - sadly it doesn't work - BM still says "Disconnected" - so "something else" must be going on.

Fortunately, overnight, this host has now finished crunching Collatz (as I'd stopped further downloads via Collatz account preferences by unticking the GPU tasks).

I'm not too worried as this machine is only used for BOINC, so a re-install of the OS, if required, is OK, but just a pain.

For now, the problem is that I cannot just add a URL to BM to get it running YoYo - as that option (AND all other options !!) is/are "greyed out" and cannot be selected at all.

So, all I can do for now is to try and remove BM and then re-install it, in the hope it "remakes" whatever connection(s) it has lost. (I'm remote working today so I cannot re-install the OS and the CPU cores would be helpful for the Sprint this weekend).

update: Tried to un-install and re-install BM - and still get the exact same issue. Running out of options (and time, as I've got work to do today !!).

regards
Tim

Re: Why Linux p*$$e$ me off....

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2020 11:34 am
by UBT - Timbo
Woodles wrote: Thu Sep 03, 2020 8:53 am Carl is correct, 'localhost' is the right way to connect locally.

I have a similar problem on one of my hosts (also a Linux 32 core Xeon coincidentally) but after a power cycle, BM just sits there "disconnected" rather than asking for a project.

Usually selecting "localhost" as the computer to connect to will fill in the password automatically but not in this case, to get it to work I have to select "localhost" then manually type the password in. All fine after that.

Doesn't happen on any other host so I expect there's a file corrupted somewhere or a setting that needs changing. I don't reboot too often and don't really use BM much on that host (I CAN connect remotely) so I haven't bothered finding out why it does it or how to fix it.
Hi Mark

I've had that EXACT same issue with the 32-core Xeon too..but in the past, using the "Select computer" and typing in "127.0.0.1" has always worked (as "localhost" IS "127.0.0.1"...)

It's just not working THIS time. (I'm assuming a local leccy power failure caused the host to shutdown and reboot...but maybe something got "fudged" during the sudden shutdown?)

regards
Tim

Re: Why Linux p*$$e$ me off....

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2020 1:32 pm
by Woodles
127.0.0.1 is the localhost and usually works, it makes sense to eliminate any possible BM 'feature' just in case though.

Until you're connected you can't add a new project as BM doesn't know which host it applies to.

If the Boinc service is running, you could try running the Boinccmd commands rather than using the manager? You'll need your account key from an existing project to add a new one.

Open a terminal and navigate to /var/lib/boinc-client (otherwise you need to add the host name and password each time)

Code: Select all

boinccmd --project_attach http://www.rechenkraft.net/yoyo/ account_key
Get more work

Code: Select all

boinccmd --project http://www.rechenkraft.net/yoyo/ update
Suspend the network

Code: Select all

boinccmd --set_network_mode never
Reconnect the network

Code: Select all

boinccmd --set_network_mode always

Re: Why Linux p*$$e$ me off....

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2020 2:06 pm
by UBT - Timbo
Hi Mark

Thanks for the guidance...and taking the time to advise me...

I did the first step and got:

"Operation failed: authentication error"

(I have checked and re-checked the command line entry AND my account key for YoYo...but something seems to be causing an issue).

And that was after "removing" and then re-installing BOINC, via the Software Manager in Mint.

To save time and further bother, I'll just wipe the drive and re-install Mint...though I still have my Windows HDD to hand so just unplugging the SSD and re-connecting the Windows HDD saves me time and effort...esp as YoYo tasks can be run on a Windows host.

Only trouble is: The work place is a 30+ mile round trip away and I hadn't planned on going back to the office until after the Sprint ends.

regards
Tim

Re: Why Linux p*$$e$ me off....

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2020 2:19 pm
by UBT - Timbo
Hi Mark

Next step:

I tried the following:

$ cd /var/lib/boinc-client
$ sudo apt install boinccmd

...on the basis that maybe boinccmd was "incomplete" (though just typing "boinccmd" does bring up lots of command line parameters...so boincmd as a program is in the directory and seem to be working).

But this failed with:

E: Unable to locate package boinccmd

I then tried:

$ sudo apt install boinc

..and that just gave a very long result code, including "boinc is already the latest version...0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 0 to remove and 211 not to upgrade"

So, boinc is there but not recognising how to actually crunch one project. :-(

I think I'll give up now...

regards
Tim

Re: Why Linux p*$$e$ me off....

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2020 2:23 pm
by ChelseaOilman
I use BAM on all my computers. If you had BAM set up you could change BOINC settings through their website and wouldn't even need BM on the host. The password you need to use with localhost is in the BOINC folder in the gui_rpc_auth.cfg file.

Re: Why Linux p*$$e$ me off....

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2020 3:05 pm
by Woodles
That would be another option (and the reason why I haven't fixed my issue)

You also need "<allow_remote_gui_rpc>1</allow_remote_gui_rpc>" in cc_config.xml and a remote_hosts.cfg file containing the URL of the controlling host.

Then "/etc/init.d/boinc-client restart" to restart the client and get it to recognise the changes.

Edit: I was thinking of BoincTasks :oops:

Re: Why Linux p*$$e$ me off....

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2020 3:11 pm
by UBT - Timbo
ChelseaOilman wrote: Thu Sep 03, 2020 2:23 pm I use BAM on all my computers. If you had BAM set up you could change BOINC settings through their website and wouldn't even need BM on the host. The password you need to use with localhost is in the BOINC folder in the gui_rpc_auth.cfg file.
Hi Carl

I *DO* have a BAM account and logging into it, I see "NO" hosts appearing in the "hosts list"...not even the other active hosts that are happily crunching away.

And clicking on "Show all hosts" does not populate what is displayed.

So, somehow this option doesn't seem to be viable - esp as I never set a BAM password in the gui_rpc_auth.cfg file...which actually doesn't exist on this specific host (or any other for that matter !!).

But thanks for the suggestion.

(However: As I recall, I had an pretty "bad" experience with BAM in it's early days - it wanted to take over full control of my hosts and in some cases, it caused numerous tasks to fail or it got confused with the hosts I had and would not accept me having mutiple accounts (which were all the same) on multiple hosts...so, I gave up using it...no doubt it might be better today, but 10+ years ago it was awful and far too erratic in what *it* wanted to do, rather than what *I* wanted to do.)

regards
Tim