I had R@H running on an Odroid N2 with Ubuntu 18.04. After a clean install of 20.04, I have not been able to get it to run properly. Typically all processes are 'waiting' with nothing running. I then tried removing and reinstalling BOINC, but now I get the following:

/% boinc
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] cc_config.xml not found - using defaults
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] Starting BOINC client version 7.16.6 for aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] Libraries: libcurl/7.68.0 OpenSSL/1.1.1f zlib/1.2.11 brotli/1.0.7 libidn2/2.2.0 libpsl/0.21.0 (+libidn2/2.2.0) libssh/0.9.3/openssl/zlib nghttp2/1.40.0 librtmp/2.3
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] Data directory: /home/bkeister
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] No usable GPUs found
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] Creating new client state file
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] libc: Ubuntu GLIBC 2.31-0ubuntu9.1 version 2.31
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] Host name: Franklin
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] Processor: 6 ARM Hardkernel ODROID-N2 [Impl 0x41 Arch 8 Variant 0x0 Part 0xd03 Rev 4]
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] Processor features: fp asimd evtstrm aes pmull sha1 sha2 crc32
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] OS: Linux Ubuntu: Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS [4.9.236-106|libc 2.31 (Ubuntu GLIBC 2.31-0ubuntu9.1)]
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] Memory: 3.63 GB physical, 0 bytes virtual
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] Disk: 29.09 GB total, 18.01 GB free
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] Local time is UTC -5 hours
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] No general preferences found - using defaults
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] Preferences:
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] max memory usage when active: 1856.19 MB
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] max memory usage when idle: 3341.13 MB
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] max disk usage: 17.91 GB
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] don't use GPU while active
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] suspend work if non-BOINC CPU load exceeds 25%
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] (to change preferences, visit a project web site or select Preferences in the Manager)
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] Setting up project and slot directories
dir_open: Could not open directory 'slots' from '/home/bkeister'.
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] Checking active tasks
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] Setting up GUI RPC socket
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] Checking presence of 0 project files
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 [---] This computer is not attached to any projects
21-Dec-2020 11:36:43 Initialization completed
No protocol specified
No protocol specified
No protocol specified
No protocol specified
No protocol specified
...etc

...where the "No protocol specified" goes on forever. Also, clicking on BOINC Manager in the GUI menu has no effect.

I don't know how to get past this.

-2020 11:36:43 [---] Setting up project and slot directories
dir_open: Could not open directory 'slots' from '/home/bkeister'.

Looks like a permissions issue.

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Grant
Darwin NT

I found a similar statement here:

Simply said, you have a permission problem when you get an error like this.
To fix this, you can either:
reinstall BOINC;
check that you're using the correct user to run BOINC.
slow down BOINC start at OS start-up, to allow all drivers to load first, see man sleep.

1. I've purged/reinstalled BOINC several times since installing Ubuntu 20.04.
2. I'm the only user.
3. I haven't started up the OS; there's no issue of slowing down BOINC.

Now I've also noticed that when BOINC manager actually starts inside Ubuntu-MATE, a line at the bottom of the window says "disconnected." When I try to connect using the BOINC password, it says "connecting..." then "disconnected" This is all on the same machine, not remote.

I'm coming to the conclusion that BOINC is incompatible with Ubuntu 20.04 running on an ARM platform.

I am now completely confused. Running 'top' shows 6 instances of R@H running, including one for over 100 hours, even though I have purged and reinstalled BOINC several times. I do not want R@H to run on all 6 cores, but all menu options in BOINC manager are grayed out, and the window still shows "disconnected" at the bottom. BOINC manager also lists no projects and no tasks, and /etc/boinc-client does not exist.

At this point I have no choice but to purge BOINC yet again, and delete the computer at the R@H site.

I am now completely confused. Running 'top' shows 6 instances of R@H running, including one for over 100 hours, even though I have purged and reinstalled BOINC several times. I do not want R@H to run on all 6 cores, but all menu options in BOINC manager are grayed out, and the window still shows "disconnected" at the bottom. BOINC manager also lists no projects and no tasks, and /etc/boinc-client does not exist.

At this point I have no choice but to purge BOINC yet again, and delete the computer at the R@H site.

Check the computer for alternate load locations as well.

The repo versions of BOINC install into /etc/boinc-client and /var/lib/boinc-client. How did you get it installed in your home directory?

It runs as user BOINC which isn't going to have access to your home directory. The BOINC client will usually start up as a service when the machine starts, hence the suggestions about delaying it. The manager is typically started by a user via a desktop shortcut. You can change its properties to supply the password on the command line.

For the number of CPU's it uses, assuming you can get into the manager or use BOINC Tasks you can change the % of CPU's used but that is about all we have. We can't specify to run on the big (ARM Cortex A73) or little (ARM Cortex A53) cores. From memory the Odroid N2 has 4 big and 2 little cores so you'd probably just tell it to use 66% of the CPU's and hope it use uses the big ones.

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BOINC blog

This all worked under 18.04...

I'm aware of the big/little distinction. When BOINC was working on 18.04, it was smart enough to assign a 2/3 numerical load to the big cores.

I always install via

/% sudo apt install boinc

I didn't know there were files in both /etc and /var/lib, so I have deleted all of them before reinstalling, which I have now done. It makes no difference. The machine is running headless, so I access it via a VPN client. When I launch BOINC manager, all options are greyed out and it says "disconnected" at the bottom of the window. When I try to connect it to the very same machine it's running on, it quickly reverts back to "disconnected." When I invoke 'top', both boinc and boincmgr are running.

Do I have to run this as user boinc? I did not with 18.04. There is also no boinc directory tree with the installation. I also run this on two other machines (a Ryzen7 8-core AMD, plus a Jetson Nano), installed in the same way, with no problems.

It sounds like you still have the version running from your home directory. We’d need to get rid of it as well before reinstalling the repo version. The repo version doesn’t know anything about home directories.

As for changing the user I’ve never seen a way of changing it so it’s probably hard-coded.

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BOINC blog

I'm afraid I don't understand "running from your home directory". BOINC is not running in my home directory:

/% which boinc
/usr/bin/boinc

I've installed scores of packages on various Ubuntu machines (plus Raspberry Pi) via the following from my user prompt

/% sudo apt install [package name]

The result is an installation in various system-controlled directories, such as /etc and /var/lib. It does not install the application in my home directory.

There are a few files in my home directory that have to do with settings for the visual app. The critical files are in /etc/boinc-client or /var/lib/boinc-client.

I have tried this once more: I removed any file or directory in my home directory that had boinc or BOINC in its name, purged boinc via

/% sudo apt purge boinc

and then removed /etc/boinc-client and /var/lib/boinc-client

via rm -rf

I then installed boinc via

/% sudo apt install boinc

I then launched BOINC manager via a menu inside Ubuntu MATE. I could see that boinc and boincmgr were both running.

The menu interface in BOINC manager is completely greyed out, and the status "disconnected" at the bottom of the window.

As I have noted earlier, when I go through this process of installing BOINC for other machines (an 8-core AMD and Jetson Nano), I encounter none of these problems. The Odroid N2 is otherwise working: I can run C++ programs using OpenMP without any trouble.

If the solution to this is that I have to log into Ubuntu as root and install boinc, I have two problems:

1. It's different from every other apt install I've ever made.
2. I'm reluctant to have to make all preferences and adjustment always as root.

I believe BOINC has a conflict with Ubuntu 20.04 on ARM architecture. Repeatedly purging and reinstalling yields the same results.

I'm afraid I don't understand "running from your home directory". BOINC is not running in my home directory:

From what you posted earlier.

dir_open: Could not open directory 'slots' from '/home/bkeister'.

It is trying to use it, even if it's not actually there. Hence the permission issues you are having.

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Grant
Darwin NT

How about you remove the repo version, reboot and then check if it thinks it’s running? If it’s still running then you’ve installed some other version from somewhere else and need to work out how to get rid of it first. It might take reinstalling Ubuntu from scratch/reimage the SD card to get rid of it

I run raspberry pi’s headless and haven’t had this issue. They are however running Raspberry Pi OS 64 bit (ie Debian)..

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BOINC blog

I guess I can't convince anyone that I've installed this "from somewhere else." Be that as it may, I have shown what I have done to install/reinstall BOINC countless times on this machine. Reimaging Ubuntu from scratch just for BOINC is a non-starter: I have countless hours invested getting a variety of packages running for my own research.

I determine whether boinc is running or not via

/% ps -e | grep boinc

That said, looking at the systemctl status output, there is apparently a problem with the file gui_rpc_auth.cfg:

[Franklin]/etc/boinc-client/% !?stop?
sudo systemctl stop boinc-client.service
[Franklin]/etc/boinc-client/% !?start?
sudo systemctl start boinc-client.service
[Franklin]/etc/boinc-client/% !?stat?
sudo systemctl status boinc-client.service
● boinc-client.service - Berkeley Open Infrastructure Network Computing Client
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/boinc-client.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Fri 2020-12-25 16:36:26 EST; 2s ago
Docs: man:boinc(1)
Main PID: 42915 (boinc)
Tasks: 2 (limit: 3833)
Memory: 3.1M
CGroup: /system.slice/boinc-client.service
└─42915 /usr/bin/boinc

Dec 25 16:36:26 Franklin boinc[42915]: 25-Dec-2020 16:36:26 [---] Setting up project and slot directories
Dec 25 16:36:26 Franklin boinc[42915]: 25-Dec-2020 16:36:26 [---] Checking active tasks
Dec 25 16:36:26 Franklin boinc[42915]: 25-Dec-2020 16:36:26 [---] Setting up GUI RPC socket
Dec 25 16:36:26 Franklin boinc[42915]: 25-Dec-2020 16:36:26 [---] Can't open gui_rpc_auth.cfg - fix permissions
Dec 25 16:36:26 Franklin boinc[42915]: 25-Dec-2020 16:36:26 [---] Checking presence of 0 project files
Dec 25 16:36:26 Franklin boinc[42915]: 25-Dec-2020 16:36:26 [---] This computer is not attached to any projects
Dec 25 16:36:26 Franklin boinc[42915]: 25-Dec-2020 16:36:26 Initialization completed
Dec 25 16:36:26 Franklin boinc[42915]: No protocol specified
Dec 25 16:36:27 Franklin boinc[42915]: Client is not authorized to connect to ServerNo protocol specified
Dec 25 16:36:28 Franklin boinc[42915]: Client is not authorized to connect to ServerNo protocol specified

I discovered that /var/lib/boinc-client/gui_rpc_auth.cfg is a soft link to etc/boinc-client/gui_rpc_auth.cfg, but the latter file does not exist. [I just did yet another purge/install to confirm this]

I have to stress here that I have not touched any of the /var/lib/boinc-clientor /etc/boinc-client files, except to delete all of them when I removed BOINC. If a file exists or not in those directory trees, it's a direct consequence of installation. If there's something wrong with permissions, I did not change them.

Okay so we can’t reinstall Ubuntu. What was the result of the removing BOINC, reboot and check to see if it’s running? I assume it wasn’t running.

When you remove BOINC are you doing a “sudo apt purge boinc-client boinc-manager -y” command (without the quotes)? I would follow that up with a “sudo apt autoremove” and see what else it wants to get rid of. The apt purge should remove the directories and any config files.

The gui_rpc_auth.cfg file is created when you install it and from memory is usually blank.

Do you have a firewall installed? If so is port 31416 open?

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BOINC blog

I guess I can't convince anyone that I've installed this "from somewhere else." Be that as it may, I have shown what I have done to install/reinstall BOINC countless times on this machine. Reimaging Ubuntu from scratch just for BOINC is a non-starter: I have countless hours invested getting a variety of packages running for my own research.

One option I do is to clone the drive to another drive and use the cloned drive as my main drive on other machines, if I make another Linux machine I just clone another one from the 'master' and change the name in 2 files the Hosts folder. That way no matter how bad I screw things up I'm back up and running with a hard drive swap as I have several cloned drives sitting in the drawer all the time just in case. So far I have had almost no problems even if the new machine has an AMD or Intel based cpu, These are Boinc only machines I'm talking about not every day usage machines so not alot is loaded except the Nvidia drivers and Boinc.

Problem solved [apparently]: although one installs with the simple command "sudo apt install boinc", one must uninstall (by name) several components as in "sudo apt purge boinc boing-client boinc-manager". Once I did that, then reinstalled, then opened BOINC manager, I got the usual startup dialog box to choose a project.

So it appears to be running, except that R@H is not now sending tasks to any of my machines.

Thanks for your forbearance on this.

Problem solved [apparently]: although one installs with the simple command "sudo apt install boinc", one must uninstall (by name) several components as in "sudo apt purge boinc boing-client boinc-manager". Once I did that, then reinstalled, then opened BOINC manager, I got the usual startup dialog box to choose a project.

So it appears to be running, except that R@H is not now sending tasks to any of my machines.

Thanks for your forbearance on this.

Rosetta currently has a problem that is stopping work units being distributed so that’s not a problem with your systems.

Problem solved [apparently]: although one installs with the simple command "sudo apt install boinc", one must uninstall (by name) several components as in "sudo apt purge boinc boing-client boinc-manager". Once I did that, then reinstalled, then opened BOINC manager, I got the usual startup dialog box to choose a project.

So it appears to be running, except that R@H is not now sending tasks to any of my machines.

Thanks for your forbearance on this.

Glad we got there in the end.

There is a problem on the R@H server where its not sending out work to anyone at the moment. I'm out of Rosetta work too.

I believe boinc is a meta package as they like to call them. Another way to remove it might have being "sudo apt purge *boinc*" (without the quotes) which would have purged anything with boinc in its name, followed by a "sudo apt autoremove".

I always install the boinc-client and if its not a headless machine boinc-manager packages rather than the meta package as I don't need the manager on a headless machine. I use BOINCtasks on a windows machine to see all of them. That way you don't have to login to each machine to see what they are up to. I only ssh into them to do OS updates, etc as needed.

If you want a more up to date version of BOINC on Ubuntu you can use the Locutus of Borg ppa. Gianfranco is the Debian/Ubuntu maintainer of BOINC. You can find his ppa here. It has instructions on how to add the ppa.

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BOINC blog