I have managed to create an account on abcathome but can get no work to do.

I have a 64 bit Sempron and am using 64 bit Kubuntu 6.10 with downloaded Debian boinc. The boinc manager reports this to be version 5.4.11.

The "projects" tab reports that I have an ABC@home project but the "tasks" tab shows a blank.

When I click on the "update" button to try and get some work I get the in the "messages" window:

------------------------
Fri 23 Feb 2007 22:22:12 GMT|ABC@home|Successfully attached to ABC@home
Fri 23 Feb 2007 22:22:27 GMT|ABC@home|Sending scheduler request to http://abcathome.com/abc_cgi/cgi
Fri 23 Feb 2007 22:22:27 GMT|ABC@home|Reason: Requested by user
Fri 23 Feb 2007 22:22:27 GMT|ABC@home|Requesting 8640 seconds of new work
Fri 23 Feb 2007 22:22:32 GMT|ABC@home|Scheduler request succeeded
Fri 23 Feb 2007 22:22:32 GMT|ABC@home|Message from server: platform '' not found
--------------------

The '' looks as if there may be a null string somewhere.

I've tried detaching and reattaching from the project but to no avail.

It may be a clue that when I do this I get the message:

"Are you sure you want to detach from project '????????????'?"

Any help appreciated.

Hi Richard,

It sounds like you have installed everything correctly and I cannot see any reason why you are not getting work. The 5.4.11 version of BOINC is not the latest recommended release but it is still a recommended release and I know it works for at least 1 other cruncher I've chatted with recently.

Are you getting work from other projects with your current setup?

The "platform not found" response from the server is interesting. I don't think it should make any difference but maybe it doesn't like the fact you have a 32-bit BOINC installed on a 64-bit OS. Maybe try installing a 64-bit BOINC and see if that helps. You can download Augustine's 64-bit BOINC core from the link in this post from Augustine in the AMD64 thread. That download will give you the 64-bit BOINC core client which is known to work with the 5.4.11 BOINC manager you currently have installed. The steps would be...

• in your BOINC directory, rename file boinc to boinc.32bit.5.4.11, or you can delete it but renaming it will allow you to keep it in case you want to go back to it
  
• download from the link
  
• decompress/unarchive the download
  
• copy both files from the archive into your BOINC directory
  
• rename the boinc.*.* file to boinc
  

If you get the "platform not found" message after that then let us know and we'll try and figure out what's wrong.

One problem with following the above suggestion is that you won't automatically get work from projects that offer only a 32-bit science app, unless they have setup their end to automatically send their 32-bit app to 64-bit platforms, eg. MalariaControl. Some other projects will send their 32-bit app if you add an app_info.xml file to your end. The AMD thread I mentioned above has several posts that name the projects that send 32-bit apps automatically plus a few that have 64-bit apps ready to send. You might want to think about all that before going full 64-bit like I am suggesting. On the other hand, if you do go full 64-bit and crunch only ABC you will earn huge credits because ABC's 64-bit app is 2X faster than their 32-bit. And if you rename the 32-bit boinc instead of deleting it then switching back is as easy as renaming the 2 files back to what they were.

Clear like mud? Ask questions if I've confused you :-)


EDIT: I misinterpreted your post when I read it. At first I thought the " in the "platform " not found" response was a typo. Now I think it was not a typo. OK, well, I've never seen or heard of that response and I'm even more puzzled than before. Anyway, I'll stick to my suggestion regarding installing Augustine's 64-bit client. If that doesn't work then I have another idea but I'll have to look up a few things first before I can explain it.

Hi Dagorath,

Thanks for your help on this one.

I haven't got any other projects running with this setup; I normally run Suse 10.2 32-bit climateprediction.org but find it sad that they don't offer a 64-bit application. They say that 64 bits won't make much difference but I feel one advantage is that the 64-bit architecture being new offers extra registers and SSE2 which should make a big difference given the right compiler. The old 32 bit architecture means that most of these new processors are only being used as fast Pentiums.

The boinc client I downloaded from Debian was a 64 bit client as proven by the "file" command:-

"ELF 64-bit LSB executable, AMD x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), for GNU/Linux 2.6.0, dynamically linked (uses shared libs), for GNU/Linux 2.6.0, stripped."

Anyhow I downloaded Augustine's version and after renaming the original in the /usr/bin directory and setting up a symbolic link to Augustine's, I am now running it. After detaching from the project and reattaching it is now running and I have four WUs!

Gosh! the first one is already almost done!!!!

I don't know the explanation for this. I had already tried detaching and reattaching but to no avail. I guess that I'll try switching the client back just to confirm that that was the trouble.

Thanks again,

Richard

P.S. It is done and ready to report!

Glad to hear you've been crunching some CPDN, very worthwhile project. True, there has been info circulating at CPDN saying 64 bits won't make any difference to their app. Interesting thing is yesterday Carl posted here saying "climate models are primarily 64-bit". I trust Carl as he's one of the CPDN devs and consider the opinion that 64-bit won't make any difference to CPDN to be in error. If Carl is correct then they would likely see in the neighborhood of a 2X speed gain from 64-bit.

Other reports at CPDN indicate they have a 64-bit app but it has unspecified problems which render it unfit even for beta test at this time. So, the good news is they're working on it; the bad news is they apparently see it as a lower priority because, as Carl stated in the above linked post, there just aren't enough 64-bit systems out there at this time. In other words, they see it as the chicken/egg problem. I don't cotton to that kind of pessimism, perhaps because I live in the land of milk and honey (Calgary) where we spend big cuz we can. When your project is short on funding like CPDN you spend cautiously. Nothing to do but be patient and lobby.

Getting back to your problem.... Glad to hear it's working now :-). I think your theory about a null string somewhere makes sense. Maybe substituting Augustine's app caused the string to be initialised to the expected value? Maybe it didn't initialise properly when you installed due to a one time glitch like a power spike?

Another theory is maybe the original Ububtu install didn't have the security certificate that Augustine includes in his package? I think that would make a difference only if ABC uses https as opposed to http. Not sure which protocol they use. I have vague recollection of someone mentioning the certificate needs to be different for 64-bit.

Anyway, we seem to have a cure for a problem other Ubuntu/Debian users may run into too. Would be nice to know why the cure works though.

I had the same problem on ubuntu, and fixed it by changing client_state.xml: the tag platform_name should contain "x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu" (without quotes). First stop the boinc-client (boinc-client stop). I did not install Augustines client, simply installed boinc-client and manager from the package manager, and now got high-speed 64-bit calculations :-)

--Robert

Im a bit late on this one but i can confirm the Debian (or in my case Kubuntu) 64bit BOINC in the repositories does not work with anything :(
Simple solution is use Augustines Client and just rename it boinc_client and replace the BOINC client in /usr/bin
I see a massive improvement in speed on those projects supporting 64bit apps so i only use my 64bit machine on ABC and RS the two projects who got good speed improvements out of 64bit. Unfortunately i don't crunch any other projects that have a 64bit app currently so not sure how well they go.
I think if the 64bit machines start moving to only those projects supporting 64bit projects may start to get the message that its worth looking into as these are generally some of the faster machines running BOINC and the Linux ones are often full time crunchers so a lot of crunch time will move away from those unwilling to support or even look into 64bits.
That said i still run non 64bit supporting projects on my older 32bit machines as i feel the need to spread my crunch time around the many worthwhile projects out there.

I had the same problem on ubuntu, and fixed it by changing client_state.xml: the tag platform_name should contain "x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu" (without quotes).

I tied a little experiment and edited my <platform_name>x86_64-pc-linux-gnu</platform_name>
to read <platform_name>x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu</platform_name>. It turns out it works either way here at ABC, other projects may be different.

I think for other projects it is different. SETI works with unknown-linux-gnu I think, for example. Strange thing, I wonder if there is some documentation about what exact platform names are specified? Can't find it....

____________

I had the same problem on ubuntu, and fixed it by changing client_state.xml: the tag platform_name should contain "x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu" (without quotes).

Question for all!

In my app_info.xml for ABC What should the

<app_name>?????????</app_name>

be set to please?

Y do you need an app info? This project support 64 bit Linux well.

Ahh that would explain it. Sorry being in the Linux section it had me all confused.
All versions are currently 1.02. On the box im on now its "abc-finder_1.02_x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" but not having a 'doze machine handy i cant confirm this is the same for 'doze.

Edit: Just fired up my part time 'doze box and its app is "abc-finder_1.02_windows_intelx86". Not sure if thats any help but havent done an app info in a while.
Edit2:Hmmm try appname as "abc-finder" but this is little more than an educated guess im sorry

Ahh that would explain it. Sorry being in the Linux section it had me all confused.
All versions are currently 1.02. On the box im on now its "abc-finder_1.02_x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" but not having a 'doze machine handy i cant confirm this is the same for 'doze.

Edit: Just fired up my part time 'doze box and its app is "abc-finder_1.02_windows_intelx86". Not sure if thats any help but havent done an app info in a while.
Edit2:Hmmm try appname as "abc-finder" but this is little more than an educated guess im sorry

<app_info>
<app>
<name>ABC@Home</name>
</app>
<file_info>
<name>abc-finder_1.02_windows_intelx86</name>
<executable/>
</file_info>
<app_version>
<app_name>abc-finder_1.02_windows_intelx86</app_name>
<version_num>1.02</version_num>
<file_ref>
<file_name>abc-finder_1.02_windows_intelx86</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>
</app_info>

Grrrrrr I tried that and I get an error in Boinc "[error] State file error: bad application name abc-finder_1.02_windows_intelx86

http://abcathome.com/forum_thread.php?id=245