I have two boxes running Windows/BOINC/Seti, using the Chicken apps - no problems there.

I have two other boxes running Ubuntu 7.04. I installed BOINC via Synaptic Pkg Mgr. It installed and runs just fine - but it's running BOINC Mgr 5.4.11, and Seti 5.13.

I tried to download and install Chicken apps for these boxes, and had no luck what-so-ever. After some poking about, looks like this installation has a different structure than I'm used to seeing.

In /var/lib/boinc-client/projects/setiathome.berkeley.edu we have:
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 38 2007-08-28 08:56 app_info.xml -> /usr/share/boinc-app-seti/app_info.xml
-rw-r--r-- 1 boinc boinc 350 2007-08-22 14:29 app_info.xml.24aug2007
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 678 2007-06-13 12:16 AUTHORS
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 17992 2003-11-18 22:42 COPYING
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1914 2006-02-21 16:05 COPYRIGHT
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2013 2007-06-13 12:16 README
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 43 2007-08-28 08:56 setiathome_enhanced -> /usr/lib/boinc-app-seti/setiathome_enhanced

The links referenced here point to:
A. /usr/share/boinc-app-seti which contains a standard-looking app_info.xml
B. /usr/share/boinc-apps/info which contains one file: seti.cfg (which I've never heard of before). This file contains:
[DEFAULT]
project = seti
app_info = /usr/share/boinc-app-seti/app_info.xml
apps = /usr/lib/boinc-app-seti/setiathome_enhanced
urls = setiathome.berkeley.edu
setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu
setiweb.ssl.berkeley.edu

When I tried to use the Chicken apps here, I deleted the links and untarred the install files from KWSN into the /var/lib/boinc-client/projects/setiathome.berkeley.edu directory - and BOINC started choking and dieing, so I undid my changes.

Can anyone give me some simple directions to safely upgrade the Mgr and the SETI app to latest versions without hosing anything up?

Sorry to make this so long, but I was trying to lay the whole picture out clearly the first time.

TIA folks,

Roy

Before you try to upgrade the chicken apps, I would first upgrade your BOINC client and mgr.

Like you, I'm running Ubuntu 7.04, and installed BOINC via Synaptic. This puts the project directories in /var, and the binaries (executables) in /usr/bin.

It's important to know where these files are, because the startup/shutdown scripts that run BOINC on Ubuntu are much like the service install on Windows.

First, stop the current BOINC client by running this:

/etc/init.d/boinc-client stop

(You'll need to be root, or use "sudo" to have this work right)

SO, to upgrade the BOINC client/mgr, you need to download a more current version of BOINC from boinc.berkeley.edu. You can copy the non-tar version to your local directory, and run the shell script like in the install instructions on that site.

This will create a BOINC directory under your local directory, and will probably try to start another client session. Be sure to kill that one, and then copy these 3 files from the "local" BOINC directory to /usr/bin. The files are:

boinc_client
boinc_cmd
boincmgr

You'll probably need to be root, or use the "sudo" command when you copy these, since you're copying them into a 'system' directory. If you like, you can rename the original 5.4.11 versions of these files first, to save them as backup.

Now start up the boinc-client by typing this:

/etc/init.d/boinc-client start

You should get an [OK] response at the end of the command line, and you should see a boinc-client process running.

I'd recommend uninstalling the boinc-seti package via Synaptic, or at least clearing out the app-info.xml file, so that SETI loads the standard client in the /var/lib/boinc-client/projects/seti*** directory. Once you get the standard client running correctly with the updated BOINC client, then you can try to install the 2.4 Chicken apps.

See if you can update BOINC, and then post here to let us know how it went...

Mark

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Mark

Thank you, Mark!
Phase 1 complete - I now have the 5.8.16 version of BOINC Mgr running.

It's still running setiathome_enhanced version 6.13, but I presume that's because there's already a work unit in progress that was started using that version. It'll download and use a newer version when it gets the next work unit, right?

Now to go do the same on my other Ubuntu box, and wait for these WUs to finish.

Thanks, again!

Roy

Thank you, Mark!
Phase 1 complete - I now have the 5.8.16 version of BOINC Mgr running.

It's still running setiathome_enhanced version 6.13, but I presume that's because there's already a work unit in progress that was started using that version. It'll download and use a newer version when it gets the next work unit, right?

Now to go do the same on my other Ubuntu box, and wait for these WUs to finish.

Thanks, again!

Roy

I'd try to get to 5.10.8 of the BOINC client. It's the latest one (may still be in beta), but I've been running it for at least 2 weeks without any problems.

That version of seti (6.13) is a very weird one. The standard client today is version 5.27. Set your client to No New Work (NNW) and wait for it to get done. Then remove the app-info.xml file and have it download the standard client.

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Mark

That version of seti (6.13) is a very weird one. The standard client today is version 5.27. Set your client to No New Work (NNW) and wait for it to get done. Then remove the app-info.xml file and have it download the standard client.

That was just a typo on his part. He is running 5.13 which I believe was the standard Linux version. (I ran Chicken's so don't recall the stock version but i believe this is right.)

(edit) The Windows and Linux versions were different because the Windows version had several issues which required issuing updated apps where the Linux version didn't have these issues.

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Jim

Some people plan their life out and look back at the wealth they've had.
Others live life day by day and look back at the wealth of experiences and enjoyment they've had.

Windows Convert:
I am still trying to upgrade my BOINC version from 5.4.11 to 5.8.16 can the LINUX
GURU'S put into laymen terms via windows speak how to upgrade to the newer BOINC version.

In windows when upgrading the BOINC client the windows installer upgrades the software automatically. putting the correct files into the correct directory.

It seems with LINUX one has to jump through hoops to install a simple program.

any help would greatly appreciated.


regards

Matthew

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Windows Convert:
I am still trying to upgrade my BOINC version from 5.4.11 to 5.8.16 can the LINUX
GURU'S put into laymen terms via windows speak how to upgrade to the newer BOINC version.

In windows when upgrading the BOINC client the windows installer upgrades the software automatically. putting the correct files into the correct directory.

It seems with LINUX one has to jump through hoops to install a simple program...

That is more of a problem that "noone has been interested enough to automate the install" precisely because the users can do it for themselves. In the Windows world, the developers have been forced to go to the trouble to ensure that there is a nice GUI installer...

There's various 'walk throughs' for doing the install and there's examples in previous threads.

If you're on Ubuntu/Kubuntu, then you can wait for an automatic install for whatever the Ubuntu maintainers provide for you. For enhanced security, they use a different structure to what Boinc normally uses. If you want to use anything else, then UNINSTALL IT FIRST! (You can reinstall in place but that takes a few instructions, as explained in another thread somewhere by others. Just a few commandline instructions...)

Or, you can follow the walk-through here: Installing The BOINC Client Software on Linux


A lot on Linux is easy and fully automated. Unfortunately, noone has taken responsibility to maintain an automated install for Boinc in the main distros' software repositories.

Hope that helps,

Happy crunchin',
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Windows Convert:
I am still trying to upgrade my BOINC version from 5.4.11 to 5.8.16 can the LINUX
GURU'S put into laymen terms via windows speak how to upgrade to the newer BOINC version.

In windows when upgrading the BOINC client the windows installer upgrades the software automatically. putting the correct files into the correct directory.

It seems with LINUX one has to jump through hoops to install a simple program.

any help would greatly appreciated.


regards

Matthew

Matthew,
The world of Linux is much more of a "hands-on" type environment, where you have to figure out how to do things more by yourself, than to be assisted by a GUI.

All that being said, someone else posted in another thread of a way to get Ubuntu to update the BOINC client to 5.8.17 more "automatically".

Understand that each distribution of Linux is somewhat different, and therefore there isn't a "one size fits all" type environment. Assuming that you're running GNOME, and not KDE, here are some GUI adjustments you can make to update BOINC:

Start at the "System" pull-down menu, and then pick "Administration -> Software Sources".

Pick the "Updates" tab, and be sure that the "Unsupported updates (backports)" box is checked/selected.

Click the "Close" button, and it will probably prompt you to reload the package selection.

Now go back to System -> Administration and pick "Update Manager". You should see in the list of packages to be upgraded both the boinc-client and boinc-manager. If you select ONLY THESE and have these updates installed, all the files necessary to run BOINC 5.8.17 will be copied and updated.

As for your other questions, here's a few analogies:

A .tar file is an archive, much like a ZIP file. But it's not compressed unless you use something like gzip or zip, and then it gets a .gz extension added. Ubuntu provides the "Archive Manager" application to open up a gzip'd or non-compressed tar file. You can then extract the files from the archive and put them where you want.

Most executable files on Linux don't have a .exe extension, but Linux has file attributes that tell the file system that a file is executable. If you do a "ls -l" in a terminal window, it's like using Explorer on Windows and asking for "Details", which shows file attributes like size, date created, etc... An "x" in the long directory listing says that the file is eXecutable. You also have to watch out for file permissions to be sure that you can read and/or write the file.

Long post, hope this helps,

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Mark