I am a linux newbie and I am trying to install BOINC. Unfortunately, I don't know where to put it in the directory tree. Where is the "usual" or "accepted" directory for things like this?

Thank you in advance.

Jim

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Hi Jim,

If you're new to Unix/Linux you might want to find a copy of the "Linux Filesystem Hierarchy"--available from many locations on the web as a .pdf file. It's a good reference for understanding how how the Linux filesystem is layed out, what generally goes where, and where to go look for things. Note that each distribution will be a little different.

Anyway, on my system I put the boinc directory structure in /var as "/var/boinc/..." but some might argue for "/usr/local/boinc/...". I chose /var over /usr mainly because the boinc and seti clients contain dynamic data and must be writable while the system is up and running and /usr should remain static; i.e., you should be able to make /usr readonly and still have the system operate normally.

Hope this helps you decide.

==> dave

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This website has a nice explanation how to setup BOINC as a daemon/service under its own username (to limit the access it has to your system):

http://pirates.vassar.edu/help/unix.html

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@ Kees-Jeen
Thank you for the links and the information. I am looking at the Pirates site right now. I hope I can get it to work.

@Zardoz
I am going to try to find the "Linux Filesystem Hierarchy" also. It sounds like a very helpful article, and on a subject that I've been wanting to read.

I have put on my Christmas list a couple of books on Linux. I hope I can get at least one of them.

Thank you again both of you for your help.

Jim

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I've tried these instructions with Debian and they don't work. I am going to still continue to try to figure it out. When I do I will send the instructions to you or to this list or both.

Jim

> This website has a nice explanation how to setup BOINC as a daemon/service
> under its own username (to limit the access it has to your system):
>
> http://pirates.vassar.edu/help/unix.html
>
>
>

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Ok... I've tried the following command. I am running the testing version of Debian (Sarge).

I have no idea yet if it worked or not. Like I said, I'm a linux newbie.

start-stop-daemon -x ~boinc/boinc_4.13_i686-pc-linux-gnu-gz --start -b -c boinc -r ~boinc

Ok, so, now if I understand what I did ...
-x (execute )
--start (start the daemon)
-b (force to the background)
-c (run as )
-r (run in )

if I have messed up on my understanding, please inform me so that I may learn.

Thank you.

Jim

> I've tried these instructions with Debian and they don't work. I am going to
> still continue to try to figure it out. When I do I will send the
> instructions to you or to this list or both.
>
> Jim
>
> > This website has a nice explanation how to setup BOINC as a
> daemon/service
> > under its own username (to limit the access it has to your system):
> >
> > http://pirates.vassar.edu/help/unix.html
> >
> >
> >
>

[Edit] I don't think this worked. :( I looked on the SETI Website but haven't seen the name of my Linux machine. Hopefully it was just because the pages hadn't had time to update yet.

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Hi Jim,

If your account doesn't list the system then yes it "didn't work" and it doesn't seem to have done it's initial connection to the project.

You need to run the boinc client interactively the first time through and answer some questions (account, seti URL, et cetera) before attempting to run it as a daemon on system start. Also, from the command you listed it's hard to tell exactly what was expected, but it appears you may have been trying to execute the gzip compressed file that was downloaded.

Can you try/confirm the following:

1. Go to the directory that you downloaded the BOINC client "boinc_4.13_i686-pc-linux-gnu.gz" into. Example:

'cd /home/boinc'

you should be able to see the file with an 'ls' command.

2. Unpack the archive using the gunzip command. Example:

'gunzip boinc_4.13_i686-pc-linux-gnu.gz'

you should now see the unpacked file "boinc_4.13_i686-pc-linux-gnu" replacing the ".gz" version. This file sould also 'bigger'... use the command 'ls -l'.

3. Make the boinc client file executable by changing the 'mode' bits on the file to allow execute access using "chmod". Example:

'chmod +x boinc_4.13_i686-pc-linux-gnu'

4. Execute the boinc client interactively. Example:

'./boinc_4.13_i686-pc-linux-gnu'

It should prompt you for your information, connect to the project, run the benchmarks... and start processing work.

Are you able to get this far?

==> dave

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