A change in setup of these change logs. Divided into this one for the Alpha 6 versions, one for Trunk and one for 6.7/6.8/GR6.8

This thread will continue to hold the information about test releases.

Although there are many more changes for Alpha, I am only listing the changes for the BOINC Client, Manager and such. For all (other) entries, please check BOINC 6.6a checkin notes.

A recap:

Charlie 2 June 2009
MGR: In Async RPC logic, change calling order for wxCondition and wxMutex from <Set Boolean, Lock, Unlock, Signal> to <Lock, Set Boolean, Signal, Unlock> to be consistent with examples in literature, hoping this might fix an intermittent hang in wxConition::Wait().

Charlie 2 June 2009
- Tag for 6.6.32 release, all platforms boinc_core_release_6_6_32

David 31 May 2009
- client: include plan class in other_result list in sched request (for resource-specific jobs-in-progress limit)

Rom 2 June 2009
- Tag for 6.6.33 release, all platforms boinc_core_release_6_6_33

David 1 June 2009
- client: if scheduler request didn't request work, don't report 0 tasks

David 2 June 2009
- client: show "est. delay" correctly in work fetch debug msgs
- client: show times correctly in rr_sim debug msgs
- client: in "requesting new tasks" msg, say what resources we're requesting (if there's more than CPU)
- client: estimated delay was possibly being calculated incorrectly because of roundoff error

David 2 June 2009
- client: add a 1e-6 slop factor in deciding if a resource is fully utilized.

David 3 June 2009
- client: when parsing app_info.xml, make sure coprocessors are present. fixes #911

Rom 4 June 2009
- Tag for 6.6.34 release, all platforms boinc_core_release_6_6_34

Charlie 5 June 2009
- MGR: CBOINCClientManager::ProcessExists() finds the process by name if we don't have a pid (Mac, Linux) or process HANDLE (Windows). On Mac and Linux, it returns the pid if the process was found.

Charlie 5 June 2009
- MGR: Use code like get_client_mutex() to determine if client is running. New CBOINCClientManager::KillClient() uses process name to kill client if we don't have a pid (Mac, Linux) or process HANDLE (Windows).
NOTE: Windows implementation not yet finished.

Charlie 5 June 2009
- MGR: Implement CBOINCClientManager::KillClient() and IsBOINCRunning() for Windows.
NOTE: I have confirmed that the "ps -a -x -c -o command,pid" command as used in IsBOINCRunning() should works in Ubuntu under VMWare, but it needs to be tested on other Linux platforms.

Charlie 5 June 2009
- lib: Fix FILE_LOCK::unlock() to reset fd to -1 so FILE_LOCK works correctly with repeated calls.

Charlie 8 June 2009
- MGR: Fix compiler error on Windows.
- lib: Fix compiler error on Windows.

Charlie 8 June 2009
- Mac MGR: In Async RPC logic, use posix mutexes and conditions instead of wxWidgets implementations on the Mac, as this appears to fix an intermittent hang in wxCondition::Wait().

Charlie 9 June 2009
- lib: FILE_LOCK::lock() makes lockfile group-writable so both client and manager can create and write it under sandbox security.

Rom 9 June 2009
- Tag for 6.6.35 release, all platforms boinc_core_release_6_6_35

David 4 June 2009
- client: read app_info.xml's AFTER scanning GPUs. Otherwise we'll discard all GPU apps and results.

Rom 9 June 2009
- Tag for 6.6.36 release, all platforms boinc_core_release_6_6_36

Charlie 10 June 2009
- MGR: use branded Manager name in async RPC Please Wait dialog.

Charlie 11 June 2009
Mac: Update copyright date in InfoPlist.strings files to 2009.

Charlie 11 June 2009
- Mac MGR: strip /n from command field of PROCINFO struct so <exclusive_app> log flag works properly on Mac.
- MGR: Change CBOINCClientManager::KillClient() to get client pid from procinfo_setup() on all non-Windows platforms.

Charlie 12 June 2009
Mac Sandbox: check_security() writes path of bad file to stderr for some error codes.
Mac MGR: fix compile break.

Charlie 16 June 2009
- MGR: Compile fix.

BOINC 6.6.36 for Linux 32-bit

Rom Walton wrote:

I have rebuilt and posted 6.6.36 using an older VM image, I believe it'll resolve the crash that was occurring because of the inclusion of the perl regular expression library somewhere along the line.

http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dl/boinc_6.6.36_i686-pc-linux-gnu.sh

Please give it a quick run through and make sure the manager can connect
to the client.


----- Rom

BOINC 6.6.37 released for Windows, Windows x64, Linux, Linux x64 and Macintosh

This is a development version of BOINC. Do not use it if you do not plan to use it for Alpha or Beta testing. Expect parts of it to be broken, or in the least to work in a different way than you are used to.

Report any problems you get with it to the Alpha email list. This list needs registration. Reporting about it on these forums does not make any sense as the developers HARDLY read these forums.


BOINC Alpha reporting of problems

Report which version of BOINC you run, also on what operating system and add a detailed log of what your BOINC is doing.

Run at least once with these flags on: <work_fetch_debug>, <sched_op_debug> and one run with <debt_debug> from the cc_config.xml file. Catch that log and post with it on the BOINC Alpha list, putting the log into the email. Attachments to the list will be deleted by the email server.

Without it, the developers won't be able to be of any help, while you will probably only annoy them as they'll have to ask for the nth time that you add those flags and send them a new log.

Change Log:

Rom 6 July 2009

- client: include device number in message describing NVIDIA GPU, and call it "NVIDIA GPU" rather than "CUDA device". fixes #879

- client: tweak messages

- client: Fix missing argument in printf statements.

- fix to the above

- client: prepend rather than append to LD_LIBRARY_PATH; on Mac, change DYLIB_LIBRARY_PATH also.

- MGR: Fix a long standing bug where the project list control for the account manager info page and the project info page was not consuming available screen space. Previously we hacked around it by setting an explicit size.

Note: this works on Windows, I don't yet know about Mac and Linux.

- MGR: Fix fatal error which caused crash in Accoount Manager Wizard.

- client: when suspending a GPU job, always remove it from memory, even if it hasn't checkpointed. Otherwise we'll typically run another GPU job right away, and it will bomb out or revert to CPU mode because it can't allocate video RAM

- MGR: Remove project list randomization, sort on name.

- MGR: Previous sorting method wasn't working, use a sort function pointer instead.

- client: record the time results are received. Process non-EDF GPU jobs in this order.

- Tag for 6.6.37 release, all platforms boinc_core_release_6_6_37

Charlie 6 July 2009

- MGR: Fix Mac compile error in addition of DYLIB_LIBRARY_PATH

- Mac Installer: Delete any old PTP branded versions.

Charlie 7 July 2009

- Mac Installer: use escaped form of brand name when needed

- Mac Installer: use escaped form of branded screensaver name when needed

BOINC 6.6.38 released for Windows, Windows x64

This is a development version of BOINC. Do not use it if you do not plan to use it for Alpha or Beta testing. Expect parts of it to be broken, or in the least to work in a different way than you are used to.

Report any problems you get with it to the Alpha email list. This list needs registration. Reporting about it on these forums does not make any sense as the developers HARDLY read these forums.


BOINC Alpha reporting of problems

Report which version of BOINC you run, also on what operating system and add a detailed log of what your BOINC is doing.

Run at least once with these flags on: <work_fetch_debug>, <sched_op_debug> and <debt_debug> in the cc_config.xml file. Catch that log and post with it on the BOINC Alpha list, putting the log into the email. Attachments to the list will be deleted by the email server.

Without it, the developers won't be able to be of any help, while you will probably only annoy them as they'll have to ask for the nth time that you add those flags and send them a new log.

Linux and Macintosh versions to follow.

NOTE: Using this version will make some of your tasks go in "High priority" mode. That's just because the bug that caused the "won't finish in time" message left behind a bad estimate of your long running deadline estimates. BOINC will have to run through half to one task before this goes away. It's perfectly normal and there's no need to keep plugging it as a bug.

You can't expect the bug to be fixed and all your numbers to go back to pre-bug values. Some of these values are also stored on project servers, sent to you with work.

Change Log:

Rom 17 July 2009
- Not used by the client software (zip)

Rom 21 July 2009
- GUI RPC: add get_message_seqno() RPC. fixes #931

- client: error if a <file_info> in app_info.xml has any URLs

- client: don't write file_infos with no URLs to client_state.xml for anon platform project; they must be from app_info.xml

- client: restored code for project-wide backoff on file uploads and downloads. I originally added this on 30 Sept 2005 and disabled it 2 weeks later because there were reports of problems. However, we need this functionality (e.g. on GPU hosts with hundreds of files to upload, we need to back off after a few failures, not try all of them). I added messages (<file_xfer_debug>) so you can see what's going on. Fixes #932.

- client: if malloc fails in MFILE writes, exit. We don't check the return values of printf() anywhere, and it's dangerous for the client to continue if it thinks something got written that didn't. Fixes #281

- client: code cleanup for project-level file xfer backoff

- client/manager/GUI RPC: show project-level backoffs

- client: changed file upload logic

Old: each upload attempt consists of two HTTP requests:
the 1st to get the current file size on server,
the 2nd to upload the remainder of the file.

Problem:
a) if the upload server is overloaded and requests are succeeding with probability X, then the chance of both requests succeeding is X2. So e.g. a per-request success rate of 0.1 becomes an overall success rate of 0.01.

b) the "get file size" request can be avoided in some cases.

New:
If we've already queried the file size and haven't uploaded any additional bytes, don't query the file size again.

- client: if file < 8KB, upload it in its entirety and skip size check

- client: (refinement to previous checkin) don't skip file size check if file has multiple upload URLs. We might have uploaded different amounts on different servers.

- client: change the way a resource's "estimated delay" (passed to server for crude deadline check) is computed.

Old: estimated delay is the interval for which the resource is fully used (i.e., all instances busy).

Problem: this may cause unnecessary project starvation.
example: 1 CPU machine, has a month-long CPDN job with a 1-year deadline (it's not in deadline trouble). Then the CPU estimated delay will be 1 month, and the client won't get any work from projects with deadlines shorter than 1 month.

New: estimated delay is the latest time at which the resource is fully used and is being used by at least 1 job that is projected to miss its deadline under RR.

Note: this isn't precise, but I don't think we can improve it much without getting a lot more complex.

client: 2nd try on my last checkin.

We need to estimate 2 different delays for each resource type:
1) "saturated time": the time the resource will be fully utilized (new name for the old "estimated delay"). This is used to compute work requests.

2) "busy time": the time a new job would have to wait to start using this resource. This is passed to the scheduler and used for a crude deadline check.

Note: this is ill-defined; a single number doesn't suffice. But as a very rough estimate, I'll use the sum of (J.duration * J.ninstances)/ninstances over all jobs that miss their deadline under RR sim.

- Quick Updates

- Tag for 6.6.38 release, all platforms boinc_core_release_6_6_38

David 21 July 2009

- lib: gcc 4.4 fix; fixes #854

Changes to the source code after 6.6.38, if you want to use these, wait for 6.6.39 or compile the software your self.

Rom 17 July 2009
- Upgrade to OpenSSL 0.9.8k

David 17 July 2009
- A place to store various project libraries shared amongst various projects.

- Move the BOINC compatible InfoZip

David 22 July 2009
- client: add a bunch of debugging messages (<task_debug>) for showing how GPU instances are being reserved

- scheduler: add "sse3" plan class example

- web: add option (NO_TEAMS constant) for suppressing teams

- client: define "too many uploads" (for work fetch) as 2 * max(ncpus, ngpus);
show this in the state displayed by <work_fetch_debug>

- manager: show project-wide backoff in transfers tab

Rom 23 July 2009
- client: Remove some more Win9x code.

- client: Add some messages while handling Windows power events.

- client: Treat power events similiar to the snooze events, assign a timeout so that when we resume from suspend/hibernate we restore the previous activity states.

- WINSETUP: Prevent a pathing problem with the client_auth.xml creation by prepending a \ in front of the filename.

David 23 July 2009
- manager: fix typos in attach project wizard

Rom 24 July 2009
- client: in get_project_config_poll() GUI RPC, return ERR_IN_PROGRESS is the reference site check is in progress. This hopefully fixes a bug where:

* the user is connected via a proxy
* the manager is run for the first time, and an attach is tried
* the get_project_config.php fetch fails because no proxy config
* the manager gets the CC_STATUS before the ref site check has finished, so it thinks there's a network connection, and it doesn't ask the user for proxy info.

- lib: more code cleanup

- lib: revert previous commit, things in lib end up being linked into project applications, projects may want to continue supporting Win9x.

- WINSCR: Remove Win9x compatibility code from the screen saver.

- MGR: Use the BOINC Service Control utility (boincsvcctrl.exe) to start/stop the BOINC Service on Windows now. Starting with Windows Vista a normal admin account is started with a restricted token, meaning that a process has to be elevated in order to start and stop services. The recommended way to handle this whole process is to create a stub application that has an application manifest embedded within it that tells Windows that full admin rights are required and then launch that program (boincsvcctrl.exe) from the application (boincmgr.exe) which normally runs with the restricted token.

- MGR: Be sure to launch the default screensaver in test mode when the manager is starting up, otherwise the default screensaver might lock up waiting on user input to approve firewall updates to the rule set.

Rom 25 July 2009
- MGR: Refine todays checkin with support for the BOINC Service Control utility, don't use the run-as verb on systems older than Vista.

Rom 22 July 2009
- client: add a bunch of debugging messages (<task_debug>) for showing how GPU instances are being reserved

- Tag for 6.6.39 release, all platforms boinc_core_release_6_6_39

Charlie 3 August 2009
- client: fix compiler warning (too few args for print format)

- Mac: fix compile breaks

Rom 18 August 2009
- Branch to 6.10

- Quick updates

- Change version number to 6.10.x

- MGR: Remove News page.

- Tag for 6.10.0 release, all platforms boinc_core_release_6_10_0

Charlie 21 August 2009
- Mac SS: Changes for compatibility with OS 10.6

- Mac client: use rss keyword not rsz in ps command for OS 10.6 compatibility.

Rom 21 August 2009
- client: Attempt to prevent a crash via a C++ exception by checking for a -1 index before attempting erase the rest of the proxy list.

Rom 25 August 2009
- manager: allow 24:00 to be used in advanced prefs dialog (from Ian Hay; fixes #357)

- client and scheduler: lay the groundwork for "fractional coproc jobs", e.g. the Milkyway@home ATI app, of which we can typically run 2 or 3 instances at once on a GPU.

Changes include:

* In APP_VERSION, don't use a COPROCS to represent the GPU requirements; just use doubles ncudas and natis.

* sufficient_coprocs() etc. are no longer members of COPROCS.

* in HOST_USAGE, ncudas and natis are doubles.

* in scheduler request, req_instances is now a double.
This checkin doesn't include the job scheduling logic, i.e. assigning jobs to GPUs. That will follow.

- client: finish the implementation of fractional coproc jobs.

* different data structure for keeping track of coproc usage; instead of COPROC having per-instance pointers to ACTIVE_TASK, ACTIVE_TASK now has an array of device number indices for each instance that it's using.

* in enforce_schedule(), we call a new function assign_coprocs() that decides what coproc instances each job will use, and prunes jobs for which we can't get an assignment. This function embodies lots of subtlety.

* coproc_cmdline() no longer deals with reserving instances; it just has to generate the --device X cmdline

- fixes to coproc stuff

- client: use the right library name for ATI on Linux

- client: check return values from ATI device detection functions

- client: in parsing <coproc> elements in <app_version>, use a new type COPROC_REQ for which the count field is a double. Otherwise fractional GPU jobs don't work.

Rom 26 August 2009
- Fix build breaks caused by a bad merge

- Tag for 6.10.1 release, all platforms boinc_core_release_6_10_1

Charlie 27 August 2009
- Linux MGR: bug fixes, new args and code for starting Client, testing if Client running

- Bump version to 6.10.2

Rom 27 August 2009
- Fix more build breaks caused by a bad merge

- Quick Updates

Rom Walton, 19 August 2009 wrote:

Howdy Folks,

We are beginning a new test cycle. The only new feature for this release is going to be ATI GPU support. Please do report any bugs you find.

Given the limited number of changes needed to support the ATI GPU we think we'll be able to move this along into a public release pretty quickly as the ATI GPU scheduling code is the same as the Nvidia GPU scheduling code.

I believe MilkyWay is going to be adding an official ATI GPU app to their mix soon, for the time being please report any problems with the client detecting your ATI GPU.

I'll be releasing Linux clients later today.

----- Rom

But:
Rom Walton, 25 August 2009 wrote:

Howdy Folks,

For now hold off any further testing against 6.10.0. I'll have a new build out later today or tomorrow with David's fixes from yesterday.

----- Rom

Rom 31 August 2009
- reverted changes to PROXY_INFO which broke various things.

- compile fixes

- client: fix work fetch log message for ATI GPU.

- fix typo

- fixes to proxy autodetect

- client: NVIDIA offers an API which tells you whether a GPU is running a graphics application. Change the semantics of the "don't use GPU while computer in use" pref to "don't use a GPU that's running a graphics app while computer is in use". This will increase GPU utilization on multi-GPU systems.

- client: various bug fixes in job scheduling and work fetch for ATI. From Crunch3r.

- client: if project is anonymous platform, set the overall work req to the max of the requests for different resource types. Otherwise projects with old schedulers won't send us work.

Charlie 31 August 2009
- Mac installer: add logic for setting BOINC as screensaver under OS 10.6

- Mac Sandbox: Security fixes for Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard

Rom 2 September 2009
- client: autoproxy detection should happen at startup too.

- client: when autoproxy detection is in progress don't attempt to use old values.

- client: user defined proxies should take presidence over automatically detected ones.

- lib: Re-implement the assignment operator for proxy_info, http_curl.cpp uses it to clone the proxy information for each http op. See set_proxy();

- client:

* remove HTTP_OP::pi; just use gstate.proxy_info
* remove HTTP_OP::set_proxy()
* remove PROXY_INFO::operator=; struct assignment works

- client: Use HTTP_OP::pi to avoid a crash when using a proxy. libcurl uses the proxy information after the PROXY_INFO struct in setup_proxy_session() had been popped off the stack.

- Tag for 6.10.3 release, all platforms boinc_core_release_6_10_3

BOINC 6.10.3 released for Windows and Windows x64

This is a development version of BOINC. Do not use it if you do not plan to use it for Alpha or Beta testing. Expect parts of it to be broken, or in the least to work in a different way than you are used to.

Report any problems you get with it to the Alpha email list. This list needs registration. Reporting about it on these forums does not make any sense as the developers HARDLY read these forums.


BOINC Alpha reporting of problems

Report which version of BOINC you run, also on what operating system and add a detailed log of what your BOINC is doing.

Run at least once with these flags on: <work_fetch_debug>, <sched_op_debug> and one run with <debt_debug> from the cc_config.xml file. Catch that log and post with it on the BOINC Alpha list, putting the log into the email. Attachments to the list will be deleted by the email server.

Without it, the developers won't be able to be of any help, while you will probably only annoy them as they'll have to ask for the nth time that you add those flags and send them a new log.

Rom Walton wrote:

Howdy Folks,

Here is another build to test. Improvements have been made to the ATI detection code and GPU scheduling code.

We believe that Milkyway is almost ready to add the ATI app to their project, so if you have an ATI GPU we encourage you to attach to Milkyway to help us test out the ATI GPU functionality.

For Mac users this release will contain fixes for Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard).

I'm working on the Linux clients and hope to have them posted before the end of the day.


----- Rom

Change Log From 6.10.0:

- Mac SS: Changes for compatibility with OS 10.6 while maintaining OS 10.3.9 compatibility.

- Mac: Add x86_64 screensaver for Snow Leopard OS 10.6.
Note: OS 10.6 is not yet released, so I am building the x86_64 screensaver separately using a beta version of OS 10.6 and its development tools, then merging it into the current build, so this change is to the release script.

- client: Attempt to prevent a crash via a C++ exception by checking for a -1 index before attempting erase the rest of the proxy list.

- Mac client: in procinfo_setup(), use rss keyword not rsz in ps command for compatibility with OS 10.6 while keeping OS 10.3.9 compatibility.

- manager: allow 24:00 to be used in advanced prefs dialog (from Ian Hay; fixes #357)

- client and scheduler: lay the groundwork for "fractional coproc jobs", e.g. the Milkyway@home ATI app, of which we can typically run 2 or 3 instances at once on a GPU.

Changes include:
* In APP_VERSION, don't use a COPROCS to represent the GPU requirements; just use doubles ncudas and natis.
* sufficient_coprocs() etc. are no longer members of COPROCS
* in HOST_USAGE, ncudas and natis are doubles
* in scheduler request, req_instances is now a double

This checkin doesn't include the job scheduling logic, i.e. assigning jobs to GPUs. That will follow.

- client: finish the implementation of fractional coproc jobs.

- different data structure for keeping track of coproc usage; instead of COPROC having per-instance pointers to ACTIVE_TASK, ACTIVE_TASK now has an array of device number indices for each instance that it's using.

- in enforce_schedule(), we call a new function assign_coprocs() that decides what coproc instances each job will use, and prunes jobs for which we can't get an assignment. This function embodies lots of subtlety.

- coproc_cmdline() no longer deals with reserving instances; it just has to generate the --device X cmdline

- client: use the right library name for ATI on Linux

- client: check return values from ATI device detection functions

- client: in parsing <coproc> elements in <app_version>, use a new type COPROC_REQ for which the count field is a double. Otherwise fractional GPU jobs don't work.

Change Log From 6.10.1:

- MGR: on Linux, check list of running processes from procinfo_setup() to determine if BOINC core client is running.

- MGR: on Linux, accept 2 optional arguments: "--clientdir=<dir>" or "-e <dir>" for directory containing client executable, default is the directory containing the manager executable.

"--datadir=<dir>" or "-d <dir>" for BOINC data directory, default is the directory containing the client executable.

These are used by the manager when launching the client.

- MGR: Bug fixes for Linux.

Change Log From 6.10.2:

- reverted changes to PROXY_INFO which broke various things

- client: fix work fetch log message for ATI GPU

- client: NVIDIA offers an API which tells you whether a GPU is running a graphics application.

Change the semantics of the "don't use GPU while computer in use" pref to "don't use a GPU that's running a graphics app while computer is in use".

This will increase GPU utilization on multi-GPU systems.

- client: various bug fixes in job scheduling and work fetch for ATI. From Crunch3r.

- client: if project is anonymous platform, set the overall work req to the max of the requests for different resource types. Otherwise projects with old schedulers won't send us work.

- Mac installer: add logic for setting BOINC as screensaver under OS 10.6.

- Mac Sandbox: Security fixes for Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard. Mac OS 10.6 requires administrator authorization to run setgid applications if they use the AppKit (Cocoa) framework. The Mac installer adds all users with admin privileges (members of group admin) to group boinc_master. Since the Manager doesn't need to run setgid boinc_master if the user is a member of that group, we eliminate the setgid.

This means that non-admin users will be able to run the Manager only if the sysadmin adds them to group boinc_master, so we now create a login item or set the screensaver only for those users who are members of group boinc_master.

If a user who is not a member of that group runs the Manager, it displays an alert saying that in order to administer BOINC, he needs to ask the sysadmin to add him to group boinc_master. See this thread for possibility to comment).

- client: autoproxy detection should happen at startup too.

- client: when autoproxy detection is in progress don't attempt to use old values.

- client: user defined proxies should take precedence over automatically
detected ones.

- lib: Re-implement the assignment operator for proxy_info, http_curl.cpp uses it to clone the proxy information for each http op. See set_proxy();

- client:
* remove HTTP_OP::pi; just use gstate.proxy_info
* remove HTTP_OP::set_proxy()
* remove PROXY_INFO::operator=; struct assignment works

- client: Use HTTP_OP::pi to avoid a crash when using a proxy. libcurl uses the proxy information after the PROXY_INFO struct in setup_proxy_session() had been popped off the stack.

BOINC 6.10.3 released for Macintosh

Charlie Fenton wrote:

I have posted BOINC 6.10.3 for the Macintosh to the download-all page. This build should work properly on Mac OS 10.3.9 through OS 10.6, including the screensaver.

Cheers,
--Charlie

BOINC 6.10.4 release for Windows, Windows x64, Linux, Linux x64 and Macintosh

This is a development version of BOINC. Do not use it if you do not plan to use it for Alpha or Beta testing. Expect parts of it to be broken, or in the least to work in a different way than you are used to.

Report any problems you get with it to the Alpha email list. This list needs registration. Reporting about it on these forums does not make any sense as the developers HARDLY read these forums.


BOINC Alpha reporting of problems

Report which version of BOINC you run, also on what operating system and add a detailed log of what your BOINC is doing.

Run at least once with these flags on: <work_fetch_debug>, <sched_op_debug> and one run with <debt_debug> from the cc_config.xml file. Catch that log and post with it on the BOINC Alpha list, putting the log into the email. Attachments to the list will be deleted by the email server.

Without it, the developers won't be able to be of any help, while you will probably only annoy them as they'll have to ask for the nth time that you add those flags and send them a new log.

Rom Walton wrote:

Howdy Folks,

Here is a new release to test. Several ATI GPU related bugs were fixed.

We will be releasing a test application for ATI GPU testing in BOINC
alpha today.

Please log test results to http://boinc.berkeley.edu/alpha.

Thanks in advance.

----- Rom

David Anderson wrote:

The code that updates on_frac (fraction of time BOINC is running)
was accidentally disabled in Feb. 2009.
6.10.4 fixes this, but it thinks you haven't run BOINC since Feb 2009,
so your on_frac becomes small.
That makes BOINC give long estimates for job completion.
(Eventually on_frac will return to its proper value,
but will take a while).

I'll put a cap on the on_frac decay to deal with this.
In the meantime, you can edit your client_state.xml,
look for <on_frac>, and change it back to 1 (or whatever it should be).

-- David

Change Log:

- client: fix to [trac]changeset:18945[/trac]; we only want to max the overall request with a GPU request if project is anonymous platform AND it has an app for that GPU type.

- client: report overall work request as well as per-resource-type requests

- client: add <sched_op_debug> msg for ATI work request

- client: fix crashing bug in proxy autodetect

- client: fix log messages about scheduler RPC work req

- client: missing reset for ATI debt accounting

- client: fix bug where client runs too many CPU jobs

- client: improve the estimation of "busy time" (see 17 July checkin).
If you have 2 CPUs and a 1-day job in EDF mode, the busy time should be zero, not .5 days.

Add a class BUSY_TIME_ESTIMATOR that makes a somewhat better (though still fairly crude) estimate.

- client: in choosing GPU jobs in FIFO order, use job name as tiebreaker if received times are the same. This makes the order deterministic.

- client: update of time stats was broken by [trac]changeset:17166[/trac]

Rom 4 September 2009
- Fix for static client (--enable-client-release) builds

- Another build fix. This may break appication build if the apps depend upon boinc_crypt.la to supply the CURL library names.

Rom 8 September 2009
- client: fix to [trac]changeset:18945[/trac]; we only want to max the overall request with a GPU request if project is anonymous platform AND it has an app for that GPU type.

- client: report overall work request as well as per-resource-type requests

- client: add <sched_op_debug> msg for ATI work request

- client: fix crashing bug in proxy autodetect

- client: fix log messages about scheduler RPC work req

- client: missing reset for ATI debt accounting

- client: fix bug where client runs too many CPU jobs

- client: improve the estimation of "busy time" (see 17 July checkin).
If you have 2 CPUs and a 1-day job in EDF mode, the busy time should be zero, not .5 days. Add a class BUSY_TIME_ESTIMATOR that makes a somewhat better (though still fairly crude) estimate.

- client: in choosing GPU jobs in FIFO order, use job name as tiebreaker if received times are the same. This makes the order deterministic.

- client: update of time stats was broken by [trac]changeset:17166[/trac]

- Tag for 6.10.4 release, all platforms boinc_core_release_6_10_4

Charlie 10 September 2009
- client: don't display processor cache if we don't know it; skip ATI stuff on Macs.

BOINC 6.10.5 released for testing for Windows, Windows x64 and Macintosh

This is a development version of BOINC. Do not use it if you do not plan to use it for Alpha or Beta testing. Expect parts of it to be broken, or in the least to work in a different way than you are used to.

REMINDER TO ALL ALPHA TESTERS:
It's far easier for us to fix problems if you send message logs with the appropriate flags set. The main flags are:

<cpu_sched_debug>: problems involving the choice of applications to run.
<work_fetch_debug>: problems involving work fetch (which projects are asked for work, and how much).
<rr_simulation>: problems involving jobs being run in high-priority mode.

Use these flags from the cc_config.xml file.


Report any problems you get with it to the Alpha email list. This list needs registration. Reporting about it on these forums does not make any sense as the developers HARDLY read these forums.


Charlie 11 September 2009
- Mgr: skip exit confirmation dialog if user pressed emergency Exit button on AsyncRPCDlg

Charlie 16 September 2009
- Mac installer: ask user whether to allow non-administrative users to run and control BOINC

Charlie 17 September 2009
- Mac installer: create a new command-line tool AddRemoveUser; updated ReadMe file

Rom 17 September 2009
- client: add code for faking ATI GPUs

- client: cap time_stats dt at 2 weeks, so people upgrading to 6.10 won't get big drop in on_frac.

- client: fix bug in RR simulation: start only enough jobs to fill CPUs per project, not all the CPU jobs at once.
I'm not sure how much difference this makes, but this is how it's supposed to work.

- client: if app_info.xml doesn't specify flops, use an estimate that takes GPUs into account.

- client: if it's been more than 2 weeks since time stats update, don't decay on_frac at all.

- client: save space in req msg. Didn't make much difference.

- client: fix bug in FIFO selection of coproc jobs (Comment by David: senility setting in?)

- client: add <fraction_done> to boinc_task_state.xml

- client: change order in poll loop so that:
1) job finishes
2) job gets marked as "ready to report"
3) scheduler RPC is initiated
Hopefully this won't have an unintended side-effect.

- client: tweak policy for device busy time. Should eliminate some spurious "job won't complete by deadline" msgs.

- client and scheduler RPC: add optional <cpu_backoff>, <cuda_backoff>, and <ati_backoff> elements to scheduler reply. These specify backoffs for the resource types, overriding the existing backoff mechanism. Projects can supply these if they don't have apps of a particular type and don't want to get periodic requests for them.

- client: cap project-supplied backoffs at 28 days

- client: anal-retentive alphabetization

Tag for 6.10.5 release, all platforms boinc_core_release_6_10_5

BOINC 6.10.6 released for testing for Windows, Windowsx64 and Macintosh

This is a development version of BOINC. Do not use it if you do not plan to use it for Alpha or Beta testing. Expect parts of it to be broken, or in the least to work in a different way than you are used to.

REMINDER TO ALL ALPHA TESTERS:
It's far easier for us to fix problems if you send message logs with the appropriate flags set. The main flags are:

<cpu_sched_debug>: problems involving the choice of applications to run.
<work_fetch_debug>: problems involving work fetch (which projects are asked for work, and how much).
<rr_simulation>: problems involving jobs being run in high-priority mode.

Use these flags from the cc_config.xml file.


Report any problems you get with it to the Alpha email list. This list needs registration. Reporting about it on these forums does not make any sense as the developers HARDLY read these forums.

Rom 18 September 2009
- client: if project-supplied backoff > 28 days, cap rather than ignore.

- client: don't print error message if output file with <copy_file> attribute is missing. That's the app's problem, not BOINC's

- client: fixed failure to initialize CPU backoff; leads to huge CPU backoff. Cap backoff when read statefile.

- client: oops, backoff time is absolute not relative

- client/API: add autosetup proxy info to init_data.xml

- client: in choosing coproc jobs to run (FIFO) give priority to whether job is already running. This addresses a bug where several jobs are returned by sched RPC, and one with a lexicographically greater name happens to finish downloading first.

- client: comment out [trac]changeset:18942[/trac], which changed the meaning of "don't use GPUs while computer is in use" to "don't use GPUs running graphics apps while computer is in use" for NVIDIA GPUs. NVIDIA's API for seeing if a GPU is running a graphics app doesn't seem to reflect GPU use by the OS.

- client: fix bug introduced in [trac]changeset:19035[/trac] that causes wrong nidle instances (and resulting work fetch problems).

- client (Unix): fix bug that caused GPU reservation to not work.
The problem: we were doing the reservation after the fork(), so that the data structure it changed was the app's, not the client's.

- client: don't print error msg if file is wrong size on startup

Tag for 6.10.6 release, all platforms boinc_core_release_6_10_6

BOINC 6.6.40 released for Linux and Linux x64

This is a development version of BOINC. Do not use it if you do not plan to use it for Alpha or Beta testing. Expect parts of it to be broken, or in the least to work in a different way than you are used to.

REMINDER TO ALL ALPHA TESTERS:
It's far easier for us to fix problems if you send message logs with the appropriate flags set. The main flags are:

<cpu_sched_debug>: problems involving the choice of applications to run.
<work_fetch_debug>: problems involving work fetch (which projects are asked for work, and how much).
<rr_simulation>: problems involving jobs being run in high-priority mode.

Use these flags from the cc_config.xml file.


Report any problems you get with it to the Alpha email list. This list needs registration. Reporting about it on these forums does not make any sense as the developers HARDLY read these forums.

Rom 21 September 2009
- MGR: on Linux, accept 2 optional arguments:
* clientdir or -e for directory containing client executable, default is the directory containing the manager executable.

* datadir or -d for BOINC data directory, default is the directory containing the client executable. These are used by the manager when launching the client.

- MGR: on Linux, check list of running processes from procinfo_setup() to determine if BOINC core client is running.

- MGR: Bug fixes for Linux.

Tag for 6.6.40 release, all platforms boinc_core_release_6_6_40

BOINC 6.10.7 released for testing for Windows, Windows x64

This is a development version of BOINC. Do not use it if you do not plan to use it for Alpha or Beta testing. Expect parts of it to be broken, or in the least to work in a different way than you are used to.

REMINDER TO ALL ALPHA TESTERS:
It's far easier for us to fix problems if you send message logs with the appropriate flags set. The main flags are:

<cpu_sched_debug>: problems involving the choice of applications to run.
<work_fetch_debug>: problems involving work fetch (which projects are asked for work, and how much).
<rr_simulation>: problems involving jobs being run in high-priority mode.

Use these flags from the cc_config.xml file.


Report any problems you get with it to the Alpha email list. This list needs registration. Reporting about it on these forums does not make any sense as the developers HARDLY read these forums.


Rom Walton wrote:

Howdy Folks,

This version contains CPU/GPU scheduling fixes.

Hopefully in the next few days we'll have something to announce in the way of a project that has an ATI app deployed which we can use for testing.

Please log test results to http://boinc.berkeley.edu/alpha.

Thanks in advance.


----- Rom

Change Log:

- client: if a file fails verification, delete it.

- client: tweak CPU scheduling policy to avoid running multithread apps overcommitted.

Actually: allow overcommitment but only a fractional CPU (so that, e.g., we can run a GPU app and a 4-CPU app on a 4-CPU host)

- client: fix bug that caused unstarted coproc jobs to preempt ones already running.

The problem: we considered a job as started if it has an ACTIVE_TASK. However, we were creating ACTIVE_TASKS for jobs before deciding to run them, because we needed a place to store the coproc reservations.

This caused the above bug, and also had the undesirable effect of creating slot directories before they're needed. Solution: store coprocessor reservations in RESULT rather than ACTIVE_TASK.

- client: extra debug msgs (remove when done)

- client: fix preemption bug, this time fer sure!

BOINC 6.10.8 and 6.10.9 released for testing for Windows, Windows x64

This is a development version of BOINC. Do not use it if you do not plan to use it for Alpha or Beta testing. Expect parts of it to be broken, or in the least to work in a different way than you are used to.

REMINDER TO ALL ALPHA TESTERS:
It's far easier for us to fix problems if you send message logs with the appropriate flags set. The main flags are:

<cpu_sched_debug>: problems involving the choice of applications to run.
<work_fetch_debug>: problems involving work fetch (which projects are asked for work, and how much).
<rr_simulation>: problems involving jobs being run in high-priority mode.

Use these flags from the cc_config.xml file.


Report any problems you get with it to the Alpha email list. This list needs registration. Reporting about it on these forums does not make any sense as the developers HARDLY read these forums.


Rom 23 September 2009
- client: if a file fails verification, delete it.

- client: tweak CPU scheduling policy to avoid running multithread apps overcommitted.

Actually: allow overcommitment but only a fractional CPU (so that, e.g., we can run a GPU app and a 4-CPU app on a 4-CPU host)

- client: fix bug that caused unstarted coproc jobs to preempt ones already running.

The problem: we considered a job as started if it has an ACTIVE_TASK. However, we were creating ACTIVE_TASKS for jobs before deciding to run them, because we needed a place to store the coproc reservations.

This caused the above bug, and also had the undesirable effect of creating slot directories before they're needed. Solution: store coprocessor reservations in RESULT rather than ACTIVE_TASK.

- client: extra debug msgs (remove when done)

- client: fix preemption bug, this time fer sure!

Tag for 6.10.7 release, all platforms boinc_core_release_6_10_7

Rom 24 September 2009
- client: removed extra msgs

- client: on Linux, run CPU-intensive jobs with the SCHED_BATCH scheduler. Improves interactive response of system when jobs running. From Clive Messer.

- client: revert [trac]changeset:19110[/trac]: don't delete files that fail verification;

- client: in GPU enumeration, separate warning msgs from GPU descriptions. Show warning msgs only if log_flags.coproc_debug they might be partly downloaded.

Rom 25 September 2009
- client: for ATI enumeration, use only aticalrt.dll (amdcalrt.dll is old version w/ funky DLL names)

- client: make GPU enumeration warnings more consistent (e.g., "NVIDIA" instead of "CUDA").

- client: Add support for checking for both amd* prefixed CAL libraries and ati* prefixed CAL libraries.

- scheduler: redefine ati class plans again.
ati: CAL 1.0+, amd* prefixed libraries
ati13amd: CAL 1.3+, amd* prefixed libraries
ati13ati: CAL 1.3+, ati* prefixed libraries
ati14: CAL 1.4+, ati* prefixed libraries

- lib: fix build break.

- Commit missing piece of code, I had written them before the first commit.

- scheduler: setup priorites for the ATI plan classes

- client: report the different Windows 7 and Windows 2008 "R2" correctly.

- client: improve ATI description strings (from Andreas)

Tag for 6.10.8 release, all platforms boinc_core_release_6_10_8

- win_build: In the future be very careful about with project you choose to be the basis for a new executable. boincsvcctrl.exe was overwriting the PDB file for boinc.exe which causes all call stack handling code for boinc.exe to stop working.

Tag for 6.10.9 release, all platforms boinc_core_release_6_10_9

BOINC 6.10.10 released for Windows, Windows x64 and Macintosh

Rom Walton wrote:

Howdy Folks,

We have a new build out to test. Later today or tomorrow the Collatz Conjecture project will be deploying the latest server changes that will be compatible with this client for using ATI GPUs. We had to tweak a few things last week in order to handle the DLL renaming ATI/AMD decided to pull a year ago.

For those of you who are not already attached to the Collatz Conjecture project I would encourage you to wait until after we get the all clear from Jon as assigned tasks will crash unless the 'ati' named runtime DLLs have been copied and renamed to their old 'amd' names.

This release also contains changes that allow you to selectively choose which GPU types to use on certain projects. Again, this requires a server update as well.

Please log test results to http://boinc.berkeley.edu/alpha/ and report bugs to this list.


Thanks in advance.


----- Rom

This is a development version of BOINC. Do not use it if you do not plan to use it for Alpha or Beta testing. Expect parts of it to be broken, or in the least to work in a different way than you are used to.

REMINDER TO ALL ALPHA TESTERS:
It's far easier for us to fix problems if you send message logs with the appropriate flags set. The main flags are:

<cpu_sched_debug>: problems involving the choice of applications to run.
<work_fetch_debug>: problems involving work fetch (which projects are asked for work, and how much).
<rr_simulation>: problems involving jobs being run in high-priority mode.

Use these flags from the cc_config.xml file.


Report any problems you get with it to the Alpha email list. This list needs registration. Reporting about it on these forums does not make any sense as the developers HARDLY read these forums.


Change Log 6.10.10

- client: fix crashing bug in GPU message display

- client: show a couple more config flags on startup

- client: fix bug in CPU prefs enforcement: enforce "suspend if no recent input" and "exclusive apps" only if overall mode is RUN_MODE_AUTO (run according to prefs)

- client/scheduler/web: add per-project preferences for whether to accept CPU, NVIDIA and ATI jobs. These prefs are shown only where relevant:
e.g., only for processor types for which the project has app versions, and if it has versions for only one type, no pref is shown.

These prefs affect both client and scheduler. The client won't ask for work for a device blocked by prefs, and the scheduler won't send it.

This replaces earlier optional project-specific prefs for "no CPU jobs" and "no GPU jobs". (However, these prefs continue to be honored on the server side).

- client: if NVIDIA driver is unknown, say that rather than 0

- client: add missing Windows SKUs. From Robert Kreß