Please be so kind to post your "help me!" posts outside this thread. I hate to lock this one, but have to when people just continue posting their questions in the first thread they see, at the top of the forum. Make your own thread, with your own question.

BOINC 6.11.1 and 6.11.2 released for Alpha testing for Windows and Macintosh

Disclaimer
On development versions of BOINC:
- Expect parts of it to be broken, or in the least to work in a different way than you are used to.
- Expect work failures, deadline misses and losing all your accumulated work in progress, or not getting credit for your work due to unknown and unforeseen circumstances.
- Only use it when you are willing to participate in the Alpha test program and do not mind sending (bug) reports in to the developers on the email list specially assigned for this purpose.


REMINDER TO ALL ALPHA TESTERS:
It's far easier for the developers to fix problems when 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.
<std_debug>: problems involving short term debt.

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 bugs on this forum or any project's forum isn't very productive as the developers simply do not have time to scour through all forums looking for posts with your bug reports in them. While it may happen that we - other volunteers - forward your problem to them, history has shown it is quite difficult being the middle man in this when more information is needed from you. Hence why it's better for all concerned that you report the problem directly to the developers, who will come back directly to you when they need more information or better logs or to tell you that they've checked in a fix for the specific problem.

The actual change log, if available, was taken from the Alpha email list and the Trac Timeline repository changes check-ins. This disclaimer was written by the volunteer moderators of this forum and approved of by the BOINC development team.

Change log:

6.11.2 (Mac only)
- MGR: Better solution to prevent a race condition which could erroneously invoke the Attach Wizard when restarting the client, fix serious bug in Simple View I introduced with my previous fix of 14 July


6.11.1
- MGR: Fix a bug in the notices code. Refresh the UI if the complete notices list has been downloaded regardless of whether or not the item counts are the same

- LIB: Reset the completed flag to false at the beginning of the get_notices RPC in case the notices buffer is being reused

- client: free GUI_RPC_CONN objects at shutdown

- MGR: get_messages and get_notices RPCs don't alternate buffers, so remove the unused buffers from CMainDocument class.

- MGR: after GUI RPC sets NOTICES::complete, only NoticeListCtrl clears it.

- MGR: fix compile warning.

- client: add ".xml" to notice file names

- MGR: Fix Linux build break.

- client: don't consider a result "nearly runnable" if one of its downloads is stalled. This fixes a situation that can cause processor or GPU idleness when download servers are down for a while

- MGR: Fix bugs in accessibility code for Notices tab.

- fix gcc 4 compiler warnings

- win build: don't build CUDA/OpenCL apps by default

- MGR: Fix accessibility code bug in Attach Wizard's ProjectListCtrl, consolidate and clean up Mac accessibility code.

- client: change the calculation of exponential backoff used for
1) individual file transfers
2) project-level file transfer backoff
3) scheduler operations
Old: scale by e.
Use random backoff in the range min..x
New: scale by 2.
Use random backoff in the rand x/2..x

- client: for file transfers, use backoff range of 10 min .. 12 hrs rather than 1 min .. 4 hrs

- MGR: Fix accessibility code bug in Attach Wizard's ProjectListCtrl, consolidate and clean up Mac accessibility code.

- MGR: More code cleanup, optimization and bug fixes.

- scheduler: make some "notice"-priority messages translatable

- scheduler: add a clause to wu_is_infeasible_custom() for SETI@home: don't process VLAR jobs using CUDA apps. Note: this is implemented in a slightly non-optimal way. If the request asks for both GPU and CPU jobs, the scheduler will first decide to use the GPU version. It will scan jobs, skipping over VLAR jobs. When the GPU request is satisfied, it will switch to the CPU version and continue scanning, accepting VLAR jobs. But the jobs that were skipped initially won't be rescanned. Also, it would be slightly nice to preferentially send VLAR jobs to hosts asking for CPU work. (This could be done in the scoring function).

- scheduler: make messages translatable

- MGR: Load up the new BOINC-Client catalog if it exists.

- MGR: Prevent a race condition which could erroneously invoke the Attach Wizard when restarting the client.

- MGR: If the client exits unexpectedly, auto-restart it on Windows (and Mac) even if it was installed as a service / daemon.

- MGR: Display an alert if we auto-restart the client due to unexpected exits 3 times within CLIENT_3_CRASH_MAX_TIME minutes (currently 30 minutes.)

- WINBUILD: Fix project files so that there isn't any C Runtime Library collisions between types.

- MGR: Fix build break.

- MGR: Change the crash detect dialog target to 'crash_detection'

- client/manager/GUI RPC: add optional "translatable" arg to get_messages() RPC; if absent or false, client will strip _( ) from messages.

- MGR: Tweak text in crash alert

- client: bug fix in message code

New Notices Tab (BOINC 6.11.1+)

Disclaimer
On development versions of BOINC:
- Expect parts of it to be broken, or in the least to work in a different way than you are used to.
- Expect work failures, deadline misses and losing all your accumulated work in progress, or not getting credit for your work due to unknown and unforeseen circumstances.
- Only use it when you are willing to participate in the Alpha test program and do not mind sending (bug) reports in to the developers on the email list specially assigned for this purpose.


REMINDER TO ALL ALPHA TESTERS:
It's far easier for the developers to fix problems when 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.
<std_debug>: problems involving short term debt.

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 bugs on this forum or any project's forum isn't very productive as the developers simply do not have time to scour through all forums looking for posts with your bug reports in them. While it may happen that we - other volunteers - forward your problem to them, history has shown it is quite difficult being the middle man in this when more information is needed from you. Hence why it's better for all concerned that you report the problem directly to the developers, who will come back directly to you when they need more information or better logs or to tell you that they've checked in a fix for the specific problem.

This disclaimer was written by the volunteer moderators of this forum and approved of by the BOINC development team.


Rom Walton wrote:

I have been holding off making the formal release email for 6.11.1 until S@H has had a chance to update the server scheduler so that you all
would have a chance to see it work against an actual project using up-to-date code.

We have added a new way of conveying info to users, which we call Notices.
Notices are intended for average, non-technical users.

They are used for

a) situations that require the user's attention;
e.g. BOINC can't do work because its disk quota is exhausted. Notices of this sort should be prescriptive; that is, they should tell the user what to do, in non-tech language.

b) events that are likely to be of interest to the user;
e.g., a science news item from an attached project, a credit milestone, a post in a subscribed thread, a friend request, etc.

The goal of the Notices mechanism is to keep users informed, involved, and interested, even if they don't regularly visit project web sites or open the Manager.

Some aspects of Notices:

1) Notices are HTML; they can include pictures, hyperlinks, etc.
2) New notices are announced to users even if the BOINC manager is hidden.
On Windows there's a popup in the system tray; on Mac the icon bounces.
3) The stream of notices includes project-supplied RSS feeds, as well as messages generated by the BOINC client and project schedulers.

The Notices tab replaces the old Messages tab.

The contents of the Messages tab are now available in a separate "Event Log" window, which can be opened via the Advanced menu.

The Notices system is under development.
Please let us know if there are specific things that should or should not be displayed as Notices.

Eventually we'll have some web interfaces for controlling what project events are shown as Notices.

Reminder, post problems with the Notices tab to the BOINC Alpha email list.

Q. Why was the Messages tab removed and is it now hidden as an Event Log in the Advanced menu?

A. Basically our findings suggested it was stressing new people out, making them think something was wrong when it wasn't. For instance, quota exceeded on fast machines, or temporary errors that caused a backoff. A lot of the time just letting the client do its thing would eventually clear out the issue and continue processing. Messages are really only needed to diagnose problems.

BOINC 6.11.3 released for testing for Windows, Windows x64

Disclaimer
On development versions of BOINC:
- Expect parts of it to be broken, or in the least to work in a different way than you are used to.
- Expect work failures, deadline misses and losing all your accumulated work in progress, or not getting credit for your work due to unknown and unforeseen circumstances.
- Only use it when you are willing to participate in the Alpha test program and do not mind sending (bug) reports in to the developers on the email list specially assigned for this purpose.


REMINDER TO ALL ALPHA TESTERS:
It's far easier for the developers to fix problems when 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.
<std_debug>: problems involving short term debt.

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 bugs on this forum or any project's forum isn't very productive as the developers simply do not have time to scour through all forums looking for posts with your bug reports in them. While it may happen that we - other volunteers - forward your problem to them, history has shown it is quite difficult being the middle man in this when more information is needed from you. Hence why it's better for all concerned that you report the problem directly to the developers, who will come back directly to you when they need more information or better logs or to tell you that they've checked in a fix for the specific problem.

The actual change log was taken from the Alpha email list and the Trac Timeline repository changes check-ins. This disclaimer was written by the volunteer moderators of this forum and approved of by the BOINC development team.

Change Log:

- MGR: Bug fix: event log text was not dimmed if event log was opened after Client was disconnected

- client: fix bug with --abort_jobs_on_exit that caused the clientto request new work on exit

- client: change "unparsed tag" to "unrecognized tag" in msgs

- client: get rid of unused var work_fetch_no_new_work

- atiopencl: BOINC's LGPL license added. Fix format. Add comments. Remove readme.txt.

- Added Linux screensaver from Nils Brause.
Note: I can't get this to build because if requires a package (xcb-atom) that I can't find. Need to resolve this.

- atiopencl makefile for mac os x 10.6 completed

- some changes to correctly include the opencl header file on different platforms.

- WINSETUP: Update validate install procedure to account for the removal of boinc.dll and addition of boinclog.exe.

- MGR: Move auto-proxy detection code into its own thread.

- client: entity-encode client-generated notices (e.g. they may contain XML tags)

- lib: XML_PARSER::parse_str(): if text is enclosed in ![CDATA[, don't entity-unescape it.

- client: init gstate.now early so that initial msgs have timestamps

- lib: fix the above

- lib: fix compiler warnings

- client: don't archive system notices, so they don't persist across client restarts. These notices are for transient conditions. If the user has fixed the condition, there's no reason to keep showing the notice. If they haven't fixed it, the notice will be regenerated soon.

- manager: fix spelling error in simple GUI.

- Unix build: don't error out if xcb or xcb-atom aren't found; just don't build the screensaver

- client: don't do two RSS fetches at once.

- manager: WxWidget's HTML renderer doesn't seem to like \n's.
For example, if you try to render

       foo
       <img src=...>
       blah

all it shows is foo. Work around this by replacing \n's with <br>

- manager: in simple view, where it says Elapsed time, show elapsed rather than CPU time.

6.11.4 released for testing for Windows, Windows x64 and Macintosh

Rom Walton wrote:

Howdy Folks,

This release introduces BOINC Notices. Due to changes required in the server software only the BOINC Alpha project and SETI@Home Beta project currently support notices. This list will grow over time as projects upgrade to the current server versions. We expect that the SETI@home production project will upgrade shortly.

I have included the original email describing the new notice feature at the end of this email.

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

I'll have a separate test group for testing notices up shortly.

Thanks in advance.


----- Rom

We have added a new way of conveying info to users, which we call Notices.

Notices are intended for average, non-technical users. They are used for

a) situations that require the user's attention; e.g. BOINC can't do work because its disk quota is exhausted. Notices of this sort should be prescriptive; that is, they should tell the user what to do, in non-tech language.

b) events that are likely to be of interest to the user; e.g., a science news item from an attached project, a credit milestone, a post in a subscribed thread, a friend request, etc.

The goal of the Notices mechanism is to keep users informed, involved, and interested, even if they don't regularly visit project web sites or open the Manager.

Some aspects of Notices:

1) Notices are HTML; they can include pictures, hyperlinks, etc.
2) New notices are announced to users even if the BOINC manager is hidden.
On Windows there's a popup in the system tray; on Mac the icon bounces.
3) The stream of notices includes project-supplied RSS feeds, as well as messages generated by the BOINC client and project schedulers.

The Notices tab replaces the old Messages tab.

The contents of the Messages tab are now available in a separate "Event Log" window, which can be opened via the Advanced menu.

The Notices system is under development.

Please let us know if there are specific things that should or should not be displayed as Notices.

Eventually we'll have some web interfaces for controlling what project events are shown as Notices.

Disclaimer
On development versions of BOINC:
- Expect parts of it to be broken, or in the least to work in a different way than you are used to.
- Expect work failures, deadline misses and losing all your accumulated work in progress, or not getting credit for your work due to unknown and unforeseen circumstances.
- Only use it when you are willing to participate in the Alpha test program and do not mind sending (bug) reports in to the developers on the email list specially assigned for this purpose.


REMINDER TO ALL ALPHA TESTERS:
It's far easier for the developers to fix problems when 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.
<std_debug>: problems involving short term debt.

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 bugs on this forum or any project's forum isn't very productive as the developers simply do not have time to scour through all forums looking for posts with your bug reports in them. While it may happen that we - other volunteers - forward your problem to them, history has shown it is quite difficult being the middle man in this when more information is needed from you. Hence why it's better for all concerned that you report the problem directly to the developers, who will come back directly to you when they need more information or better logs or to tell you that they've checked in a fix for the specific problem.

The actual change log was taken from the Alpha email list and the Trac Timeline repository changes check-ins. This disclaimer was written by the volunteer moderators of this forum and approved of by the BOINC development team.

Change Log:

• WINSETUP: Update validate install procedure to account for the removal of boinclog.exe.
  
• fix CUDA memory leak
  
• MGR: Make the simple GUI messages dialog display notices instead.
  
• client/manager: add the ability to associate URLs with client-generated notices.
  Use this as appropriate: e.g., for errors about cc_config.xml syntax, direct user to the web page describing this syntax.
  
• MGR: Mark all notices as having been read if either Simple GUI messages dialog or Advanced GUI Notices tab is open
  
• Mac: Delete source files sg_SGUIListControl.cpp,.h from XCode project
  
• MGR: Make Event Log Window persistent, hide it when closing main window
  
• MGR: Don't save bogus window dimensions when iconized
  
• client: have project update fetch RSS feeds as well as doing a scheduler RPC. This is to facilitate debugging, and is probably temporary.
  
• client: the client shouldn't check for a physical connection (contacting google.com and possibly alerting the user) for "background" HTTP ops. These include:
  - periodic account manager requests
  - periodic notice RSS feed fetches
  - periodic fetch of project list
  - periodic fetch of current client version
  
• MGR: If the simple GUI received a notification event, display the messages dialog.
  
• MGR: The simple GUI wasn't restoring state properly thereby causing the reminder frequency to be set to zero and preventing any reminders from being displayed.
  
• MGR: Rework the notices code so the document doesn't make any assumtions about the UI.
  
• MGR: Fix a bug in the Linux notification window code. Synchronize event behavior with Windows.
  
• MGR: Add some padding to each notice.
  
• manager: msg tweak
  
• MGR: for saving / restoring arrival time of last read notice, extract the host name from host.domain_name
  
• MGR: If Event Log was open, show it in front of main window when "opening" Manager after it was hidden
  
• MGR: Don't update the notice tab text unless the unread notice count has changed.
  
• MGR: Don't update the last arrival time for the host unless it has changed from the last time it was saved.
  
• MGR: Opps, forgot to move some code before commiting yesterday, don't update the last save arrival time unless the user clicks on the balloon.
  
• MGR: Stop the simple GUI from blinking the messages button when the balloon is clicked.
  
• client/scheduler: fix a group of bugs related to the new mechanism where the client tells the scheduler which app versions its queued jobs use (this is needed, e.g., to enforce per-app or per-resource job limits). In this mechanism, the client sends an array of <app_version>s, and each <other_result> includes an index into this array.
  - The wrong index was being sent (client).
  - If an <app_version> had a non-existent app name (e.g. because that app had been deprecated) it wasn't getting put in the array, invalidating array indices. Furthermore, an erroneous message was being sent to the user
  
  Fix: if parse error for <app_version>, put it in the array anyway, but with cav.app = NULL, meaning that it's a place-holder. Send a message to user only if anon platform.
  
• manager: increase notice buffers to 64K
  
• MGR: Enable the manager to be able to deal with any size notice.
  
• MGR: Take another stab at the z-order problem when both the event log and main window are open.
  
• MGR: Don't replace control characters for regular messages.
  
• MGR: if Event Log was open, show it _behind_ main window when "opening" Manager after it was hidden
  
• MGR: remove my code for extracting host name from host.domain_name; it is not needed
  

BOINC 6.11.5 retracted for Windows, Windows x64

Possibly will corrupt your work, end all your work in error!!

For those who like to jump the gun on builds, don't run this build.

----- Rom

Disclaimer
On development versions of BOINC:
- Expect parts of it to be broken, or in the least to work in a different way than you are used to.
- Expect work failures, deadline misses and losing all your accumulated work in progress, or not getting credit for your work due to unknown and unforeseen circumstances.
- Only use it when you are willing to participate in the Alpha test program and do not mind sending (bug) reports in to the developers on the email list specially assigned for this purpose.


REMINDER TO ALL ALPHA TESTERS:
It's far easier for the developers to fix problems when 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.
<std_debug>: problems involving short term debt.

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 bugs on this forum or any project's forum isn't very productive as the developers simply do not have time to scour through all forums looking for posts with your bug reports in them. While it may happen that we - other volunteers - forward your problem to them, history has shown it is quite difficult being the middle man in this when more information is needed from you. Hence why it's better for all concerned that you report the problem directly to the developers, who will come back directly to you when they need more information or better logs or to tell you that they've checked in a fix for the specific problem.

The actual change log was taken from the Alpha email list and the Trac Timeline repository changes check-ins. This disclaimer was written by the volunteer moderators of this forum and approved of by the BOINC development team.

Change Log:

• client: fix typo that prevented the correct link to be used for going to the log flag configuration wiki page.
  
• MGR: Fix a bug that hid the Event Log when switching between Advanced and Simple Views.
  
• client: Kick off an auto proxy detection pass on any http error, only attempt a follow-up reference site check if the proxy server name changes. This may mean that'll it will be the second or third connection attempt before the CC starts using the new proxy information.
  
• MGR: Fix bugs saving and restoring info on which notices have been read
  
• MGR: Remove any remaining hints that there were two wizards at one time.
  
• MGR: Save the username and email address in different places in the registry
  
• MGR: Remove connection needed type sys tray notifications from the manager, lets the CC inform via a notice instead.
  
• client: wait until after the proxy check completes before attempting to check on the reference site.
  
• client/scheduler: tweak translatable messages.
  
• MGR: Remove EVT_END_SESSION event handler for now. It was causing a recursive call to itself on shutdown thereby halting the Windows shutdown procedure on Windows XP and older systems. It would eventually crash the process with a stack overflow error.
  
• MGR: Fix a bug which shut down local client even though Manager didn't launch it when Manager was connected to a remote host
  
• MGR: Add command-line parameters for automatic connection to remote host; If currently connected host name is empty string, don't autorestart local client
  
• MGR: Possible fix for vtable reference issue.
  
• MGR: preserve message filtering by project if Event Log is closed and reopened, but not when selecting a different host or exiting Manager
  
• MGR: Check whether another instance of BOINC Manager is already running; if so, show Select Computer dialog with extra text saying another instance is running; if user cancels dialog, exit Manager.
  
• MGR: Adjust control positions and resize controls after a text change.
  
• lib: Make procinfo_win.cpp Unicode compatible.
  
• MGR: Don't allow the Create function of the Wizard to be called twice, it'll basically lead to both an assert and a memory leak.
  
• MGR: Don't create the wizard unless we are going to use it.
  
• WIN_BUILD: Remove references to crypto.cpp, and .h from libboinc_staticcrt so that projects who use it won't need to worry about pulling in OpenSSL.
  
• lib: fix crash if you close and reopen an MFILE
  
• MGR: Adjust control positions and resize controls after a text change, using Layout() instead of Fit() or FitInside()
  
• lib: Prevent category information from being lost in notices.
  

BOINC 6.11.6 released for testing for Windows, Windows x64, Macintosh

Disclaimer
On development versions of BOINC:
- Expect parts of it to be broken, or in the least to work in a different way than you are used to.
- Expect work failures, deadline misses and losing all your accumulated work in progress, or not getting credit for your work due to unknown and unforeseen circumstances.
- Only use it when you are willing to participate in the Alpha test program and do not mind sending (bug) reports in to the developers on the email list specially assigned for this purpose.


REMINDER TO ALL ALPHA TESTERS:
It's far easier for the developers to fix problems when 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.
<std_debug>: problems involving short term debt.

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 bugs on this forum or any project's forum isn't very productive as the developers simply do not have time to scour through all forums looking for posts with your bug reports in them. While it may happen that we - other volunteers - forward your problem to them, history has shown it is quite difficult being the middle man in this when more information is needed from you. Hence why it's better for all concerned that you report the problem directly to the developers, who will come back directly to you when they need more information or better logs or to tell you that they've checked in a fix for the specific problem.

The actual change log was taken from the Alpha email list and the Trac Timeline repository changes check-ins. This disclaimer was written by the volunteer moderators of this forum and approved of by the BOINC development team.

Change Log:

• client: fix typo that prevented the correct link to be used for going to the log flag configuration wiki page.
  
• MGR: Fix a bug that hid the Event Log when switching between Advanced and Simple Views.
  
• client: Kick off an auto proxy detection pass on any http error, only attempt a follow-up reference site check if the proxy server name changes. This may mean that'll it will be the second or third connection attempt before the CC starts using the new proxy information.
  
• MGR: Fix bugs saving and restoring info on which notices have been read
  
• MGR: Remove any remaining hints that there were two wizards at one time.
  
• MGR: Save the username and email address in different places in the registry
  
• MGR: Remove connection needed type sys tray notifications from the manager, lets the CC inform via a notice instead.
  
• client: wait until after the proxy check completes before attempting to check on the reference site.
  
• client/scheduler: tweak translatable messages.
  
• MGR: Remove EVT_END_SESSION event handler for now. It was causing a recursive call to itself on shutdown thereby halting the Windows shutdown procedure on Windows XP and older systems. It would eventually crash the process with a stack overflow error.
  
• MGR: Fix a bug which shut down local client even though Manager didn't launch it when Manager was connected to a remote host
  
• MGR: Add command-line parameters for automatic connection to remote host; If currently connected host name is empty string, don't autorestart local client
  
• MGR: Possible fix for vtable reference issue.
  
• MGR: preserve message filtering by project if Event Log is closed and reopened, but not when selecting a different host or exiting Manager
  
• MGR: Check whether another instance of BOINC Manager is already running; if so, show Select Computer dialog with extra text saying another instance is running; if user cancels dialog, exit Manager.
  
• MGR: Adjust control positions and resize controls after a text change.
  
• lib: Make procinfo_win.cpp Unicode compatible.
  
• MGR: Don't allow the Create function of the Wizard to be called twice, it'll basically lead to both an assert and a memory leak.
  
• MGR: Don't create the wizard unless we are going to use it.
  
• WIN_BUILD: Remove references to crypto.cpp, and .h from libboinc_staticcrt so that projects who use it won't need to worry about pulling in OpenSSL.
  
• lib: fix crash if you close and reopen an MFILE
  
• MGR: Adjust control positions and resize controls after a text change, using Layout() instead of Fit() or FitInside()
  
• lib: Prevent category information from being lost in notices.
  
• lib: prevent crash on startup if slot directories have been deleted.
  
• lib: removed unneeded include. Fixes [trac]#1004[/trac]
  
• MGR: Fix build break on Mac
  
• MGR: Allow Notices tab to scroll smoothly, disallow selection of items in Notices tab
  

BOINC 6.11.7 released for testing for Windows, Windows x64, Linux, Linux x64 and Macintosh

Rom Walton wrote:

Howdy Folks,

The following changes have been made:

* We have posted a new version to test which should resolve the various wizard issues I introduced in the last build.

* This release should cut down on the number of times it attempts to remind you about server messages. It should only attempt to re-notify you about a server message if it is still occurring after 24-hours.

* The CPU detection code on Windows should be working again.

* The manager should no longer attempt to shutdown remote clients on exit.

* The manager should be able to shutdown local clients.

Depending on the feedback in the coming days we are contemplating creating the 6.12 branch from trunk and beginning the final stabilization push so we can release 6.12 to the public.

This will be the first release of the 6.11 Linux client. We have built it using a new version of Ubuntu LTS. We needed to use a newer version of Ubuntu to be able to introduce a new features, which I hope to have included in the next build, is a basic screen saver. The screensaver module was written by Nils Brause.

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


Thanks in advance.


----- Rom

Disclaimer
On development versions of BOINC:
- Expect parts of it to be broken, or in the least to work in a different way than you are used to.
- Expect work failures, deadline misses and losing all your accumulated work in progress, or not getting credit for your work due to unknown and unforeseen circumstances.
- Only use it when you are willing to participate in the Alpha test program and do not mind sending (bug) reports in to the developers on the email list specially assigned for this purpose.


REMINDER TO ALL ALPHA TESTERS:
It's far easier for the developers to fix problems when 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.
<std_debug>: problems involving short term debt.

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 bugs on this forum or any project's forum isn't very productive as the developers simply do not have time to scour through all forums looking for posts with your bug reports in them. While it may happen that we - other volunteers - forward your problem to them, history has shown it is quite difficult being the middle man in this when more information is needed from you. Hence why it's better for all concerned that you report the problem directly to the developers, who will come back directly to you when they need more information or better logs or to tell you that they've checked in a fix for the specific problem.

The actual change log was taken from the Alpha email list and the Trac Timeline repository changes check-ins. This disclaimer was written by the volunteer moderators of this forum and approved of by the BOINC development team.

Change Log:

• MGR: In the future I need to be more careful when I flatten a class hierarchy. I broke the ability to get the latest project configuration from account managers. Fix that.
  
• MGR: Fix build issue on Linux (Sqlite3 needed to be added to the list of libs and header directories to be included)
  
• MGR: Remove copyright claims to wxWidgets code.
  
• client: check whether anonymous-app files exist
  
• client: parse (and ignore) <anonymous_platform> element in state file
  
• MGR: Remove unused WXDLL* declarations to improve Linux compatibility
  
• MGR: Set the email text box validator to a simple text validator when the project in question only supports usernames.
  
• client: Only error out of the CPU version check if the call to CPUID(0) returns zero.
  
• MGR: Try and clean up all the undefined reference errors for the GCC linker
  
• MGR: Finish implementing the use of Usernames in the account manager part of the wizard. I must have been asleep at the wheel on that one.
  
• MGR: fix warnings
  
• client: maintain "gpu_active_frac" in addition to "active_frac" (which really means CPU active)
  
• MGR: Further refinements to Client shutdown logic on Manager Exit
  
• MGR: On Mac only, Close Window menu item (or its shortcut Command-w) closes the Event Log if it is the front window
  
• client: treat notices from schedulers a little differently. Ignore duplicate notices unless they're at least 24 hours newer than the previous one.
  
• client: ignore case in names of "exclusive apps" and exclusive GPU apps
  
• client: fix bug that caused GPU apps to not be suspended or resumed immediately after exclusive GPU app transition
  
• client: in log message, instead of saying "fetching tasks for GPU", say which kind of GPU
  
• client: back out changeset [trac]changeset:21086[/trac], which cleaned out project dir on reset. The semantics of reset are to not delete sticky files.
  
• client: fix "boinc_temporary_exit()" support. This is critical for GPU support.
  
• client: fix problems with exclusive_gpu_app feature
  
• MGR: Properly display which components have trouble loading when a skin is defined.
  
• MGR: A new new skin which will become the new default skin.
  

BOINC 6.11.8 released for testing for Windows, Windows x64

Disclaimer
On development versions of BOINC:
- Expect parts of it to be broken, or in the least to work in a different way than you are used to.
- Expect work failures, deadline misses and losing all your accumulated work in progress, or not getting credit for your work due to unknown and unforeseen circumstances.
- Only use it when you are willing to participate in the Alpha test program and do not mind sending (bug) reports in to the developers on the email list specially assigned for this purpose.


REMINDER TO ALL ALPHA TESTERS:
It's far easier for the developers to fix problems when 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.
<std_debug>: problems involving short term debt.

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 bugs on this forum or any project's forum isn't very productive as the developers simply do not have time to scour through all forums looking for posts with your bug reports in them. While it may happen that we - other volunteers - forward your problem to them, history has shown it is quite difficult being the middle man in this when more information is needed from you. Hence why it's better for all concerned that you report the problem directly to the developers, who will come back directly to you when they need more information or better logs or to tell you that they've checked in a fix for the specific problem.

The actual change log was taken from the Alpha email list and the Trac Timeline repository changes check-ins. This disclaimer was written by the volunteer moderators of this forum and approved of by the BOINC development team.

Change Log:

• client: support notice feeds from account managers.
  Implementation: create a base class PROJ_AM, from which both PROJECT and ACCT_MGR_INFO are derived, with basic stuff like name, URL, and RSS feed list.
  
• debug the above. It now successfully displays an RSS feed of news items from Google, linked from a project manager.
  
• client: remove duplicate notices based on GUID as well as text (Google RSS feeds, e.g., change random strings in URLs in the item description, but leave the GUID the same).
  
• client: if a client has no jobs for a resource, decay its STD for that resource by a factor of e every day.
  
• MGR: Statistics tab: add scroll bar to project list, improve button controls.
  
• Fix Windows build break.
  
• Remove dead code from Statistics tab.
  
• boinc_cmd: don't crash if can't connect to local client
  
• WINSCR: Set the screen saver log directory to the data directory.
  
• WINSCR: Already create a log file, even on release builds, just don't write trace messages.
  
• WINSCR: Be a bit more paranoid about not being able to detect keyboard and mouse activity. If the function fails for whatever reason shutdown the screensaver.
  
• client: remove spurious msgs about deleting files while in use
  
• MGR: Statistics tab: add graph showing sum of selected projects
  
• lib: check for malloc() NULL return; fixes [trac]#921[/trac]
  
• MGR: Statistics tab: optimize and fix bugs in new graph showing sum of selected projects
  
• client: a bit of IPv6 compatibility
  -- use "sockaddr_storage" to store network addresses (which may be IPv4 or IPv6) rather than assuming they fit in an int.
  -- the entries in gui_rpc_auth.cfg may now be IPv6 addresses (a:b:c:e:f:g format), or domain names of hosts that support only IPv6.
  
  Note: GUI RPCs are still constrained to use IPv4, but this should be easy to change if it's every needed.
  Also: replace deprecated gethostbyname() with getaddrinfo().
  
• client: revert to old network functions (gethostbyname() etc.) on Win:
  -- inet_ntop() etc. exist only on Vista+
  -- the other functions are declared in winsock2.h.
  
  This breaks the Manager build, since wxwidgets includes winsock.h. So to hell with it.
  
• windows build: manager doesn't depend on client
  
• client (Win): use MoveFileEx() to rename file. More atomic than delete/rename. Fixes [trac]#1010[/trac]
  
• client: if we successfully did CPU benchmarks, don't keep doing them every 5 days unless restart the client. fixes [trac]#994[/trac]
  
• client: fix boinc_temporary_exit() handling on Unix (from Hien)
  
• client: improve "wrong URL" messages
  
• client: add title to client/server messages: "Notice from BOINC"
  
• client: when computing non-BOINC CPU usage, allow for the possibility that suspended BOINC apps aren't really suspended (e.g. multithread apps that don't use boinc_init_parallel()).
  
• client: message tweak
  
• Mac: Update XCode project for XCode 3.2.4
  
• client/web: change RSS feed mechanism a little. If <use_since_time> is included in feed description, the client will append &since_time=x to the URL, where x is the lastBuildDate of the previous reply. This notices handler (notices.php) sends only notices newer than this.
  
• client: discard old notices as they arrive
  
• client: write GPU info to client_state.xml, so that it can be input file to the client simulator.
  
• Mac: add Mac executables of wrapper application
  
• client: fix bug that cause wasted scheduler RPC.
  
  Old: when a job finished, we cleared the backoffs for the resources it used. The idea was to get more jobs immediately in the case where the client was at a jobs-in-progress limit.
  Problem: this resulted in an RPC immediately, typically before the output files were uploaded. So the client is still at the limit, and doesn't get jobs.
  
  New: clear the backoffs at the point when output files have been uploaded and the job is ready to report.
  
• client: change range in resource backoff from (0,x) to (.5, 1.5*x)
  
• client: add <no_info_fetch> config option and --no_info_fetch cmdline arg. Suppresses the fetch of project list and of current client version #. Use when running on grid nodes.
  
• MGR: Make the new BOINC skin the default skin.
  

BOINC 6.11.9 released for testing for Windows, Windows x64, Linux, Linux x64 and Macintosh

Disclaimer
On development versions of BOINC:
- Expect parts of it to be broken, or in the least to work in a different way than you are used to.
- Expect work failures, deadline misses and losing all your accumulated work in progress, or not getting credit for your work due to unknown and unforeseen circumstances.
- Only use it when you are willing to participate in the Alpha test program and do not mind sending (bug) reports in to the developers on the email list specially assigned for this purpose.

Rom Walton wrote:

Howdy Folks,

Here is a new build to test out. This build features a new Simple GUI skin created for BOINC. At present this new skin is only available for Windows and Mac, and the Linux build will include it in a future version.

We are still very much interested in hearing your opinions about what information is lacking from the notices tab. If there are problems that require manual intervention and the client isn't displaying anything about it in the notices tab we need to know about it.

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

Thanks in advance.



----- Rom

REMINDER TO ALL ALPHA TESTERS:
It's far easier for the developers to fix problems when 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.
<std_debug>: problems involving short term debt.

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 bugs on this forum or any project's forum isn't very productive as the developers simply do not have time to scour through all forums looking for posts with your bug reports in them. While it may happen that we - other volunteers - forward your problem to them, history has shown it is quite difficult being the middle man in this when more information is needed from you. Hence why it's better for all concerned that you report the problem directly to the developers, who will come back directly to you when they need more information or better logs or to tell you that they've checked in a fix for the specific problem.

The actual change log was taken from the Alpha email list and the Trac Timeline repository changes check-ins. This disclaimer was written by the volunteer moderators of this forum and approved of by the BOINC development team.

Change Log:

• client: if we suspend apps because non-BOINC CPU is is too high, leave them in memory. Otherwise (if the CPU use is caused by launching an app, say by security software) we would get into a loop.
  
• Mac: update release script to add new BOINC skin
  
• client: if a process has priority <= that of BOINC apps, don't include it in non-BOINC CPU time. Otherwise the presence of such a process could prevent BOINC from running apps. (Windows only - will do Unix/Mac later)
  
• client: in computing non-BOINC CPU time, ignore ACTIVE_TASKs that don't have a process.
  
• client: bug fix to previous checkin
  
• client (unix): don't count low-priority processes towards non-BOINC CPU time.
  NOTE: when you nice a process to 19, its priority in /proc is 39 (at least on Ubuntu and FC11). I can't find where this offset (20) is documented, so I just hardwired 39.
  
  TODO: Mac
  
• lib: Temporary work-around for unknown problem with IPV6-compatible code on Mac
  
• lib: make str_util.h C-compatible (from Matt Arsenault)
  
• lib: Add test for low-priority processes to procinfo_setup() and relatives on Mac
  
• lib: Fix problem with IPV6-compatible code on Mac
  

6.11.9 Update

Rom Walton wrote:

If you are using your ATI graphics adapter for crunching you should revert to 6.11.7 or older. .9 and possibly .8 had a bug that prevents the
project servers from assigning work.

----- Rom

BOINC 6.12.2 released for testing for Windows and Windows x64

Rom Walton wrote:

Howdy Folks,

Here is the first release of the 6.12 client to begin testing. I have enabled all the test groups for this test pass to see where we are at. Depending on how many bugs with this version are found we may switch back to doing focused testing or continue on to a public release. Please run through all the tests in the test matrix.

For those who use multiple BOINC Managers on a machine, you'll notice that just launching BOINC Manager from the start menu just brings the already running BOINC Manager into focus.

You have two ways of running multiple BOINC Managers:
1. Advanced View - Tools/Launch another BOINC Manager
2. Create a new shortcut and specify the --namehost, --password arguments or pass the --multiple argument.

Please report any new or old bugs here and test results to [url]
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/alpha/[/url].

Thanks in advance.

----- Rom

Disclaimer
On development versions of BOINC:
- Expect parts of it to be broken, or in the least to work in a different way than you are used to.
- Expect work failures, deadline misses and losing all your accumulated work in progress, or not getting credit for your work due to unknown and unforeseen circumstances.
- Only use it when you are willing to participate in the Alpha test program and do not mind sending (bug) reports in to the developers on the email list specially assigned for this purpose.


REMINDER TO ALL ALPHA TESTERS:
It's far easier for the developers to fix problems when 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.
<std_debug>: problems involving short term debt.

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 bugs on this forum or any project's forum isn't very productive as the developers simply do not have time to scour through all forums looking for posts with your bug reports in them. While it may happen that we - other volunteers - forward your problem to them, history has shown it is quite difficult being the middle man in this when more information is needed from you. Hence why it's better for all concerned that you report the problem directly to the developers, who will come back directly to you when they need more information or better logs or to tell you that they've checked in a fix for the specific problem.

The actual change log was taken from the Alpha email list and the Trac Timeline repository changes check-ins. This disclaimer was written by the volunteer moderators of this forum and approved of by the BOINC development team.

Change Log:

Changes from 6.11.9

• MGR: On Linux, minimize the main window instead of trying to hide it when close is selected on the window instead of the menu. Ideally the main window would just be hidden until the notification icon is clicked, but apparently wxWidgets/GTK/X doesn't like it when you attempt to hide the main window.
  
• MGR: Display what cpu architecture the manager was built for in the about box.
  
• client: remove debugging code accidentally left in.
  
• client: don't fetch RSS feeds if "no_info_fetch" flag is set.
  
• client: fix bug causing garbage values in ATI descriptions.
  
• client: don't show GPU suspend/resume msgs if no GPUs.
  
• work around bug which prevented default screensaver boincscr from communicating with Mac client.
  
• MGR: Add command-line argument --multiple or -m to allow running multiple instances of BOINC Manager.
  
• add "Launch another BOINC Manager" menu item to Advanced menu.
  
• manager: remove last few instances of "detach" from messages.
  
• fix a few absolutely last messages with "attach", "detach".
  
• Increment version to 6.12.0.
  
• client: add <max_tasks_reported> config item: limit the # of completed tasks reported per RPC.
  
• fix a few absolutely last messages with "attach", "detach".
  
• GUI RPC: remove unneeded isIPV6 flag, factor out sizeof() logic.
  
• GUI RPC: when resolving hostnames, ask for only IPV4 addresses. No point in allowing IPV6 since the client doesn't create a listening socket for IPV6.
  
• Mac: Update build scripts and documentation
  
• Win/Linux: Implement the launch new manager functionality for Windows and Linux.
  
• MGR: Sanitize the event log output from the CC.
  
• MGR: Take two of the above.
  
• client: fix bug with the <max_tasks_reported> config option. If # of ready-to-report tasks > max_tasks_reported, then the excess ready-to-report tasks weren't getting reported to the scheduler at all (i.e. not in <other_results> either) so the scheduler would resend them (not a fatal problem, but a waste of bandwidth). From Josef Segur.
  
• client: fix compiler warning.
  
• API/client: move CUdevice_attribute_enum out of lib/coproc.h to fix app build errors
  
• MGR: Check for a duplicate instance much earlier in the initialization cycle, before any window or document creation. Prevents rapid window creation and then destruction.
  
• client: when an app exits, adjust debts before erasing ACTIVE_TASK.
  Otherwise the last episode won't get accounted
  
• MGR: Complete above initialization changes for the Mac.
  
• MGR: Don't require --multiple arg to launch a new instance if both --namehost and --password args are specified.
  
• MGR: Handle paths with spaces in them when launching new instances of the manager.
  
  Changes from 6.12.1
  
• MGR: It turns out it was some wxWidgets parameter parsing weirdness in the newly launched application that was throwing the error. Double quotes around the parameter didn't fix the issue. For the time being just hard code 'boincmgr.exe' as argv[0] as it isn't used by the Windows client at all. wxWidgets won't find --multiple if it is argv[0].
  

BOINC 6.12.2 released for testing for Macintosh

Charlie Fenton wrote:

I've posted the 6.2.12 build for the Mac for alpha testing.

On the Mac, there are twp ways to launch a second instance from the command line (using the Terminal utility application):
open -n /Applications/BOINCManager.app --args -m
open -n /Applications/BOINCManager.app --args -n hostname -p password

The first method will work just like the "Launch another BOINC Manager" menu item. The new instance of the Manager will open displaying the Select Computer dialog.

The second method allows you to automate the process a bit more and tell the new instance of BOINC Manager to connect to the BOINC CLient on the specified host using the spedified password.

An example of the second method might be:
open -n /Applications/BOINCManager.app --args -n 192.168.0.4 -p
1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef

Cheers,
--Charlie

BOINC 6.12.4 released for testing for Windows, Windows x64, Linux, Linux x64 and Macintosh

Rom Walton wrote:

Howdy Folks,

This release should address most issues raised with the previous release. This release also includes all of the latest translation work the localization team has completed. Feedback from the last build has been better than expected in every area except with the issue of the messages tab. So I think it is time to dial up the heat and begin thinking about releasing 6.12 to the public.

In regards to the messages tab, it isn't going to be making a come-back for this release. I think everybody has done a great job of letting us know that the power-volunteer community is unhappy about the change. I would like to remind everybody that the majority of volunteers do not participate in email lists or regularly post in project forums. The only time we get a hint of what kind of issues they face are in the support forums when they ask for help and then disappear after words.

As an example (which appears in the latest 5 requests for support at the time of this writing): http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/forum_thread.php?id=8483

In the end, the notices tab is meant to call out issues that volunteers should fix because they cannot automatically be dealt with and provide projects a means of communication with volunteers who may only visit the project homepage once in a blue moon.

An analogous type of thing for web browsers would be the Java Console. 99% of the time it isn't needed and is available as a menu item for developers and power-users when something isn't working quite right.

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

Thanks in advance.



----- Rom

Disclaimer
On development versions of BOINC:
- Expect parts of it to be broken, or in the least to work in a different way than you are used to.
- Expect work failures, deadline misses and losing all your accumulated work in progress, or not getting credit for your work due to unknown and unforeseen circumstances.
- Only use it when you are willing to participate in the Alpha test program and do not mind sending (bug) reports in to the developers on the email list specially assigned for this purpose.


REMINDER TO ALL ALPHA TESTERS:
It's far easier for the developers to fix problems when 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.
<std_debug>: problems involving short term debt.

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 bugs on this forum or any project's forum isn't very productive as the developers simply do not have time to scour through all forums looking for posts with your bug reports in them. While it may happen that we - other volunteers - forward your problem to them, history has shown it is quite difficult being the middle man in this when more information is needed from you. Hence why it's better for all concerned that you report the problem directly to the developers, who will come back directly to you when they need more information or better logs or to tell you that they've checked in a fix for the specific problem.

The actual change log was taken from the Alpha email list and the Trac Timeline repository changes check-ins. This disclaimer was written by the volunteer moderators of this forum and approved of by the BOINC development team.

Change Log:

• client: use project STD, rather than arrival time, as the major criterion in choosing non-EDF GPU jobs. GPU scheduling now respects resource share, and as a result STD should no longer diverge.
  
• lib: Fix problems with Mac backtrace code: use atos only if present, etc
  
• client: delete a notice if it's no longer in the RSS feed. E.g., if a project deletes a news item, remove it from notices.
  
• notices RSS: remove the "since_time" mechanism (an optimization that conflicts with the above)
  
• MGR (WIN): While it is a perfectly valid thing to use FindWindow() and ShowWindow() on an application frame to restore an application from a minimized state or a hidden state on Windows (75% of the UI test automation would fail at Microsoft without this ability), it appeartly isn't for other platforms. wxWidgets is or appears to be tracking window state internally, which leads to problems when the OS restores the window and the rest of the framework doesn't know about that change in state. Certain window events were being ignored (like WM_CLOSE, menu selection events, etc.). So replace the previous mechanism for bringing an existing instance of the BOINC Manager to the foreground by creating a new global window message which is tracked by the system tray icon. When the new global message is fired make sure the CBOINCGUIApp::SetActiveGUI() function is called to restore the window state which in turn updates all the internal framework data structures.
  
• client: distinguish between messages to be displayed as HTML (e.g. "Download new client here" link) and others (e.g. "Bad tag in cc_config.xml: <foo>").
  
• code cleanup; move show_message from main.cpp to client_msgs.cpp
  
• client: on startup, generate a message and notice about new client version if needed
  
• client: notice debugging
  
• Mac: Update XCode project for new source files client/current_version.cpp,.h
  
• MGR: Add missing keyboard shortcut for the Event Log
  
• MGR: Add missing elipses for the new instance of BOINC Manager and Event Log.
  
• MGR: Display a simple message when saying that there are no notices to be displayed when the client reports there are zero notices.
  
• lib: Display message if attempting backtrace on a PowerPC Mac running under OS 10.5.x
  
• client: benchmarks msg tweak
  
• client: ignore exclusive apps including "boinc"
  

Anyone who knows what happened to 6.12.3 may speak up now!

BOINC 6.12.5 released for testing for Windows, Windows x64, Linux, Linux x64 and Macintosh

Rom Walton, 09-Nov-2010 wrote:

Howdy Folks,

We have a new build to test for possible release. This release fixes numerous issues with CPU/GPU scheduling. This release should also fix the close button issues on Linux.

Please report test results to http://boinc.berkeley.edu/alpha and report bugs on the alpha email list.

Thanks in advance.



----- Rom

Disclaimer
On development versions of BOINC:
- Expect parts of it to be broken, or in the least to work in a different way than you are used to.
- Expect work failures, deadline misses and losing all your accumulated work in progress, or not getting credit for your work due to unknown and unforeseen circumstances.
- Only use it when you are willing to participate in the Alpha test program and do not mind sending (bug) reports in to the developers on the email list specially assigned for this purpose.


REMINDER TO ALL ALPHA TESTERS:
It's far easier for the developers to fix problems when 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.
<std_debug>: problems involving short term debt.

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 bugs on this forum or any project's forum isn't very productive as the developers simply do not have time to scour through all forums looking for posts with your bug reports in them. While it may happen that we - other volunteers - forward your problem to them, history has shown it is quite difficult being the middle man in this when more information is needed from you. Hence why it's better for all concerned that you report the problem directly to the developers, who will come back directly to you when they need more information or better logs or to tell you that they've checked in a fix for the specific problem.

The actual change log was taken from the Alpha email list and the Trac Timeline repository changes check-ins. This disclaimer was written by the volunteer moderators of this forum and approved of by the BOINC development team.

Change Log:

• Mac: Update XCode project for new source files client/current_version.cpp, .h
  
• client: update STD of ineligible projects by decay only. Not sure why, but this eliminates gradual negative drift.
  
• client: linux compile fix.
  
• client: small fix for GPU scheduling (use anticipated debt instead of STD).
  
• manager: if attaching to existing account, don't check min passwd length.
  
• manager: fix non-translatable "0 bytes".
  
• client and manager: fix notice titles.
  
• code cleanup: please use standard coding conventions.
  
• client: small initial checkin for new scheduling system. Keep track of per-project recent estimated credit.
  
• client: show --no_gpus option in --help
  
• client: don't preempt GPU jobs in middle of time slice.
  
• client: fix problems with job scheduling policy.
  
  -- Old: job scheduling has 2 phases.
  In the first phase (schedule_cpus()) we make a list of jobs, with deadline-miss and high-STD jobs first. Keep track of the RAM used, and skip jobs that would exceed available RAM. Stop scanning when the # of CPUs used by jobs in the list exceeds the # of actual CPUs.
  
  In the 2nd phase (enforce_schedule()), we add currently running jobs (which may be in the middle of a time slice) to the list, and reorder to give priority to such jobs, and possibly also to multi-thread jobs. We then run and/or preempt jobs, keeping track of RAM used.
  
  Problems:
  -- Suppose we add an EDF 1-CPU job to the list, then a MT job. We'll stop at that point because #CPUs is exceeded. But enforce_schedule() won't run the MT job, and CPUs will be idle.
  -- Because the list may be reordered, skipping jobs based on RAM is not correct, and may cause deadlines to be missed.
  
  New:
  -- When making the job list, keep track of #CPUs used by MT jobs and non-MT jobs separately. Stop the scan only if the non-MT count exceeds #CPUs. This ensures that we have enough jobs to use all the CPUs, even if the MT jobs can't be run for whatever reason.
  -- Don't skip jobs because of RAM usage.
  -- Skip MT jobs if the MT CPU count is at least #CPUs.
  
  Notes:
  -- Ignoring RAM usage in phase 1 can cause idleness in some cases, e.g. suppose there are 4 GB of RAM and the list has jobs that use 3 GB, but there are also some jobs that use 1 GB. I'm not sure how to fix this.
  -- Maybe the 2-phase approach is not a good idea. We did it this way for efficiency, so that we don't have to recompute the job list each time a job checkpoints. But this is probably not a concern, and I like the idea of a simpler approach, e.g. reducing the policy to a single comparison function.
  
  
• GUI RPC: parse GPU info, FLOPS from APP_VERSION records (client already sends this info).
  
• manager: show app speed and task FLOPs estimate in task Properties.
  
• client: gpu_active_frac was being computed incorrectly, resulting in various scheduling problems.
  
• client: comment out update_rec() call.
  
• client: comment out a debug msg.
  
• MGR: Fix the event log so that it doesn't store the event log's size information when it is in a minimized state.
  
• MGR: Fix the close dialog issue on wxGTK, apparently there is a hidden flag that governs the handling of the GTK callback function. Fixes [trac]#962[/trac] (Thanks for the patch cli).
  

BOINC 6.12.6 released for testing for all platforms

Rom Walton wrote:

Howdy Folks,

Here is a new build that should fix the GPU Suspend issue as well as running GPU and multi-threaded applications at the same time. If all goes well we should be able to make this a public release.

Please report test results to http://boinc.berkeley.edu/alpha and report bugs on the alpha email list.

Thanks in advance.


----- Rom

Disclaimer
On development versions of BOINC:
- Expect parts of it to be broken, or in the least to work in a different way than you are used to.
- Expect work failures, deadline misses and losing all your accumulated work in progress, or not getting credit for your work due to unknown and unforeseen circumstances.
- Only use it when you are willing to participate in the Alpha test program and do not mind sending (bug) reports in to the developers on the email list specially assigned for this purpose.


REMINDER TO ALL ALPHA TESTERS:
It's far easier for the developers to fix problems when 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.
<std_debug>: problems involving short term debt.

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 bugs on this forum or any project's forum isn't very productive as the developers simply do not have time to scour through all forums looking for posts with your bug reports in them. While it may happen that we - other volunteers - forward your problem to them, history has shown it is quite difficult being the middle man in this when more information is needed from you. Hence why it's better for all concerned that you report the problem directly to the developers, who will come back directly to you when they need more information or better logs or to tell you that they've checked in a fix for the specific problem.

The actual change log was taken from the Alpha email list and the Trac Timeline repository changes check-ins. This disclaimer was written by the volunteer moderators of this forum and approved of by the BOINC development team.

Change Log:

• client: fix harmless compile warning
  
• unix build system: fix for non-english locale, from Nicolas. fixes [trac]#975[/trac]
  
• client: fix "Snooze GPU"
  
• client, scheduler, RPC protocol:
  -- If the scheduler doesn't have any app versions for resource type X, it includes an element <no_X_apps>1</no_X_apps> in the reply msg (e.g., <no_cpu_apps>1</no_cpu_apps>)
  -- The client parses and stores these flags, and doesn't ask a project for work for a resource if the project doesn't have app versions for it.
  
  Apparently I started this change in [trac]changeset:19375[/trac] (October 2009) and forgot to finish it. (DA)
  
• client: change scheduling policy to allow multithread jobs to coexist with GPU jobs that use significant CPU time.
  -- Old: run a MT job only if total CPU usage will be < #CPUs + 1. So if you have some GPU jobs running and their CPU usage sums to < 1, BOINC will run a MT job too. But if CPU usage > 1 BOINC won't run the MT job, and some CPUs will be idle.
  
  Note: to maximize throughput, it might be better to run either GPU jobs or MT jobs, but not both at the same time. However, volunteers don't like it when CPUs are idle. So...
  -- New: ignore the CPU usage of GPU jobs in deciding whether to run MT jobs. So we'll run a 4-core MT job (at low priority) even if GPU jobs (which run at normal priority) use > 1 CPU. (Yes, the MT job might run very slow)
  
• manager: don't show resources redundantly on task properties page
  
• boinccmd: --get_cc_status now prints its result
  client: fix yesterday's checkin [trac]changeset:22661[/trac] for anonymous platform:
  -- if project P is anonymous platform don't request work for resource R from P if there is no app version using R in P/app_info.xml else don't request work for resource R from P if P tells us it has no app versions using R.
  
• MGR: Disable balloons on Linux for the time being.
  
• Mac SS: Minor tweak for use in debugging.
  

BOINC 6.12.7 released for testing for all platforms

Rom Walton wrote:

Howdy Folks,

Here is a new release to test, we had great turnout for the last build. This release fixes the issues with the Simple GUI project menus. There are also a few fixes for CPU/GPU scheduling. Unless another showstopper is found, this release will go public.

Please report bugs on the Alpha email list or the BOINC Dev forums and test results to http://boinc.berkeley.edu/alpha.

Thanks in advance.


----- Rom

Disclaimer
On development versions of BOINC:
- Expect parts of it to be broken, or in the least to work in a different way than you are used to.
- Expect work failures, deadline misses and losing all your accumulated work in progress, or not getting credit for your work due to unknown and unforeseen circumstances.
- Only use it when you are willing to participate in the Alpha test program and do not mind sending (bug) reports in to the developers on the email list specially assigned for this purpose.


REMINDER TO ALL ALPHA TESTERS:
It's far easier for the developers to fix problems when 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.
<std_debug>: problems involving short term debt.

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 bugs on this forum or any project's forum isn't very productive as the developers simply do not have time to scour through all forums looking for posts with your bug reports in them. While it may happen that we - other volunteers - forward your problem to them, history has shown it is quite difficult being the middle man in this when more information is needed from you. Hence why it's better for all concerned that you report the problem directly to the developers, who will come back directly to you when they need more information or better logs or to tell you that they've checked in a fix for the specific problem.

The actual change log was taken from the Alpha email list and the Trac Timeline repository changes check-ins. This disclaimer was written by the volunteer moderators of this forum and approved of by the BOINC development team.

Change Log:

• MGR: Save window dimensions and position on SIZE and MOVE events to make sure changes are recorded even if the window is minimized (iconized) when exiting BOINC.
  
• client: account manager RPC:
  
  Additions to request message:
  -- <not_started_dur>X</not_started_dur>
  -- <in_progress_dur>X</in_progress_dur>
  The estimated remaining duration of unstarted and in-progress tasks.
  
  Additions to reply message, within <project>, optional:
  <suspend>0|1</suspend> suspend or resume project (overrides local state)
  <abort_not_started>0|1</abort_not_started> if set, abort unstarted jobs.
  
• Add support to detect VirtualBox VM software.
  
• client and scheduler: a client host may have multiple VM systems installed. TODO: check for VirtualBox on Mac, Linux.
  
• client: Add support to detect VirtualBox VM software on Mac.
  
• Port missing minor change from trunk.
  
• Mac Installer: remove obsolete kludge for generating x86_64 screensaver.
  
• win_tray: Add logging support to trap crashes (of boinctray).
  
• client: in account manager requests, include the following per-project attributes: suspended_via_gui, dont_request_more_work, deatch_when_done, ended.
  
• client: restore code to maintain recent estimated credit.
  
• client: Add VirtualBox detection for Linux.
  
• Mac Installer: eliminate wrapper application around install package.
  
• Mac Installer: permit remote install via SSH using command-line installer.
  
• client: improve the way credit history is maintained
  
  Old: Maintain list of daily records. When add a new record, delete records older than a month.
  
  Problem: If there's a gap in the record (e.g. because project was down) deleting old records may result in a list that has an entry only for today. Data for the last month is lost.
  
  New: When appropriate, adjust the date of old records rather than deleting them.
  
• Mac Installer: command-line installs test for existence of files /tmp/nonadminusersok.txt and /tmp/setboincsaver.txt
  
• MGR: Switch to the tasks tab when a request to execute benchmarks has been requested. The messages tab no longer exists.
  
• client: fix bug where client would ask project for work for a resource even when the project doesn't have app versions that use the resource.
  TODO: there are 2 functions, compute_may_have_work() and dont_fetch(), that do the same thing and both have misleading names. Clean this up.
  Rom: please back-port to 6.10
  
• Mac Installer: Better handling of custom installer icon.
  
• MGR Statistics tab: always show last 30 days in all projects (sum) graph.
  
• Remove BOINC_RCSID tags from more source files.
  
• client: Copy the AltiVec CPU feature to the p_features field, leave AltiVec in the host model field for backwards compatibility.
  
• client: implement more scheduler changes that use recent estimated credit (REC) instead of debt.
  These changes are enabled by #define USE_REC in work_fetch.h.
  
  If this is commented out (the default) the client uses debt-based scheduling, same as before. TODO: work-fetch policy changes
  
• client simulator: various fixes:
  -- compute idle and wasted fraction based on all processing resources, not just CPU.
  -- compute job completion times based on FLOPS, not CPU seconds.
  -- compute and use project->no_X_apps etc.
  
• GUI RPC, client side: add error-checking for CC_STATE::parse(); avoid crash if error or missing item in reply XML.
  
• client: fix compiler warning.
  
• vbox: Create a new VirtualBox wrapper using the VirtualBox COM API set. Use the existing wrapper as the baseline. Current wrapper just dumps the existing VMs defined on the machine. More to follow.
  
• client: work fetch fix: try to maintain GPU work all projects, since we now do round-robin for GPUs as well as CPU. NOTE: this bug was found using the client simulator!
  
• client simulator: generate REC graph.
  
• client: do exponential backoff (from 10 min to 24 hours) on account manager RPC failures, rather than always waiting 24 hours.
  
• client: use <foo>0|1</foo> instead of <foo/> or "" as XML boolean. This distinguishes between "false" and "not defined" (did this in a few places, should do it everywhere).
  
• client: send host info in account manager request message.
  
• client: on startup, generate a notice if any jobs require more RAM than is allowed by prefs.
  
• manager: show RAM limit in task properties.
  
• api: check return values of functions used in boinc_msg_prefix(), return a (valid) empty string if an error occurred.
  
• MGR: Use standard menus, even on Windows, for the Simple GUI.
  

BOINC 6.12.8 released for testing for all platforms

Disclaimer
On development versions of BOINC:
- Expect parts of it to be broken, or in the least to work in a different way than you are used to.
- Expect work failures, deadline misses and losing all your accumulated work in progress, or not getting credit for your work due to unknown and unforeseen circumstances.
- Only use it when you are willing to participate in the Alpha test program and do not mind sending (bug) reports in to the developers on the email list specially assigned for this purpose.


REMINDER TO ALL ALPHA TESTERS:
It's far easier for the developers to fix problems when 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.
<std_debug>: problems involving short term debt.

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 bugs on this forum or any project's forum isn't very productive as the developers simply do not have time to scour through all forums looking for posts with your bug reports in them. While it may happen that we - other volunteers - forward your problem to them, history has shown it is quite difficult being the middle man in this when more information is needed from you. Hence why it's better for all concerned that you report the problem directly to the developers, who will come back directly to you when they need more information or better logs or to tell you that they've checked in a fix for the specific problem.

The actual change log was taken from the Alpha email list and the Trac Timeline repository changes check-ins. This disclaimer was written by the volunteer moderators of this forum and approved of by the BOINC development team.

Change Log:

• lib: The custom Mac backtrace code doesn't work on Intel Macs running under OS 10.5.x, so use newer backtrace() and backtrace_symbols() APIs under OS 10.5.x, with explanatory text suggesting alternatives. (Checked into 6.12.7 tag.)
  
• client: fix major bug in job scheduling
  
  Old: scheduling has 2 phases:
  1) computing a list of jobs to run (a vector of RESULT*); this is done infrequently
  2) enforcing the schedule; this is done more frequently
  
  Problem:
  
  when we enforce the schedule, the RESULTs in the jobs-to-run list may not still be runnable, and in fact they may not still exist (dangling pointer).
  
  New: combine the 2 phases
  
  
• client, acct manager protocol: allow <no_cpu>, <no_cuda> and <no_ati> bools within <account> in reply message. They suppress work fetch for that resource type from that project.
  
• Mac lib: use newer backtrace() APIs under OS 10.5.x on Intel Macs.
  
• Mac Installer: Updates for OS 10.6.5 compatibility.
  
• client: fix scheduling bug. The round-robin simulation wasn't handling multithread jobs correctly.
  For example, given two 3-CPU jobs, it would model running them together on a 4-CPU host. This doesn't correspond with the CPU scheduler, which runs only 1 at a time. So the simulator would say that there are no idle CPUs when in fact there are, and no new CPU jobs would be fetched.
  
  
• client: fix typo that broke communication with account managers.
  
• API: compile fix for Win.
  
• client: slightly change detach scheme for account managers.
  

BOINC 6.12.9 released for testing for Macintosh only

Charlie Fenton wrote:

I have released BOINC 6.12.9 for Macintosh for testing. This is a Macintosh-only release to fix a problem with the Mac installer. It should be identical to 6.12.8 in every other respect.

Mac testers, please direct your attention to this 6.12.9 release. For all other platforms, please continue testing 6.12.8.

Thank you.

Cheers,
--Charlie

Change log:

• Mac Installer: Fix failure to auto-launch on OS 10.4.x.
  

What is up with the new apparently at this time Mac only version of Boinc 6.12.10? What bugs got fixed?? Any need to rush upgrade from 6.12.9?