warning: running BOINC as root user

felipe1982 · April 19, 2010, 2:31pm

I’ve installed BOINC for first time (from suse repos). I’m worried about running BOINC as root. How can this be avoided? I’d first like to exhaust all options with the official opensuse repo version of BOINC. If I am unsuccessful, then I’ll try the version from Berkeley website.

hcvv · April 19, 2010, 3:25pm

I do not know much about the project, but I would hesitate to run as root. Is that required? I would even not run as ‘myself’, but most probably create a special user for it. Is that not an option.

Prexy · April 19, 2010, 4:00pm

I’ve been running different versions of BOINC for years on various platforms, from repos and from Berkeley but I don’t think it ever ran from root. Which version are you trying and what does it say about running from root?

I’m running 6.10.17. Running top, I see boinc, boincmgr and the World Community Grid apps all running as user.

malcolmlewis · April 19, 2010, 4:05pm

Hi
You just need to run as your user, it should create a folder in your
home directory etc. You should just need to run the command run_manager

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 (x86_64) Kernel 2.6.27.45-0.1-default
up 4 days 1:46, 3 users, load average: 0.37, 0.35, 0.32
GPU GeForce 8600 GTS Silent - CUDA Driver Version: 195.36.15

ab · April 19, 2010, 4:08pm

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No, it is not required. On my system I created a ‘boincuser’ and then run
boinc from there (in a ‘screen’ no less so I can reconnect and kill it
if/when necessary) I’m not sure how you installed BOINC but I did not use
an RPM. Either way I doubt it matters since it is just a process.

Create a new user for BOINC stuff (unless you want the graphical stuff
with your current user, but let’s assume you do not).

Run the boinc manager piece to set things up unless you have a way you
prefer to do the same.

Optional: start a ‘screen’ session from the command line so you can
reconnect to your process to kill it (nicer sometimes than killing the
process later via the ‘kill’ command).

Start BOINC and disconnect (if using screen). Watch your CPU go crazy.

Good luck.

On 04/19/2010 07:26 AM, hcvv wrote:
>
> I do not know much about the project, but I would hesitate to run as
> root. Is that required? I would even not run as ‘myself’, but most
> probably create a special user for it. Is that not an option.
>
>
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malcolmlewis · April 19, 2010, 4:20pm

Hi
GPU here, if your running NVidia, no CPU load…


Mon 19 Apr 2010 09:19:56 AM CDT||CUDA devices found
Mon 19 Apr 2010 09:19:56 AM CDT||Coprocessor: GeForce 8600 GTS (1)

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 (x86_64) Kernel 2.6.27.45-0.1-default
up 4 days 2:00, 3 users, load average: 0.00, 0.23, 0.41
GPU GeForce 8600 GTS Silent - CUDA Driver Version: 195.36.15

baskitcaise · April 19, 2010, 6:48pm

malcolmlewis adjusted his/her AFDB on Mon 19 April 2010 15:20 to write:

> GPU here, if your running NVidia, no CPU load…
>


> Mon 19 Apr 2010 09:19:56 AM CDT||CUDA devices found
> Mon 19 Apr 2010 09:19:56 AM CDT||Coprocessor: GeForce 8600 GTS (1)
>

>

I wish somebody would put out some units for the ATI GPU

All dressed up with nowhere to go.

–
Mark
Caveat emptor
Nullus in verba
Nil illegitimi carborundum

felipe1982 · April 20, 2010, 2:25am

BOINC version 6.4.5 from suse repos.


#
#run as ordinary user
#
felipe@cheetah:~> pgrep -l boinc
felipe@cheetah:~> ps aux | grep -i **oinc
felipe@cheetah:~> /etc/init.d/boinc start
WARNING: boinc-client will be running as root              [WARNING]
The BOINC client requires initialization.                  [WARNING]
touch: cannot touch `/var/log/boinc.log': Permission denied
touch: cannot touch `/var/log/boinc_err.log': Permission denied
Starting BOINC client as a daemon:  chown: changing ownership of `/var/log/boinc.log': Operation not permitted
chown: changing ownership of `/var/log/boinc_err.log': Operation not permitted
#
# run as root
#
felipe@cheetah:~> sudo /etc/init.d/boinc start
root's password:
WARNING: boinc-client will be running as root              [WARNING]
The BOINC client requires initialization.                  [WARNING]
Starting BOINC client as a daemon:                         [OK]
felipe@cheetah:~> ps aux | grep -i **oinc
root      1557  0.2  0.3  53592  3708 pts/1    S    10:19   0:00 /usr/bin/boinc
felipe@cheetah:~>

felipe@cheetah:~> cat /etc/boinc-client.conf

Default variable values for the boinc-client /etc/init.d script

#BOINCEXE_NAME=boinc_client
#BOINCCMD_NAME=boinccmd

The userid under which boinc_client is run

#BOINCUSER=boinc

The directory in which boinc_client is run

#BOINCDIR=/var/lib/boinc

log files

#LOGFILE=/var/log/${BOINCEXE_NAME}.log
#ERRORLOG=/var/log/${BOINCEXE_NAME}_err.log

pid file

#PIDFILE=/var/run/${BOINCEXE_NAME}.pid

placement of the lockfile depends upon the operating system

it will probably be one of the following:

#LOCKFILE=/var/lock/subsys/${BOINCEXE_NAME}
#LOCKFILE=/var/lock/${BOINCEXE_NAME}
#LOCKFILE=/var/run/${BOINCEXE_NAME}.lock

BOINC options: for the command line when running the client.

Be aware that --allow_remote_gui_rpc opens up your machine to the world!

Add this option if you want to allow boinc manager connections from remote

machines

#BOINCOPTS="–allow_remote_gui_rpc"

Add this option if you want to turn off all logging

#BOINCOPTS="–daemon"

Add this option if you want to redirect logging to the files stderrdae.txt

and stdoutdae.txt in BOINCDIR rather than LOGFILE and ERRORLOG

#BOINCOPTS="–redirectio"

Add this option if you want to run only when no logins from anywhere are

active

#BOINCOPTS="–check_all_logins"

The default is no options.

#BOINCOPTS=
#EOF

The installation of BOINC and deps did not automatically create a new boinc' user and/or boinc’ group**.

However a new user was created during install of mysql, apache, et al.

I should report this as a bug with novell.

I will create the user/group manually. Should I specify shell as /bin/false and home dir as /var/lib/boinc? Do i also need to change ownership of /var/lib/boinc to `chown boinc:boinc /var/lib/boinc’ ?

I will report a bug about this.

– thank you for all your assistance
Felipe**

i-ghost · April 20, 2010, 1:43pm

Is there a way to make it exclusively use the GPU? I can only find options to make it use a mix of CPU and GPU, unless I am probably missing something. I have the same GPU as you, so it’s detected and everything.

malcolmlewis · April 20, 2010, 2:36pm

Hi
AFAIK, no (it’s being used as a coprocessor) all you can do is set how
it’s used in the boinc manager preferences.

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 (x86_64) Kernel 2.6.27.45-0.1-default
up 5 days 0:10, 3 users, load average: 3.43, 2.25, 1.18
GPU GeForce 8600 GTS Silent - CUDA Driver Version: 195.36.15