I now have another problem. I have uninstalled (via apt) and reinstalled boinc several times. When I launch, it runs for a few seconds and than quits:

%/ sudo service boinc-client status
● boinc-client.service - Berkeley Open Infrastructure Network Computing Client
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/boinc-client.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Thu 2020-12-03 17:26:09 EST; 1s ago
Docs: man:boinc(1)
Process: 3442 ExecStopPost=/bin/rm -f lockfile (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 3426 ExecStart=/usr/bin/boinc (code=exited, status=108)
Main PID: 3426 (code=exited, status=108)

Dec 03 17:25:59 Noether systemd[1]: Started Berkeley Open Infrastructure Network Computing Client.
Dec 03 17:26:09 Noether boinc[3426]: 03-Dec-2020 17:26:09 Another instance of BOINC is running.
Dec 03 17:26:09 Noether systemd[1]: boinc-client.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=108/n/a
Dec 03 17:26:09 Noether systemd[1]: boinc-client.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.

If I run 'ps' there is nothing there. There are various posts about lock files, but I don't know where to find them.

Until recently I've been able to run rosetta@home without a problem and have had either a 25% or 5% badge. But I have spent hours trying to get it to work, and at some point I have to devote my time (never mind the CPU time) to other tasks.

I now have another problem. I have uninstalled (via apt) and reinstalled boinc several times. When I launch, it runs for a few seconds and than quits:

%/ sudo service boinc-client status
● boinc-client.service - Berkeley Open Infrastructure Network Computing Client
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/boinc-client.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Thu 2020-12-03 17:26:09 EST; 1s ago
Docs: man:boinc(1)
Process: 3442 ExecStopPost=/bin/rm -f lockfile (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 3426 ExecStart=/usr/bin/boinc (code=exited, status=108)
Main PID: 3426 (code=exited, status=108)

Dec 03 17:25:59 Noether systemd[1]: Started Berkeley Open Infrastructure Network Computing Client.
Dec 03 17:26:09 Noether boinc[3426]: 03-Dec-2020 17:26:09 Another instance of BOINC is running.
Dec 03 17:26:09 Noether systemd[1]: boinc-client.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=108/n/a
Dec 03 17:26:09 Noether systemd[1]: boinc-client.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.

If I run 'ps' there is nothing there. There are various posts about lock files, but I don't know where to find them.

Until recently I've been able to run rosetta@home without a problem and have had either a 25% or 5% badge. But I have spent hours trying to get it to work, and at some point I have to devote my time (never mind the CPU time) to other tasks.

It seems to have fixed itself as both pc's are now running Rosetta tasks. Part of the problem could be because Rosetta itself keeps running out of work due to the lack of the sheer number of people wanting tasks as compared to the number of tasks available.

The tasks (one for the machine in question, one for a Jetson Nano which is very slow) may show up on the Rosetta web site, but at my end I have the following:

% ps -e | grep boinc
[nothing]

and

/% sudo service boinc-client status
● boinc-client.service - Berkeley Open Infrastructure Network Computing Client
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/boinc-client.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Thu 2020-12-03 17:26:09 EST; 2h 41min ago
Docs: man:boinc(1)
Process: 3442 ExecStopPost=/bin/rm -f lockfile (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 3426 ExecStart=/usr/bin/boinc (code=exited, status=108)
Main PID: 3426 (code=exited, status=108)

Dec 03 17:25:59 Noether systemd[1]: Started Berkeley Open Infrastructure Network Computing Client.
Dec 03 17:26:09 Noether boinc[3426]: 03-Dec-2020 17:26:09 Another instance of BOINC is running.
Dec 03 17:26:09 Noether systemd[1]: boinc-client.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=108/n/a
Dec 03 17:26:09 Noether systemd[1]: boinc-client.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.

That is, boinc-client is not running.

If Rosetta is oversubscribed, that's a nice problem for Rosetta to have. Maybe I should look for another boinc application, though the 3 problems I have aren't Rosetta-specific.

Have you tried sudo /etc/init.d/boinc-client restart ?
No shortage of WUs as I'm getting a regular flow.

You haven’t mentioned what BOINC version or OS version. As I type this BOINC 7.16.15 is the current version. It’s available in Debian (buster-backports or bullseye). For Ubuntu you probably have to get it from Locutus of Borg’s ppa. See https://launchpad.net/~costamagnagianfranco/+archive/ubuntu/boinc

Normally it’s a systemd service that starts the BOINC client. You don’t have to tell it to start by other means, so if you added it to a startup group or told the manager to start it then that will cause the other instance. The default BOINC directory is /var/lib/boinc-client and it creates a file called lockfile in there when running.

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BOINC blog

As noted in an earlier post, I have tried to manage this through sudo system boing-client restart [status], and I get the result that it exits with an error that another instance of BOINC is running, when in fact nothing is running at all.

I just reinstalled everything yesterday before posting. I get it via apt get, and the version is 7.9.3.

I didn't tell it to start by other means. I found after a system restart that it wasn't running. When I did a restart it lasted a few seconds, then quit with the same error message.

It appears that the problem comes from the fact that I tried to move the data directory to another location (on an HDD instead of SSD). I have a separate query on how to do this but have no helpful responses so far. I have confirmed that changing the BOINC_DIR entry in /etc/default/boinc-client does nothing. Next I tried substituting a symlink for /var/lib/boinc-cilent. That's when all the trouble started. So I purged everything that had to do with 'boinc', including the symlink, and reinstalled. I no longer get the "another instance" failure message, but now all the files are back on my SSD. One would think this should be possible to move them elsewhere but I have found no recent documentation.

I just reinstalled everything yesterday before posting. I get it via apt get, and the version is 7.9.3.

That’s why I gave a link to Locutus of Borg’s ppa. Gianfranco is the Debian/Ubuntu maintainer. The versions in official repos are usually ancient. If you add the ppa you can still use apt get.

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BOINC blog

It appears that the problem comes from the fact that I tried to move the data directory to another location (on an HDD instead of SSD). I have a separate query on how to do this but have no helpful responses so far. I have confirmed that changing the BOINC_DIR entry in /etc/default/boinc-client does nothing. Next I tried substituting a symlink for /var/lib/boinc-cilent. That's when all the trouble started. So I purged everything that had to do with 'boinc', including the symlink, and reinstalled. I no longer get the "another instance" failure message, but now all the files are back on my SSD. One would think this should be possible to move them elsewhere but I have found no recent documentation.

I’ve never tried moving mine. The only method that I have read about that was said to work is the symlink.

If you are worried about wearing out the SSD you can change the write to disk interval to a higher value. On Raspberry Pis I use a value of 600 (seconds) and that seems to work well. For my Ryzen machines I use 300 and have a start delay to give things a chance to calm down after a system start/restart.

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BOINC blog

After several tries, the following seems to work for a mount point /aux on a HDD:

%/ sudo service boinc-client stop
%/ sudo cp -pR /var/lib/boinc-client /aux
%/ sudo rm -rf /var/lib/boinc-client
%/ sudo ln -sf /aux/boinc-client /var/lib/boinc-client
%/ sudo service boinc-client start

So a problem I've had lately on Just a few of my Linux machines. Boinc doesn't actually start on system startup. I have to do systemctl restart boinc-client.
This then resulted in MLC at home giving me tons of mount errors telling me it was read only, yet Roseta works just fine. I followed the same procedure - sudo apt-get install boinc virtualbox. This is after adding the unofficial repo - ppa:costamagnagianfranco/boinc.
I have no idea how this has happened or what I did wrong here but attempting to reinstall did no good. With each restart Boinc must be manually restarted. I'm still very much new to Linux and don't really want to go through an entire OS install. I've tried chmod to the boinc directory, that did no good.
Anyone have any ideas?

So a problem I've had lately on Just a few of my Linux machines. Boinc doesn't actually start on system startup. I have to do systemctl restart boinc-client.
This then resulted in MLC at home giving me tons of mount errors telling me it was read only, yet Roseta works just fine. I followed the same procedure - sudo apt-get install boinc virtualbox. This is after adding the unofficial repo - ppa:costamagnagianfranco/boinc.
I have no idea how this has happened or what I did wrong here but attempting to reinstall did no good. With each restart Boinc must be manually restarted. I'm still very much new to Linux and don't really want to go through an entire OS install. I've tried chmod to the boinc directory, that did no good.
Anyone have any ideas?

Most Linux distros have a starup folder where you can add things that startup when the system does, scroll down thru the list of things uder All on the main menu and you should see it, just be sure to give it like a 30 second delay so everything else gets loaded that Boinc needs ie gpu drivers etc, etc before Boinc starts or it won't work right.

Most Linux distros have a starup folder where you can add things that startup when the system does, scroll down thru the list of things uder All on the main menu and you should see it, just be sure to give it like a 30 second delay so everything else gets loaded that Boinc needs ie gpu drivers etc, etc before Boinc starts or it won't work right.

He's got Debian and Ubuntu both of which install a service file. You wouldn't want it under a startup menu unless you disable the service, otherwise you end up with the "Another instance of BOINC is running" issue.

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BOINC blog

So a problem I've had lately on Just a few of my Linux machines. Boinc doesn't actually start on system startup. I have to do systemctl restart boinc-client.
This then resulted in MLC at home giving me tons of mount errors telling me it was read only, yet Roseta works just fine. I followed the same procedure - sudo apt-get install boinc virtualbox. This is after adding the unofficial repo - ppa:costamagnagianfranco/boinc.
I have no idea how this has happened or what I did wrong here but attempting to reinstall did no good. With each restart Boinc must be manually restarted. I'm still very much new to Linux and don't really want to go through an entire OS install. I've tried chmod to the boinc directory, that did no good.
Anyone have any ideas?

Its that specific to the ones you installed via the ppa? Is the service enabled? I've seen some stuff that provides the service files but they are disabled by default. The "sudo systemctl status boinc-client" command should tell you if its enabled.

boinc-client.service - Berkeley Open Infrastructure Network Computing Client
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/boinc-client.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Thu 2020-12-10 22:14:56 AEDT; 11h ago
     Docs: man:boinc(1)

If its not enabled you can do a "sudo systemctl enable boinc-client" command to fix it.

As for the virtualbox issue that sounds like it might be the sequence they startup. You'd need Vbox running before boinc-client as it will try to talk to vbox. Rosetta doesn't use vbox which will be why it isn't effected. Possibly boinc is starting before vbox and then failing. If you can show the systemctl status command after a machine restart that will help to debug the issue.

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BOINC blog