Help with SSE Astropulse (from Lunatics)

[HankB]

I wonder if someone can point out why Boinc is not running the version of astropulse I downloaded from the lunatics site.

I'm running the version of boinc from Ubuntu Linux 10.04 => 6.10.17

In /var/lib/boinc-client/projects/setiathome.berkeley.edu I find the following executables:
root@oak:/var/lib/boinc-client/projects/setiathome.berkeley.edu# ls -l |grep r-x
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2961856 2011-02-17 09:02 ap_5.06r411_sse3_linux64
-rwxr-xr-x 1 boinc boinc 2482772 2011-02-17 10:26 astropulse_5.06_i686-pc-linux-gnu
-rwxr-xr-x 1 boinc boinc 1031344 2011-02-17 08:51 setiathome_6.03_i686-pc-linux-gnu
-rwxr-xr-x 1 boinc boinc 270916 2011-02-17 08:46 setigraphics_6.03_i686-pc-linux-gnu
root@oak:/var/lib/boinc-client/projects/setiathome.berkeley.edu#

ap_5.06r411_sse3_linux64 is the one from Lunatics.
My app_info.xml is:
root@oak:/var/lib/boinc-client/projects/setiathome.berkeley.edu# cat app_info.xml
<app_info>
<app>
<name>astropulse_v505</name>
</app>
<file_info>
<name>ap_5.06r411_sse3_linux64</name>
<executable/>
</file_info>
<app_version>
<app_name>astropulse_v505</app_name>
<version_num>506</version_num>
<file_ref>
<file_name>ap_5.06r411_sse3_linux64</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>

<app>
<name>setiathome_enhanced</name>
</app>
<file_info>
<name>setiathome_6.03_i686-pc-linux-gnu</name>
<executable/>
</file_info>
<app_version>
<app_name>setiathome_enhanced</app_name>
<version_num>603</version_num>
<file_ref>
<file_name>setiathome_6.03_i686-pc-linux-gnu</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>

</app_info>


That XML looks wrong to me. The executable tag is closed but never opened. However, every version of app_info.xml that I have examined (courtesy of google) has this same structure.


and yet:
root@oak:/var/lib/boinc-client/projects/setiathome.berkeley.edu# ps -ef|grep astro
boinc 14375 1326 95 Feb17 ? 10:08:23 ../../projects/setiathome.berkeley.edu/astropulse_5.06_i686-pc-linux-gnu
boinc 15249 1326 95 02:14 ? 04:51:21 ../../projects/setiathome.berkeley.edu/astropulse_5.06_i686-pc-linux-gnu
root 16180 2523 0 07:19 pts/1 00:00:00 grep --color=auto astro

I thought I had the Lunatics version of aptropulse running, but with only that entry in app_info.xml. But that also resulted in warnings that something was missing from app_info.xml. I added the section for the default SETI processor (astropulse_5.06_i686-pc-linux-gnu) but now the Lunatics variant no longer gets used.

I did find the following messages in boinc:
Wed 16 Feb 2011 07:49:33 PM CST SETI@home Found app_info.xml; using anonymous platform
Wed 16 Feb 2011 07:49:33 PM CST SETI@home [error] State file error: missing application setiathome_enhanced
Wed 16 Feb 2011 07:49:33 PM CST SETI@home [error] Can't handle workunit in state file
Wed 16 Feb 2011 07:49:33 PM CST SETI@home [error] State file error: missing application setiathome_enhanced
Wed 16 Feb 2011 07:49:33 PM CST SETI@home [error] Can't handle workunit in state file
Wed 16 Feb 2011 07:49:33 PM CST SETI@home [error] State file error: missing application setiathome_enhanced
Wed 16 Feb 2011 07:49:33 PM CST SETI@home [error] Can't handle workunit in state file
Wed 16 Feb 2011 07:49:33 PM CST SETI@home [error] No application found for task: i686-pc-linux-gnu 506 ; discarding
Wed 16 Feb 2011 07:49:33 PM CST SETI@home [error] No application found for task: i686-pc-linux-gnu 506 ; discarding
...
Wed 16 Feb 2011 08:35:22 PM CST SETI@home Message from server: _("Your app_info.xml file doesn't have a usable version of") SETI@home Enhanced.

That's when it didn't handle normal work units. I find no further reference to app_info.xml even though I've started and stopped boinc since.

So I'm crunching, but it looks like this is going to take a while. The two astropulses are on track for 20-30 hours to completion.

thanks,
hank

[Pete Church]

The app_info looks correct for the most part. I noticed you're missing an <platform>i686-pc-linux-gnu</platform> tag in your app_version tags in all the locations:

<app_version>
<app_name>astropulse_v505</app_name>
<version_num>506</version_num>
<platform>i686-pc-linux-gnu</platform>
<file_ref>
<file_name>ap_5.06r411_sse3_linux64</file_name>
<main_program/>
</file_ref>
</app_version>

I think you were concerned about the <executable/> and perhaps <main_program/> tags? That is valid XML format for an empty node. It is identical to <executable></executable>, but instead of showing two tags with an empty value you can express as <executable/>.

Also, i think you got some of the error messages because you might have made this app_info switch after BOINC had already started a couple of WUs on the stock apps and then you switched? It would throw away the previous work and have to start over. That might account for several of the messages.

If that doesn't fix it, repost, i can help some more since I have access to a linux box and can try getting an app_info built for you.

[HankB]

Thanks Pete. It will be a couple days before I get back home and can work on this. The boinc manager does not like to run over an SSH tunnel. :-/

I did have a nagging thought that the closing tag alone might be valid, but it's been a while since I did much with XML.

I'll let you know where I get to.

best,
hank

[HankB]

Before I returned home and had more time to deal with this issue, it started using the Lunatics program for astropulse WUs. I suppose I misunderstood which parts of the app do what. I thought that the Boinc GUI orchestrated things and that if I stopped and started it, changes made to the config files would apply. Apparently the Boinc app only communicates with some daemon that orchestrates processing. I now know this because the processing starts following a reboot even if I don't run the Boinc GUI.

So it's all settled and working now and I turned off further work units so I can help with the Rosetta contest. ;) (I'll probably return to SETI when that completes.)

thanks,
hank

[Pete Church]

Glad its all working. Yeah, I'm switching more resources to Rosetta, CPUs on Rosetta, GPUs on SETI, and it seems to be working out well.