Development for LHC@home

Oh well I just saw that I got a batch of docker tasks again, and they all failed the same way.

Mac users might want to try the latest client.

https://github.com/BOINC/boinc/releases/tag/client_release/8.2/8.2.5

For testing we need more Theory tasks. Zero tasks available.

Do you mean we are supposed to compile it ourselves ? I don't see this here, only windows and android have the 8.2.5 test version ?

Honestly, the only time I tried to compile boinc myself on my mac, even with the help of Sebastien (admin of boinc AF website, WUProp, FB, etc) it was a vast failure...

In reply to [AF>Le_Pommier] Jerome_C2005's message of 16 Jul 2025:

Do you mean we are supposed to compile it ourselves ? I don't see this here, only windows and android have the 8.2.5 test version ?

Honestly, the only time I tried to compile boinc myself on my mac, even with the help of Sebastien (admin of boinc AF website, WUProp, FB, etc) it was a vast failure...

I see v8.2.5 for Mac on that page. We don't expect you to compile it.

It must have been added after I posted this because it was not there yet, but great then.

I'll try it. If there are docker tasks distributed, of course.

I got one docker task yesterday and it failed the same way as before. You can see docked is not detected on the computer detail page, boinc 8.2.5 but nothing on the docker row.

I had removed the "unknown" symbolic thingy because I reinstalled a clean docker install with brew,

$ docker --version                      
Docker version 28.3.2, build 578ccf607d

$ which docker                 
/usr/local/bin/docker

$ ls -ahl /usr/local/bin/docker
lrwxr-xr-x  1 jerome  admin    34B 17 jul 20:34 /usr/local/bin/docker -> ../Cellar/docker/28.3.2/bin/docker

$ docker run --rm hello-world           

Hello from Docker!
This message shows that your installation appears to be working correctly.

To generate this message, Docker took the following steps:
 1. The Docker client contacted the Docker daemon.
 2. The Docker daemon pulled the "hello-world" image from the Docker Hub.
    (amd64)
 3. The Docker daemon created a new container from that image which runs the
    executable that produces the output you are currently reading.
 4. The Docker daemon streamed that output to the Docker client, which sent it
    to your terminal.

To try something more ambitious, you can run an Ubuntu container with:
 $ docker run -it ubuntu bash

Share images, automate workflows, and more with a free Docker ID:
 https://hub.docker.com/

For more examples and ideas, visit:
 https://docs.docker.com/get-started/

So ?

It looks like you installed docker. Try removing docker and installing podman (open-source "docker").
Installation instructions: https://podman.io/docs/installation

Are you saying it is not supposed to work with... docker ??

... first post of this thread is a link of Lawrence to github "installing docker on mac" ?


Edit : I read the github link of Lawrence :

"Docker itself is a commercial product. Podman is a free open-source drop-in replacement for Docker. We use Podman because it's free and easier to install. But if you already have Docker installed, BOINC will detect and use it."

It should detect docker...

In reply to [AF>Le_Pommier] Jerome_C2005's message of 21 Jul 2025:

Are you saying it is not supposed to work with... docker ??

... first post of this thread is a link of Lawrence to github "installing docker on mac" ?

I couldn't get docker to work on linux and I'm not sure why. Podman does work.

There is a "docker" application in development at BOINC Central
My understanding is the Mac client is still under development. I was able to get either podman or docker to work with linux on that project. I don't know why I couldn't get docker to work with the theory docker app on this project (linux).

OK so you are saying that if I remove docker and install that other thing instead it should work then ?

I must try...

I removed docker (+ docker-compose + colima I had been told to install) and I installed podman with brew

$ podman --version
podman version 5.5.2
$ which podman                               
/usr/local/bin/podman

I was trying basic test (like those that were working with docker that I showed above) but all was failing and at some point it told me to do "podman mahine init" so I did this, it said "Machine init complete" and then it said to do "podman machine start" and then it stated to eat a huge CPU amount for a long time, without stopping (and doing what ?) so after 30mn of CPU time consumed (for what ?) I killed it.

I have no idea if this is "properly installed", I'll see if I get another "docker" task and what it does, but I have little hope though.

I think all this docker stuff is way too complex for standard crunchers, in particular if you have to install the "open source for techies" version of it...

In reply to [AF>Le_Pommier] Jerome_C2005's message of 21 Jul 2025:

I removed docker (+ docker-compose + colima I had been told to install) and I installed podman with brew

I think all this docker stuff is way too complex for standard crunchers, in particular if you have to install the "open source for techies" version of it...

you can running vbox instead of docker.

We don't have information about the further testing with docker so long.

I am writing in a topic called "docker on Mac" :)

I've been running vbox task (plenty) and they globally work (apart from some long runner, see corresponding topic here), I just wanted to test this "so promising new solution for boinc that David Anderson seems to love so much" - see report of previous boinc workshop one year ago.

But I guess it'll have to wait...

But I just see in 8.2.5 release notes "fix podman detection on mac" so all hope is not lost ?

However I restarted my boinc and I only see in the message log

Lun 21 jul 23:13:20 2025 |  | Some projects require Docker.

+ in the notification tab it says the same with "we recommend you install it", but nothing that proves it is actually detecting it...

Let's wait for another docker task.

Actually it will never work on my machine

podman machine init --> woks fine
podman machine start --> doesn't work

it start to eat a big CPU amount with a service process, and this never stops, the terminal is never released and says "starting machine" forever, you cannot get to test the "hello world" (for example)

(and I had been able to run the hello world test with the docker install, so it looks the docker is more reliable than the podman on my machine, but in any case it doesn't help with that boinc application...)

I removed completely the podman brew installation and installed again from scratch via podman-desktop : exactly the same issue.

In reply to [AF>Le_Pommier] Jerome_C2005's message of 22 Jul 2025:

Actually it will never work on my machine

I removed completely the podman brew installation and installed again from scratch via podman-desktop : exactly the same issue.

Sorry you wasted your time with my "podman" suggestion. I thought it was worth a try based on my experience with linux.

At the moment I have not reinstalled docker at all, since my last recent docker task (before I tried to put podman) was still no working with the 8.2.5 boinc version (documented above), so either there is a problem with my particular setup, or there is still an issue with mac (intel ?) ?

https://boinc.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=15556#116464

David Anderson wrote:

Version 8.2.5 of the BOINC client is available for testing.
It has some small but important changes; see https://github.com/BOINC/boinc/wiki/Client-release-notes

As usual, please report test results (including positive results) here:
https://boinc.berkeley.edu/alpha/test_form.php

We already made the MacOS 8.2.5 version Recommended, because it has some critical fixes.
But feel free to test on Mac also.
BTW: Docker/Podman isn't quite working on Mac yet.
BOINC detects Podman OK but jobs fail.
We hope to have this fixed soon; it's probably an issue with the apps rather than the client.

-- David