To create an account with BOINC projects, a participant must:
- Locate BOINC project web sites, e.g. using Google.
- Read the web sites, and decide which to join;
- Download and install the BOINC client software.
and then for each selected project:
- Go through the Attach to Project wizard.
If the participant chooses N projects,
there are N web sites to visit and N Wizards to complete.
This is tedious if there are lots of projects.
This document describes BOINC's support for account management systems,
which streamline the process of finding and joining BOINC projects.
A typical account management system is implemented as a web site.
The participant experience is:
- Visit the account manager site,
set up a 'meta-account' (name, email, password),
browse a list of projects, and click checkboxes to select projects.
- Download and install the BOINC client software from the account manager.
- Enter the meta-account name and password in a BOINC client dialog.
This requires many fewer interactions than the manual approach.
Implementation
An account management system works as follows:
- The participant sets up his meta-account and selects projects.
- The account manager issues a create account RPC
to each selected project.
-
the participant downloads and installs the BOINC client software
from the account manager.
The install package includes a file
(specific to the account manager)
containing the URL of the account manager.
- The BOINC client runs, and asks the participant to enter
the name and password of his meta-account.
- The BOINC client does a query accounts RPC
to the account manager, obtaining a list of accounts.
It then attaches to these accounts and proceeds.
The create account RPCs
are described here.
Core client functionality
The BOINC core client uses the following files to
keep track of account manager information.
-
acct_mgr_url.xml
-
This file identifies the account manager.
It is typically bundled with the BOINC client in
an installer package.
Its format is:
".html_text("
Name of BOINC account management system
http://acctmgr.com/
")."
-
acct_mgr_login.xml
-
This file contains meta-account information.
Its format is:
".html_text("
name
xxx
")."
If the core client finds acct_mgr_url.xml but not acct_mgr_login.xml,
it prompts for a name and password,
stores them in acct_mgr_login.xml,
and makes an account manager RPC.
The core client offers menu items for making an account manager RPC,
and for changing the name/password.
Account manager RPCs
";
list_start();
list_item("URL", "Given in the file acct_manager_url.xml");
list_item("input", "name
password"
);
list_item("output",
html_text("
Account Manager Name
[ MSG ]
[
URL
KEY
...
]
")
);
list_item("action",
"returns a list of the accounts associated with this meta-account.
NOTE: the XML must be as above, with the <url>
and <authenticator> elements on a single line,
and the <account> and </account> tags
on separate lines."
);
list_end();
page_tail();
?>