mirror of https://github.com/BOINC/boinc.git
214 lines
6.6 KiB
Groff
214 lines
6.6 KiB
Groff
.\" Unix Manual page for BOINC
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.\"======================================================================
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.\" This file is a part of BOINC. Distribution and/or modifications
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.\" are allowed under the terms of the Lesser GNU Public License.
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.\" See the file COPYING for details.
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.\"======================================================================
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.\" To view this file without the man command type:
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.\" 'nroff -man boinc.1 | more -s'
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.\" Some versions of `less` will automatically format the page for you.1
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.\"
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.\" @(#) $Id: boinc.1,v 1.3 2007/12/18 15:39:26 myers Exp $
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.TH BOINC 1 "18 December 2007" "BOINC 5.10" "User Manuals"
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.SH NAME
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BOINC \- Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing
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.SH DESCRIPTION
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The
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.B Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing
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(BOINC)
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is an open-source software platform which supports distributed computing,
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primarily in the form of "volunteer" computing and "desktop grid" computing.
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It is well suited for problems which are often described as "trivially
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parallel" or "embarrassingly parallel".
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BOINC is the underlying software used by projects such as SETI@home,
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Einstein@Home, ClimatePrediction.net, the World Community Grid, and
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many others.
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The BOINC client software runs on Windows, MacOS X, and Unix,
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including Linux.
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.PP
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By downloading and installing the BOINC client software your computer
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can participate in any number of BOINC-based projects.
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For each project you simply need to "attach" to the project, by
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providing the URL of the project, your e-mail address, and a password
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which you select.
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The BOINC
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.I core
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.IR client ,
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running on your computer, will then connect to the servers for
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all of your attached projects and will automatically download and run
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applications obtained from the project servers.
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.PP
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For more details on how BOINC works see
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.I http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/IntroUser
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and the links therein.
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.SH APPLICATIONS
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BOINC applications are the programs which actually do scientific computing.
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Most BOINC applications are capable of displaying graphics when your
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computer would usually show a screensaver, though not all BOINC
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applications include such graphics capability.
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(There are no screensaver graphics available yet for Unix.)
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Several applications may run at the same time on a computer with more
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than one CPU, and in any case the core client will alternate between
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applications from different projects to try to maintain a ratio of
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effort which you can control.
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.PP
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BOINC applications are generally written by the scientists who have
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set up a particular BOINC project.
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To learn more about what a particular BOINC application is doing on
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your computer you should visit the web site for the BOINC project
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which uses that application.
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.SH DOWNLOAD
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The latest version of the
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.B BOINC
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client software can be downloaded from
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.I http://boinc.berkeley.edu/download.php
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.PP
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An rpm package suitable for installation on Red Hat Linux, Fedora
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Linux, and any other Linux distribution which uses RPM packages,
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may be downloaded from
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.I http://pirates.spy-hill.net/download/RPMS
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.SH LICENSE
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BOINC is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
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the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the
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Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or (at
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your option) any later version.
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.SH RUN BOINC ONLY ON AUTHORIZED COMPUTERS
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You should run BOINC only on computers which you own, or for which
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you have obtained the owner's permission.
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Some companies and schools have policies that prohibit using their
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computers for BOINC projects or similar uses.
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.SH FILES
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.TP 1.0i
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.I /usr/bin/boinc_client
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The BOINC "core client", which is the
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heart of BOINC.
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This program is run in the background as a daemon, and it then
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controls which applications are run on your computer, along with
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downloading "Workunits" and uploading the "Result" files from
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completed tasks.
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.TP
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.I /usr/bin/boincmgr
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The BOINC "Manager", which provides a graphical user interface (GUI)
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which allows the user to communicate with and control the BOINC core
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client.
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See
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.BR boincmgr (1),
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for details.
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.TP
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.I /usr/bin/boinc_cmd
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A command line tool which can be used to give specific commands to the
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running core client. Although not as easy to use as the graphical
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interface provided by the BOINC Manager,
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.I boinc_cmd
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provides more options.
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See
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.BR boinc_cmd (1),
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for details.
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.TP
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.I /etc/init.d/boinc
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A Unix init script to start
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.I boinc_client
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when the system is booted and to stop
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.I boinc_client
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when the system is shut down.
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Configuration settings may be put in the file
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.IR /usr/sysconfig/boinc .
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.TP
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.I /var/lib/boinc
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The working directory, under which the client core does all of its work.
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This is the home directory of a special 'boinc' user.
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The BOINC core
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client does not have to run as 'root', and indeed it should not be run
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as 'root' for better security.
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Different values for both the account name and working directory can
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be set in
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.IR /usr/sysconfig/boinc .
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.TP
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.I /var/lib/boinc/gui_rpc_auth.cfg
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A file containing the password needed to connect to the running core
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client from the BOINC Manager.
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.TP
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.I /var/lib/boinc/client_state.xml
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A file containing the current state of the running core client and the
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files which it has downloaded or intends to upload.
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.SH BUGS
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Keep in mind that BOINC is continuously being developed and refined,
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so there may well be bugs in any version of the software.
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.PP
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Any problems with the BOINC software can be reported and discussed
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in the BOINC forums at
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.IR http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dev ,
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or in the forums available on almost any BOINC-based project.
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Individual bugs or feature requests may be submitted as a ticket in the
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"Trac" system at
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.IR http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac .
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Specific technical comments may be set to the developers mailing list at
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.IR boinc_dev@ssl.berkeley.edu ,
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but they do not provide technical support, and they are more interested in
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receiving patches which fix bugs than they are in receiving complaints.
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.PP
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Any problems with the packaging of the BOINC software should be
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submitted to the person who packaged the software for distribution,
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not to the BOINC developers.
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.SH SEE ALSO
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.BR boinc_client (1),
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.BR boincmgr (1),
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.BR boinc_cmd (1),
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and
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.I http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/UnixClient
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.PP
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For a list of some of the many BOINC based projects see
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.I http://boinc.berkeley.edu/projects.php
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or
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.IR http://boincprojectstatus.ath.cx/ .
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These lists are provided for your information only, and are not
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endorsed by BOINC or U.C. Berkeley. You can find other projects
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which use BOINC via Google.
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.SH VERSION
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.de VL
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\\$2
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..
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Revision Number: 5.10.21-18
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.br
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Release Date: 29 Dec 2007
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.end
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