Installing on Linux



How do I install the Linux application on Red Hat or other Fedora-based distributions?

In order to install the Linux application on Fedora-based Linux distributions such as Red Hat Linux, you will first need to enable the Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux repository.

Further information and instructions about this process are available on the Fedora website's page for the Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux. For example, if you are enabling the EPEL repository for x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, you would run the following command:

    sudo rpm -Uvh http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/6/x86_64/epel-release-6-8.noarch.rpm

Once the EPEL is enabled, install the Linux application by running:

    sudo yum install boinc-client boinc-manager

To configure the application to automatically run when you restart your computer, please run the following command:

    sudo /sbin/chkconfig boinc-client on

In order to start your application now, please run the following commands:

    sudo /sbin/service boinc-client start
    cd /var/lib/boinc
    sudo -u boinc boinccmd --project_attach http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org <Account Key>


Your <Account Key> can be found on your My Profile page.



How do I install the Linux application on Ubuntu or other Debian-based distributions?

In order to install the Linux application on Debian-based Linux distribution such as Ubuntu Linux, you will need to run the following commands:

    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install boinc-client boinc-manager

The application will be configured to automatically run when you restart your computer.

You will also need to attach your application to World Community Grid by running the following command:

    sudo -u boinc boinccmd --project_attach http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org <Account Key>

Your <Account Key> can be found on your My Profile page.



Do you have a startup script for the BOINC client on Linux?

There are two common ways to have BOINC automatically start on a Linux system. The first will start BOINC when you log in to your Linux system. This involves placing code into your shell resource file (such as .bashrc). The second will start BOINC when the system is started. You can read more about this at the following sites: http://www.spy-hill.net/~myers/help/boinc/unix.html#start and http://boinc.berkeley.edu/autostart_dennett.txt



Why does the Linux version not have a traditional screensaver?

Linux does not have a traditional screen saver for the BOINC client. However, if a member would like to see what their computer is working on they may go to the Advanced view of the agent and click on a task that is running. On the left they will see a "show graphics" button that will allow them to view a graphic for that specific task .



I have installed the recommend version of the BOINC client for Linux, but I cannot get it to run. What should I do?

Which version of the Linux client you should use depends highly on the libraries that you have installed on your machine. The recommended version is what you should try first. However, if this does not work, then you should try one of the 'compatible' builds. You may find these here. The compatible builds are command line only.