Client configuration

The BOINC client software can be configured to:

  • Produce more detailed log messages. These messages appear in the Messages tab? of the BOINC Manager (informational messages in black, error messages in red). On Windows, they are written to a file (stdoutdae.txt). On Unix, they are written to standard output.
  • Control various behavioral parameters, such as how many simultaneous file transfers to allow.

The configuration is read from a file cc_config.xml. If this file is absent, the default configuration is used. This file has the following format: 

<cc_config>
    <log_flags>
        [ flags ]
    </log_flags>
    <options>
        [ <save_stats_days>N</save_stats_days> ]
        [ <dont_check_file_sizes>0|1</dont_check_file_sizes> ]
        [ <http_1_0>0|1</http_1_0> ]
        [ <ncpus>N</ncpus> ]
        [ <max_file_xfers>N</max_file_xfers> ]
        [ <max_file_xfers_per_project>N</max_file_xfers_per_project> ]
        [ <suppress_net_info>0|1</suppress_net_info> ]
        [ <disallow_attach>0|1</disallow_attach> ]
        [ <os_random_only>0|1</os_random_only> ]
        [ <no_alt_platform>0|1</no_alt_platform> ]
        [ <simple_gui_only>0|1</simple_gui_only> ]
        [ <data_dir>/path/to/dir</data_dir> ]
        [ <max_stdout_file_size>N</max_stdout_file_size> ]
        [ <max_stderr_file_size>N</max_stderr_file_size> ]
        [ <alt_platform>platform_name</alt_platform> ]
        [ ... ]
        [ <report_results_immediately>0|1</report_results_immediately> ]
        [ <start_apps_manually>0|1</start_apps_manually> ]
        [ <start_delay>X</start_delay> ]
        [ <force_auth>auth-type</force_auth> ]
    </options>
</cc_config>

For example, if you want to see messages about CPU scheduling, use a text editor (such as Notepad) to create the following file, and save it as cc_config.xml in your BOINC directory. 

<cc_config>
    <log_flags>
        <cpu_sched>1</cpu_sched>
    </log_flags>
</cc_config>

Logging flags

The flags within <log_flags> are used to selectively turn different types of messages on and off (<tag>0</tag> for off, <tag>1</tag> for on): The following messages are enabled by default:

<task>
The start and completion of compute jobs (should get two messages per job).
<file_xfer>
The start and completion of file transfers.
<sched_ops>
Connections with scheduling servers.

The following messages are disabled by default (typically they generate lots of output, and are used for specific debugging purposes):

<app_msg_receive>
Shared-memory messages received from applications.
<app_msg_send>
Shared-memory messages sent to applications.
<benchmark_debug>
Debugging information about CPU benchmarks. New in 5.8
<checkpoint_debug>
Show when applications checkpoint. New in 5.10
<cpu_sched>
CPU scheduler actions (preemption and resumption).
<cpu_sched_debug>
Explain CPU scheduler decisions.
<debt_debug>
Changes to project debt.
<file_xfer_debug>
Show completion status of file transfers.
<guirpc_debug>
Debugging information about GUI RPC operations.
<http_debug>
Debugging information about HTTP operations.
<http_xfer_debug>
Debugging information about network communication.
<mem_usage_debug>
Application memory usage.
<network_status_debug>
Network status (whether need physical connection).
<poll_debug>
Show what poll functions do.
<proxy_debug>
Debugging information about HTTP proxy operations.
<rr_simulation>
Results of the round-robin simulation used by CPU scheduler and work-fetch.
<sched_op_debug>
Details of scheduler RPCs; also shows deferral intervals and other low info. New in 5.10.24
<scrsave_debug>
Debugging information about the screen saver.
<state_debug>
Show summary of client state after scheduler RPC and garbage collection; also show garbage collection actions, and when state file is read/written.
<task_debug>
Low-level details of process start/end (status codes, PIDs etc.), and when applications checkpoint.
<time_debug>
Updates to on_frac, active_frac, connected_frac.
<unparsed_xml>
Show any unparsed XML.
<work_fetch_debug>
Work fetch policy decisions.

Behavioral parameters

The following options control the behavior of BOINC:

<alt_platform>
Specify an alternate platform name, to be included in scheduler requests. New in 5.10.26
<data_dir>
Change the data directory where BOINC will keep project files. New in 5.10.20
<disallow_attach>
If enabled, the client won't attach to new projects. New in 5.10
<dont_contact_ref_site>
To determine if a physical network connection exists, the client occasionally contacts a highly-available web site (google.com). If this flag is set, this behavior is suppressed. New in 5.10.14. This flag also suppresses a periodic fetch of a project list from boinc.berkeley.edu. New in 5.10.31
<dont_check_file_sizes>
Normally, the size of application and input files are compared with the project-supplied values after the files are downloaded, and just before starting an application. If this flag is set, this check is skipped. Use it if you need to modify files locally for some reason.
<http_1_0>
Set this flag to use HTTP 1.0 instead of 1.1 (this may be needed with some proxies).
<max_file_xfers>
Maximum number of simultaneous file transfers (default 8).
<max_file_xfers_per_project>
Maximum number of simultaneous file transfers per project (default 2).
<max_stderr_file_size>
Specify the maximum size of the standard error log file (stderrdae.txt); default is 2 MB. New in 5.10.28
<max_stdout_file_size>
Specify the maximum size of the standard out log file (stdoutdae.txt); default is 2 MB. New in 5.10.28
<ncpus>
Act as if there were N CPUs: run N tasks at once. This is for debugging, i.e. to simulate 2 CPUs on a machine that has only 1. Don't use it to limit the number of CPUs used by BOINC; use general preferences instead.
<no_alt_platform>
If enabled, the client will run applications only for its primary platform. For example, a Win64 machine will run only Win64 apps, and not Win32. New in 5.9.10
<os_random_only>
If enabled, the client will use only OS-level functions to generate a random GUI RPC password, and will exit if these functions fail. Without this flag, if OS secure random functions aren't available, the client will fall back to a random-string generator based on time of day, free disk space, and other host-specific information. New in 5.10
<save_stats_days>
How many days to save the per-project credit totals that are displayed in the Statistics tab of the BOINC Manager. Default is 30.
<simple_gui_only>
If enabled, the BOINC Manager will display only the simple GUI.
<suppress_net_info>
If enabled, don't send this host's IP address and domain name to servers. Otherwise, this information is sent to, and stored on, servers. It is visible to you (but not other users) via the web. New in 5.10
<report_results_immediately>
If set, each job will be reported to the project server as soon as it's finished (normally it's deferred for up to a day, so that several jobs can be reported in one request). Using this option increases the load on project servers, and should generally be avoided. It's intended to be used on computer whose disks are reformatted every day. New in 6.1
<start_apps_manually>
This is for debugging apps. When running an app, the client will do everything except actually run the app, i.e. it will set up the slot dir, create the shared mem segment, etc. It will then continue as if the app were actually running, and you can then manually run your app under a debugger in the slot directory. Note: the client won't notice the termination of your app. New in 6.1.7
<start_delay>
Specify a number of seconds to delay running applications after client startup. New in 6.1.6
<force_auth>
When authenticating against a proxy server use a specific authentication method. Valid parameters are: basic, digest, gss-negotiate, ntlm New in 5.10.41 (Setting of particular importance for World Community Grid to facilitate SSL/HTTPS communications)
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