Hello fellow users of BOINC,

Just like some others users here (NavBlank for example), I would like to change the Data Directory of BOINC on a clean install of Fedora35. As in, I have just installed Fedora35, set up snaps with btrbk, and installed BOINC from repo, but nothing else. The version of BOINC from repo is 7.16.11-6.

In order to change the location of BOINC's Data Directory, I have followed several guides, but I failed to change the Data Directory properly. Some guides are a (bit) old, or not for Fedora 35. Therefore I choose to ask here how to change the Data Directory of BOINC 7.16 on Fedora35 from /var/lib/boinc to /run/media/[user]/[DIsk]/boinc.

I have an open request for the BOINC Linux package maintainers to implement this - Linux: support moving data directory to larger drive. After some initial indications of support, it appears to have fallen off the radar.

My initial request was based on a suggestion on this message board: message 100356. If you haven't seen that one yet, it might be worth a try.

When I have used a hard disk specifically for BOINC rather than changing the directories for the install and or data for BOINC I have given the disk the mount point of /var/lib/boinc-client which is the default location for Ubuntu. If the default for Red Hat is /var/lib/boinc, just set that as the mount point of the disk. - Depends whether you are using the disk for anything except BOINC or not.

I have an open request for the BOINC Linux package maintainers to implement this - Linux: support moving data directory to larger drive. After some initial indications of support, it appears to have fallen off the radar.

My initial request was based on a suggestion on this message board: message 100356. If you haven't seen that one yet, it might be worth a try.

Thanks for your quick reply. I have checked your Github suggestion, and there is still a question open for you. Maybe it can be handy to asnwer that question: "LVM?"

And indeed, I have missed message 100356, I will apply it in a moment.

When I have used a hard disk specifically for BOINC rather than changing the directories for the install and or data for BOINC I have given the disk the mount point of /var/lib/boinc-client which is the default location for Ubuntu. If the default for Red Hat is /var/lib/boinc, just set that as the mount point of the disk. - Depends whether you are using the disk for anything except BOINC or not.

Thanks for this interesting suggestion.

As I am planning to use a ssd of 1TB for my virtual stuff, like BOINC, Virt-manager, and Wine, I guess this option is less suited for me.

My initial request was based on a suggestion on this message board: message 100356. If you haven't seen that one yet, it might be worth a try.

And indeed, I have missed message 100356, I will apply it in a moment.

Applied it by moving the Data Directory not to /home, but to /run/media/[user]/[Disc]/boinc, and ran BOINC for the very first start on my F35. For the start I got an error message

OINC Manager is not able to start a BOINC Client. Please run the client and try again

I got that message on a previous F35, and started BOINC-client manually, and then moved the Data Directory, and I had to start BOINC-client manually each time. Now I have change the Data Directory before I started BOINC for the first time, and I am interesting to start BOINC-client automatically at boot after changing the Data Directory.

Thus how do you start both BOINC-client and -Manager at boot in the background?

I guess you can still do it that way by partitioning the disk and using part of it for BOINC. I have done it with a 250GB ssd for BOINC which gives me enough headroom for when I get tasks that produce data more quickly than my bored band can upload it. Two testing branch tasks I just ran produced over 10GB of data each in 24 hours leading to the testing branch of CPDN taking up about 37GB with just two tasks running.

I guess you can still do it that way by partitioning the disk and using part of it for BOINC. I have done it with a 250GB ssd for BOINC which gives me enough headroom for when I get tasks that produce data more quickly than my bored band can upload it. Two testing branch tasks I just ran produced over 10GB of data each in 24 hours leading to the testing branch of CPDN taking up about 37GB with just two tasks running.

In order to do so, I have to do the following:

1. Uninstall BOINC
   
2. Creating and partition solely for Boinc
   
3. mkdir /var/lib/boinc
   
4. nano /etc/fstab/ and add UUID=(UUID of that newly created BOINC partition) /var/lib/boinc [fs] [necesaary stuff]"
   
5. Reinstall BOINC, and it will automatically install it in '/var/lib/boinc/ which is /run/media/[user]/[disk]/boinc
   

In case this is correct, then I prefer this over the other suggestion, because this seem to be future proof. As in, less hassle, and should fit better with updates.

I guess you can still do it that way by partitioning the disk and using part of it for BOINC. I have done it with a 250GB ssd for BOINC which gives me enough headroom for when I get tasks that produce data more quickly than my bored band can upload it. Two testing branch tasks I just ran produced over 10GB of data each in 24 hours leading to the testing branch of CPDN taking up about 37GB with just two tasks running.

Oh, and is it a problem, when my main disk use btrfs, but that partition gets ext4?

Why the difference? The rollback/restore from backup option is very usefull for my main disk, but not for all the other disks. Therefore I have my main disk set up with btrfs, and set other disks with ext4.

Oh, and is it a problem, when my main disk use btrfs, but that partition gets ext4?

Why the difference? The rollback/restore from backup option is very useful for my main disk, but not for all the other disks. Therefore I have my main disk set up with btrfs, and set other disks with ext4.

I can't see why it should be a problem but I have no experience of btrfs. All my disks are ext4 including my external storage which meant for partner to access my music I had to install a program to do so on her Windows machine. ;)

I guess you can still do it that way by partitioning the disk and using part of it for BOINC. I have done it with a 250GB ssd for BOINC which gives me enough headroom for when I get tasks that produce data more quickly than my bored band can upload it. Two testing branch tasks I just ran produced over 10GB of data each in 24 hours leading to the testing branch of CPDN taking up about 37GB with just two tasks running.

Okay, after setting fstab up with "UUID=7c8851ff-d505-4606-a58a-b3fdb8daea99 /var/lib/boinc ext4 defaults 1 2", mounting /dev/sda2k successfully as /var/lib/boinc, and installing Boinc again, Boinc's Data Directory is now /home/[user]. Thus, either I have configured fstab not correctly, or Boinc does not recognize the mounted disk, or something else, or a combo of errors. No problem for now, because I like to learn.

I have now uninstalled Boinc, and I am waiting for advice to install Boinc correctly on a secondarily internal disk, either by mv or mount. Meanwhile, I will install other programmes, to finish my install of Fedora35.

Not sure if it would work in Fedora but a /home installation is what the All-in-One version of BOINC allows that Seti users developed a few years ago. It is a throwback installation to how BOINC was originally installed. BOINC is all in one single folder, no BOINC file ever gets installed into root access only directories. You might try that and see if you like it. It is what my entire team uses as it simplifies everything. All files for all projects are owned by you the user and so never any permissions problems.
Since it can be unzipped anywhere, no reason not to unzip it on a completely different mounted drive than what holds your OS.
You can download it here.http://www.arkayn.us/lunatics/BOINC.7z

Not sure if it would work in Fedora but a /home installation is what the All-in-One version of BOINC allows that Seti users developed a few years ago. It is a throwback installation to how BOINC was originally installed.

Reads promising, I will give it a try in the next few days. Thanks any how.