optional command to request one second of work

[mikus]

I do not have a permanent connection to the 'net. If, when I am connected, a work fetch does not get scheduled - it must at best wait until such time as I am connected again. For testing purposes, or to perform manual load balancing, I would like an interface (boinc_cmd?) to let me send a request for "one second of work" to a specific attached project. (Such a request is already being sent when a project is initially attached.)

This optional interface would bypass the client scheduler algorithms. The interface should warn its user that such an "unscheduled" download creates the danger that work will miss its deadlines, therefore it now is not the responsibility of the boinc client, but of the *user* of this optional interface, to ensure that all work is completed and reported on time.

[mikus]

I missed a bullet - should be enhancement, not defect.

[Ageless]

Changed the type and added the component.

You do know that BOINC 5.10 has an option in its advanced preferences (built in in BOINC Manager) to get an additional x days of work independent from the connect to server setting? This way you can ask for extended amounts of work.

[mikus]

Here is a link to someone else who could use a manual command to request work:

http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dev/forum_thread.php?id=1902

[mikus]

Replying to Ageless:

You do know that BOINC 5.10 has an option in its advanced preferences (built in in BOINC Manager) to get an additional x days of work independent from the connect to server setting? This way you can ask for extended amounts of work.

Yes, I do know (and do make use of) that option.

But the intent of my request is to ask for more work from a specific project. The option you mention is for a non-specific increase (which still follows the "normal" scheduling rules) - the only way (cumbersome) to have it focus on a particular project would be to first manually mark all other projects 'no new work'.

Further than that, my reason for requesting an explicit command is to bypass all the "normal" scheduling rules. BOINC version 5.4 allowed me the latitude to manually control whether more work was downloaded then and there. Gradually, scheduler code has been added which interferes with that latitude. [An example is not allowing new downloads from a project which is in EDF. If I *know* that the EDF will end in 8 hours, but I will not connect again for 16 hours, I believe I ought to be allowed to fetch 8 more hours of work -- even from *that* project.] I am perfectly willing to sign a certificate which attests that any missed deadlines caused by me overriding the "normal" scheduling rules will be my responsibility, and not a shortcoming of BOINC.

[Didactylos]

If there are scheduler problems, we need to fix the scheduler. Create a test case that illustrates the problem, then take it to JM7.