boinccmd should be more user-friendly

[shirish]

Hi all,

I like boinccmd (now that I have discovered it) and for me the utility it has that it can be used in scripts to say shutdown boinc few seconds before it shuts down the computer at some pre-determined time and stuff like that. (use-case scenario)

Having said that, boinccmd is extremely user-unfriendly.

The boinccmd man page talks of many ways in which boinccmd can be used.

(The manpage was written on 11th January 2008)

So I used

$ boinccmd --get_messages

and I got the following output

Missing command-line argument

usage: boinccmd [--host hostname] [--passwd passwd] command

(This is when I'm connected to the project and crunching is happening in the background)

Then went on the mailing list and finally came to realize that the proper sequence is

boinccmd --get_messages x (some number)

Finally I'm able to get the logic and able to use it

boinccmd --get_messages 73

World Community Grid 1 1225564663 [checkpoint_debug] result ma755_00033_4 checkpointed

Whenever I want to poll/see I just use the numbering which gave me the result last time and maybe one number up.

However if I do as in this case.

$ boinccmd --get_messages 74 $

So here there's no error or no statement saying that line has not come or something.

Please fix both the things if its possible. If I'm reading it wrong please correct me on the same.

[davea]

This is fixed in the current version

[Nicolas]

$ ./boinccmd --version
boinccmd,  built from BOINC 6.3.19
$ ./boinccmd --get_messages
Missing command-line argument

usage: boinccmd [--host hostname] [--passwd passwd] command

Commands:
[...snip command list...]
 --get_messages seqno               show messages > seqno
[...]
$ ./boinccmd --get_messages 1670
PrimeGrid 1 1225573067 Starting pps_sr2sieve_118356_0
PrimeGrid 1 1225573067 Starting task pps_sr2sieve_118356_0 using pps_sr2sieve version 107
PrimeGrid 1 1225573068 Started upload of pps_sr2sieve_117450_0_0
PrimeGrid 1 1225573081 Finished upload of pps_sr2sieve_117450_0_0
$ 

(took me a while to find a seqno that would print few enough messages)

Also, Unix timestamps are "user friendly"? And what does the '1' mean?

[Pepo]

Replying to Nicolas:

(took me a while to find a seqno that would print few enough messages)

BoincView? is luckily displaying them... (Just that its ordering numbers do not match, somehow ±1, BoincView? display them by 1 higher.)

Also, Unix timestamps are "user friendly"? And what does the '1' mean?

Message severity type?

QCN Alpha Test 3 1225574685 [error] garbage_collect(); still have active task for acked result qcng_003322_0; state 5

QCN Alpha Test 1 1225574685 [task_debug] task_state=ABORTED for qcng_003322_0 from abort_task

QCN Alpha Test 3 1225574692 [error] Couldn't delete file projects/qcn.stanford.edu_qcnalpha/qcn_4.01_windows_intelx86.exe

(On Windows, the output lines are separated by 1 blank line.)

[shirish]

Hi all,

If you look at the manpage as well, its just a single line in the State --queries para

STATE QUERIES
       --get_state
              Show complete client state.

       --get_results
              Show all results.

       --get_simple_gui_info
              Show status of projects and active results.

       --get_file_transfers
              Show all current file transfers.

       --get_project_status
              Show status of all projects.

       --get_disk_usage
              Show disk usage of all projects.

       --get_proxy_settings
              Get proxy settings.

       '''--get_messages seqno
              Show messages with sequence numbers beyond seqno.'''

It should be more elaborated either in the manpage or in the --help as well.

Another interesting hack or way is just doing

boinccmd --get_messages --help

Hopefully the documentation and the workflow get fixed in the next release (if possible) or one of the upcoming releases.

[davea]

fixed in [17407].

This is trivial stuff. Can't someone just fix it and send me the patch?

[Nicolas]

Hey I'm not being paid for it.