Category: BOINC

Woooooooo Hooooooooooo!!!!!!

Time to throw a little party!!!!

—– Rom

We are getting close to releasing a new version of the BOINC client software. Not only does the new version contain a bunch of fixes for the client itself, but it also includes new version of the DLLs required by the BOINC Windows Runtime debugger.

It wasn’t always referred to as the BOINC Windows Runtime Debugger; we used to just refer to it as the stackwalker technology. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve made significant changes to the infrastructure on the Windows platform that I feel we can call it something different.

Here is a list of additions that I think will help out:

• Module list dump including location, file versions, and the type of symbols detected.
• Register dump for each thread.
• Stack dumps for each thread.
• Use of Microsoft’s Symbol Store technology.

Upgrading to the latest version of Microsoft’s debugger technology vastly increased the accuracy of the stack traces on Windows when the correct symbol files can be found. Another huge benefit is the use of the symbol store technology.

Symbol stores are basically websites that contain compressed versions of the symbol files. Now for those who have not been following my previous posts the symbol files are pretty big. R@H for instance had a symbol file that was 30MB uncompressed. Now when a crash occurs the debugger will attempt to go to the symbol stores that are defined in the search path and download the correct symbol file for the application. This is a huge win for a project since the symbol files (PDB) for the application do not need to be included for each workunit. Those who are on dial-up connections will have less to download.

Hopefully we can get the rest of the code written so that projects can maintain there own symbol stores. There are many huge wins with getting this technology enabled within BOINC.

Here is a sample of what the new debugger engine produces:

BOINC Windows Runtime Debugger Version 5.5.0

Dump Timestamp : 04/16/06 23:41:39
Debugger Engine : 4.0.5.0
Symbol Search Path:
C:BOINCSRCMainboinc_sampleswin_buildRelease;
C:BOINCSRCMainboinc_sampleswin_buildRelease;
srv*c:windowssymbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols;
srv*C:DOCUME~1romwLOCALS~1Tempsymbols*http://boinc.berkeley.edu/symstore

ModLoad: 00400000 00060000 C:BOINCSRCMainboinc_sampleswin_buildReleaseuppercase_5.10_windows_intelx86.exe (PDB Symbols Loaded)
ModLoad: 7c800000 000c0000 C:WINDOWSsystem32ntdll.dll (5.2.3790.1830) (PDB Symbols Loaded)
File Version : 5.2.3790.1830 (srv03_sp1_rtm.050324-1447)
Company Name : Microsoft Corporation
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Product Version: 5.2.3790.1830

ModLoad: 77e40000 00102000 C:WINDOWSsystem32kernel32.dll (5.2.3790.1830) (PDB Symbols Loaded)
File Version : 5.2.3790.1830 (srv03_sp1_rtm.050324-1447)
Company Name : Microsoft Corporation
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Product Version: 5.2.3790.1830

ModLoad: 5e8d0000 000ce000 C:WINDOWSsystem32OPENGL32.dll (5.2.3790.1830) (PDB Symbols Loaded)
File Version : 5.2.3790.1830 (srv03_sp1_rtm.050324-1447)
Company Name : Microsoft Corporation
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Product Version: 5.2.3790.1830

ModLoad: 77ba0000 0005a000 C:WINDOWSsystem32msvcrt.dll (7.0.3790.1830) (PDB Symbols Loaded)
File Version : 7.0.3790.1830 (srv03_sp1_rtm.050324-1447)
Company Name : Microsoft Corporation
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Product Version: 7.0.3790.1830

ModLoad: 77f50000 0009c000 C:WINDOWSsystem32ADVAPI32.dll (5.2.3790.1830) (PDB Symbols Loaded)
File Version : 5.2.3790.1830 (srv03_sp1_rtm.050324-1447)
Company Name : Microsoft Corporation
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Product Version: 5.2.3790.1830

ModLoad: 77c50000 0009f000 C:WINDOWSsystem32RPCRT4.dll (5.2.3790.1830) (PDB Symbols Loaded)
File Version : 5.2.3790.1830 (srv03_sp1_rtm.050324-1447)
Company Name : Microsoft Corporation
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Product Version: 5.2.3790.1830

ModLoad: 77c00000 00048000 C:WINDOWSsystem32GDI32.dll (5.2.3790.2606) (PDB Symbols Loaded)
File Version : 5.2.3790.2606 (srv03_sp1_gdr.051230-1233)
Company Name : Microsoft Corporation
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Product Version: 5.2.3790.2606

ModLoad: 77380000 00092000 C:WINDOWSsystem32USER32.dll (5.2.3790.1830) (PDB Symbols Loaded)
File Version : 5.2.3790.1830 (srv03_sp1_rtm.050324-1447)
Company Name : Microsoft Corporation
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Product Version: 5.2.3790.1830

ModLoad: 68720000 00020000 C:WINDOWSsystem32GLU32.dll (5.2.3790.1830) (PDB Symbols Loaded)
File Version : 5.2.3790.1830 (srv03_sp1_rtm.050324-1447)
Company Name : Microsoft Corporation
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Product Version: 5.2.3790.1830

ModLoad: 73860000 0004c000 C:WINDOWSsystem32DDRAW.dll (5.3.3790.1830) (PDB Symbols Loaded)
File Version : 5.3.3790.1830 (srv03_sp1_rtm.050324-1447)
Company Name : Microsoft Corporation
Product Name : Microsoft(R) Windows(R) Operating System
Product Version: 5.3.3790.1830

ModLoad: 73b30000 00006000 C:WINDOWSsystem32DCIMAN32.dll (5.2.3790.0) (PDB Symbols Loaded)
File Version : 5.2.3790.0 (srv03_rtm.030324-2048)
Company Name : Microsoft Corporation
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Product Version: 5.2.3790.0

ModLoad: 76aa0000 0002d000 C:WINDOWSsystem32WINMM.dll (5.2.3790.1830) (PDB Symbols Loaded)
File Version : 5.2.3790.1830 (srv03_sp1_rtm.050324-1447)
Company Name : Microsoft Corporation
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Product Version: 5.2.3790.1830

ModLoad: 71b70000 00036000 C:WINDOWSsystem32uxtheme.dll (6.0.3790.1830) (PDB Symbols Loaded)
File Version : 6.00.3790.1830 (srv03_sp1_rtm.050324-1447)
Company Name : Microsoft Corporation
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Product Version: 6.00.3790.1830

ModLoad: 4b8d0000 00051000 C:WINDOWSsystem32MSCTF.dll (5.2.3790.1830) (PDB Symbols Loaded)
File Version : 5.2.3790.1830 (srv03_sp1_rtm.050324-1447)
Company Name : Microsoft Corporation
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Product Version: 5.2.3790.1830

ModLoad: 69500000 004f3000 C:WINDOWSsystem32nvoglnt.dll (6.14.10.7801) (-exported- Symbols Loaded)
File Version : 6.14.10.7801
Company Name : NVIDIA Corporation
Product Name : NVIDIA Compatible OpenGL ICD
Product Version: 6.14.10.7801

ModLoad: 02e50000 00006000 C:WINDOWSsystem32ctagent.dll (1.0.0.11) (-exported- Symbols Loaded)
File Version : 1, 0, 0, 11
Company Name : Creative Technology Ltd
Product Name : ctagent
Product Version: 1, 0, 0, 11

ModLoad: 60970000 0000a000 C:WINDOWSsystem32mslbui.dll (5.2.3790.1830) (PDB Symbols Loaded)
File Version : 5.2.3790.1830 (srv03_sp1_rtm.050324-1447)
Company Name : Microsoft Corporation
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Product Version: 5.2.3790.1830

ModLoad: 03030000 00118000 C:BOINCSRCMainboinc_sampleswin_buildReleasedbghelp.dll (6.5.3.7) (PDB Symbols Loaded)
File Version : 6.5.0003.7 (vbl_core_fbrel(jshay).050527-1915)
Company Name : Microsoft Corporation
Product Name : Debugging Tools for Windows(R)
Product Version: 6.5.0003.7

ModLoad: 03250000 00046000 C:BOINCSRCMainboinc_sampleswin_buildReleasesymsrv.dll (6.5.3.8) (PDB Symbols Loaded)
File Version : 6.5.0003.8 (vbl_core_fbrel(jshay).050527-1915)
Company Name : Microsoft Corporation
Product Name : Debugging Tools for Windows(R)
Product Version: 6.5.0003.8

ModLoad: 032a0000 00031000 C:BOINCSRCMainboinc_sampleswin_buildReleasesrcsrv.dll (6.5.3.7) (PDB Symbols Loaded)
File Version : 6.5.0003.7 (vbl_core_fbrel(jshay).050527-1915)
Company Name : Microsoft Corporation
Product Name : Debugging Tools for Windows(R)
Product Version: 6.5.0003.7

ModLoad: 77b90000 00008000 C:WINDOWSsystem32version.dll (5.2.3790.1830) (PDB Symbols Loaded)
File Version : 5.2.3790.1830 (srv03_sp1_rtm.050324-1447)
Company Name : Microsoft Corporation
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Product Version: 5.2.3790.1830

*** UNHANDLED EXCEPTION ****
Reason: Breakpoint Encountered (0x80000003) at address 0x7C822583

*** Dump of the Worker(offending) thread: ***
eax=00000000 ebx=00000000 ecx=77e4245b edx=7c82ed54 esi=77e424a8 edi=00454f20
eip=7c822583 esp=00a1fd64 ebp=00a1ffb4
cs=001b ss=0023 ds=0023 es=0023 fs=003b gs=0000 efl=00000246

ChildEBP RetAddr Args to Child
00a1fd60 0040203b 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000001 ntdll!_DbgBreakPoint@0+0x0 FPO: [0,0,0]
00a1ffb4 004239ce 77e66063 00000000 00000000 00000000 uppercase_5.10_windows_intelx86!worker+0x0 (c:boincsrcmainboinc_samplesuppercaseupper_case.c:174)
00a1ffb8 77e66063 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 uppercase_5.10_windows_intelx86!foobar+0x0 (c:boincsrcmainboincapigraphics_impl.c:75) FPO: [1,0,0]
00a1ffec 00000000 004239c0 00000000 00000000 00000000 kernel32!_BaseThreadStart@8+0x0 (c:boincsrcmainboincapigraphics_impl.c:75)

*** Dump of the Timer thread: ***
eax=0002625a ebx=00000000 ecx=00000000 edx=00b1feb0 esi=00000001 edi=00000000
eip=7c82ed54 esp=00b1ff0c ebp=00b1ffb8
cs=001b ss=0023 ds=0023 es=0023 fs=003b gs=0000 efl=00000246

ChildEBP RetAddr Args to Child
00b1ff08 7c822114 76aba0d3 00000002 00b1ff70 00000001 ntdll!_KiFastSystemCallRet@0+0x0 FPO: [0,0,0]
00b1ff0c 76aba0d3 00000002 00b1ff70 00000001 00000001 ntdll!_NtWaitForMultipleObjects@20+0x0 FPO: [5,0,0]
00b1ffb8 77e66063 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 WINMM!_timeThread@4+0x0
00b1ffec 00000000 76aba099 00000000 00000000 49474542 kernel32!_BaseThreadStart@8+0x0

*** Dump of the Graphics thread: ***
eax=00000000 ebx=7738e3f7 ecx=00000000 edx=00000000 esi=0012fc00 edi=7739ca9d
eip=7c82ed54 esp=0012fbb4 ebp=0012fbd8
cs=001b ss=0023 ds=0023 es=0023 fs=003b gs=0000 efl=00000246

ChildEBP RetAddr Args to Child
0012fbb0 7739c78d 77392f3a 0012fc00 00000000 00000000 ntdll!_KiFastSystemCallRet@0+0x0 FPO: [0,0,0]
0012fbd8 00424c3f 0012fc00 00000000 00000000 00000000 USER32!_NtUserGetMessage@16+0x0
0012fcb0 00423ca3 00000001 00000001 00000001 00000001 uppercase_5.10_windows_intelx86!win_graphics_event_loop+0x14 (c:boincsrcmainboincapiwindows_opengl.c:571) FPO: [0,46,0]
0012fcd0 004220eb 00401078 0045c3b0 0040233c 00401078 uppercase_5.10_windows_intelx86!boinc_init_graphics_impl+0x30 (c:boincsrcmainboincapigraphics_impl.c:84) FPO: [2,7,0]
0012fcdc 0040233c 00401078 00454f00 004483a4 00000002 uppercase_5.10_windows_intelx86!boinc_init_graphics+0x4b (c:boincsrcmainboincapigraphics_api.c:45) FPO: [1,0,0]
0012fcf4 004023b1 00000002 0012fd0c 00142550 0012fd0c uppercase_5.10_windows_intelx86!main+0xa (c:boincsrcmainboinc_samplesuppercaseupper_case.c:233) FPO: [2,0,0]
0012fe98 004035b4 00400000 00000000 001425a7 00000001 uppercase_5.10_windows_intelx86!WinMain+0x0 (c:boincsrcmainboinc_samplesuppercaseupper_case.c:110) FPO: [4,100,0]
0012ffc0 77e523cd 00000000 00000000 7ffd9000 8707adb0 uppercase_5.10_windows_intelx86!WinMainCRTStartup+0x1d (f:vs70builds3077vccrtbldcrtsrccrt0.c:251)
0012fff0 00000000 00403430 00000000 78746341 00000020 kernel32!_BaseProcessStart@4+0x0 (f:vs70builds3077vccrtbldcrtsrccrt0.c:251)

Exiting…

Occasionally I’m hit up with the question, “Why doesn’t BOINC Manager expose this feature or that feature?”

Well, quite simply, the goals for BOINC Manager are:

1. Provide a simple interface that works well for controlling BOINC on the local machine.
2. Be cross-platform compatible.

Now a feature that made it in and doesn’t conform to the goals above is the ability to control a remote computer. We put that in mostly to show off the GUI RPCs and provide ourselves with an easy way to make sure we didn’t take to many liberties with assuming needed files would be local. An exception would be the gui_rpc_auth.cfg file which is in need of some help to deal with custom ports and the like.

We knew we weren’t going to be able to make everybody happy with just one way to present the UI, and each group of users presented their own challenges. For instance, somebody new to distributed computing would need to know what the various fields in the UI mean, while old hats would just consider it clutter.

We need to get to the point where we have a tweak-able UI. Something that can start out being pretty verbose in the beginning, and can be made more spartan in nature when the user doesn’t need as much hand holding.

—– Rom