2012/7/25, Ramana Kumar <[email protected]>: > I would like to try BOINC, but not so much that I want to make an > exception for nonfree software. > My preferred OS (Parabola GNU/Linux) blacklists BOINC because it is > not completely free software. > The specific details for why are documented here > http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Software_blacklist#boinc_.2F_boinc-app-seti > > I would like to ask the developers this: are you committed to not > using freeglut or another free glut replacement? > If not, could I ask that you attempt to make the switch, so we can > reevaluate BOINC for freedom and eventually get it off the blacklist. > I don't see any reason why a project like BOINC needs to be nonfree :)
I think glut is pretty irrelevant for this discussion. The BOINC client doesn't use glut. Everything under the 'api' directory is for project applications to use, which may or may not use glut (they certainly won't if they don't have any screensaver graphics). Removing glut or the whole 'api' from the source shouldn't stop you from compiling the client. The real problem with a completely free BOINC is project apps. When you attach to a BOINC project, it downloads compiled binaries from the project and runs them. They may or may not be free software. The BOINC client will not tell you of the project app's license before downloading the binary. If you simply check by other means (eg. the project website) that a project's app is free software, and attach to it when convinced, months later you could receive non-free binaries for a new kind of processing task. A workaround is to download or compile the project app yourself and use it with BOINC via the "anonymous platform" mechanism. If you do that, BOINC will not download any executables from the project. If there is a new kind of task from the project and you don't have that app, you just won't get that kind of tasks. The problem is that, as far as I know, there is no way to stop BOINC from downloading the app when first attaching to a project. I'm not sure if it's possible/safe to put the anonymous-platform app_info.xml in the project directory and *then* attaching to the project. Perhaps we need a cc_config.xml option to make the client run exclusively in anonymous-platform mode. When first attaching, and as long as there is no valid app_info.xml, the client would not get any work (since it has no app_versions). -- Nicolás _______________________________________________ boinc_dev mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ssl.berkeley.edu/mailman/listinfo/boinc_dev To unsubscribe, visit the above URL and (near bottom of page) enter your email address.
