And that answers my question. Thank you. -Juha
On 25 July 2013 00:00, David Anderson <[email protected]> wrote: > BOINC's approach is to collect as much info as possible in the client, > and to use this info in the server to make scheduling decisions. > > We recently added code in the client to detect AVX; > this will appear in the next client release. > > -- David > > > On 24-Jul-2013 1:38 PM, Juha wrote: > >> What's going on is: >> >> I think the best place to check for supported (=hardware+software) >> processor features is on the client--side. >> >> Everybody else thinks I'm being stupid for thinking that this could be a >> problem later on. And even if it turns out to be a problem they think the >> best place to check for the support is on the server-side and every >> project >> can code their own checks. >> >> -Juha >> >> >> On 24 July 2013 00:53, Wolfgang Schwieger <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Maybe I am to stupid to understand what's going on, but..... >>> >>> BOINC reports a cpu feature (AVX) which the cpu has/or has not. (that is >>> what we need!) >>> BOINC !_also_! reports the OS, the OS version/kernel version, !_and_! the >>> installed service pack (for windows). >>> >>> So, if a project has an application with AVX code, the project (!!!) has >>> to >>> decide if/or if not this application will run under an "older" OS. >>> >>> BOINC just reports the feature, the project admin configures what has to >>> be >>> configured. >>> >>> Wolfgang >>> >>> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- >>> Von: Juha [mailto:juha.sointusalo@gmail.**com<[email protected]> >>> ] >>> Gesendet: Dienstag, 23. Juli 2013 22:58 >>> An: BOINC Developers Mailing List >>> Betreff: Re: [boinc_dev] [SPAM] Re: : BOINC (windows) doesn't report avx >>> processor feature >>> >>> On 23 July 2013 04:41, Michael Goetz <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> I'm not very worried about lock of OS support for AVX, at least as far >>>> as PrimeGrid is concerned. >>>> >>>> * It's unlikely anyone has bought a pre-configured computer with an >>>> AVX capable CPU that came with a version of Windows that doesn't support >>>> >>> AVX. >>> >>>> >>>> * People who built their own systems and loaded XP?!?! on it are >>>> certainly able to load and run Linux if they wish to, and if they >>>> loaded Win 7 without SP1 they can load SP1. >>>> >>>> * It's unclear to me why anyone would buy, sell, or build a computer >>>> with an AVX CPU with an operating system that doesn't support the >>>> instruction set. It's possible, but unlikely. >>>> >>>> >>> Well, someone could have upgraded to a newer CPU, or replaced a broken >>> component without upgrading the OS at the same time. Or they might be >>> stuck >>> with an older OS because they have some device for which there's drivers >>> only for, say, XP. Or they are forced for some other reasons to keep >>> using >>> an older OS. There are reasons once you start looking for them. >>> >>> And even if none of those hold, people still have the right to be silly >>> and >>> keep using XP. >>> >>> >>> * There's about a 40% increase in speed with the AVX version of that >>>> application, so if there's anyone participating in that subproject >>>> with such a computer, they probably will want to upgrade or switch >>>> their OS to take advantage of the increased performance. >>>> >>>> >>> That's a very nice speed-up. But you are assuming that: >>> 1. People are paying attention (to such details). Maybe at PrimeGrid >>> that's >>> true but I doubt that's true generally speaking. At least at >>> Seti@homethere >>> are people turning in thousands and thousands of invalids so obviously >>> they >>> don't pay any attention to what their computer does. >>> 2. People are buying or configuring their systems to crunch numbers. True >>> for some people but I think the majority buys computers for some other >>> reason and install BOINC to have something for the computer to do while >>> they >>> read their emails. >>> >>> >>> * After all that, if there's actually someone who wants to run their >>>> fancy new CPU with an OS that cripples its capabilities, I can always >>>> change the plan class to restrict the OS to versions that do support >>>> AVX. >>>> >>>> >>> There's one problem with that approach. Every project that releases AVX >>> application would need to add those restrictions. Wasn't BOINC supposed >>> to >>> handle everything that's common to all projects so that projects can then >>> concentrate on doing whatever science they do? So IMHO reliable >>> information >>> of host's capabilities is something that BOINC should provide, one way or >>> the other. >>> >>> So either the client should report only those processor features that the >>> OS >>> supports or the scheduler should have a function does_host_support_avx() >>> that checks both the reported features and the OS version. >>> >>> (Generally speaking. There's one benefit for the server side check. If >>> the >>> host has support for feature X in hardware but not in software, the >>> server >>> could tell the user "Your host has support for feature X and we have an >>> application that can take advantage of it. But you need to install Y >>> first." >>> Similar to what the server currently does with at least NVIDIA >>> drivers.) >>> >>> In short, while this is a theoretical problem, I don't think the lack of >>> >>>> AVX support in old versions of Windows is a significant real world >>>> >>> problem. >>> >>>> >>>> >>> That may very well be true, but I still see it as something that could be >>> done better, if not even as a bug. >>> >>> -Juha >>> >>> >>> >>> ______________________________**_________________ >> boinc_dev mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.ssl.berkeley.edu/**mailman/listinfo/boinc_dev<http://lists.ssl.berkeley.edu/mailman/listinfo/boinc_dev> >> To unsubscribe, visit the above URL and >> (near bottom of page) enter your email address. >> >> ______________________________**_________________ > boinc_dev mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.ssl.berkeley.edu/**mailman/listinfo/boinc_dev<http://lists.ssl.berkeley.edu/mailman/listinfo/boinc_dev> > To unsubscribe, visit the above URL and > (near bottom of page) enter your email address. > _______________________________________________ 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.
