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Members Only => ALL ABOUT HARDWARE => ALL THINGS LINUX => Topic started by: Dave Studdert on April 16, 2026, 12:36:52 AM

Title: LHC Theory Simulation
Post by: Dave Studdert on April 16, 2026, 12:36:52 AM
Any team members running LHC Theory on Linux?
I have followed the instructions, have CVMFS installed with the correct config, Podman is installed, but just cant Theory to work. Clearly Im missing something, Atlas works fine.
I will keep at it but just wondering if you guys might have any insight on how you set it up if you're running it.
Title: Re: LHC Theory Simulation
Post by: Dingo on April 16, 2026, 02:03:11 PM
Looking at the applications page Theory is only available in Vbox or docker now for Linux. Does not seem to have a (native_mt) version so you need to have one of those to run them.


https://lhcathome.cern.ch/lhcathome/apps.php
Title: Re: LHC Theory Simulation
Post by: Dave Studdert on April 16, 2026, 02:53:31 PM
Thanks Dingo,  :thanks1: Its working now with Docker.  :dance2:
I was following the instructions on LHC Theory forums that said to use Podman instead of Docker.
Podman wasnt working or clearly I didnt understand the assignment  :compbash:
 
Adding instructions for future reference.

Installation Steps Debian 13
Update Package Index and Install Dependencies Run the following commands to update your package index and install necessary packages:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ca-certificates curl



Add Docker's Official GPG Key Import Docker's GPG key to verify package authenticity:

sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc



Add Docker APT Repository Add the Docker repository to your system:

echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/debian trixie stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list


Install Docker Engine Update the package index again and install Docker:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin



Verify Docker Installation To confirm that Docker is installed correctly, run a test container:

sudo docker run hello-world


Post-Installation
To run Docker commands without sudo, add your user to the Docker group:

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER


After completing these steps, Docker should be successfully installed and ready for use on your Debian 13 system.
Title: Re: LHC Theory Simulation
Post by: Dingo on April 16, 2026, 06:25:20 PM
Thanks I will give it a go tonight as well.  :party:

That was quick and easy.  Installed on my Ubuntu 24.04 system and opened Theory Simulation: yes in LHC to see if it works.
Title: Re: LHC Theory Simulation
Post by: Dingo on April 16, 2026, 08:41:05 PM
I stopped all other projects and suspended all work but still do not gat any work from LHC on my Ubuntu 24.04.  It does say I might need a newer version of BOINC but that is one that comes with this version of Ubuntu and can't be updated.  I can install a newer version with snap but that installs boinc and all the files in a different location and screwes up BOINC all together.  I tried that before.

So f*** them there are pther ptojects to run that are not as difficult although I would like to have a real science project to run.
Title: Re: LHC Theory Simulation
Post by: Dave Studdert on April 16, 2026, 10:44:08 PM
The "Official Boinc" as they call it is from here https://boinc.berkeley.edu/linux_install.php (https://boinc.berkeley.edu/linux_install.php)
You select your OS type from a dropdown box and they give you Terminal instructions.

Im using Debian 13 so am not sure what the differences are to Ubuntu. I Do know I need the "Official" install as the standard Debian repositry one doesnt work at all for me.

While it appears to work for a while it wont actually complete Theory tasks as they error out around 90%. with no stderr output. I have posted on their forums but anything but Atlas seems to be a lost cause.

You are right about LHC not being easy, I have wasted far to much time tinkering that could have gone into other projects.
Title: Re: LHC Theory Simulation
Post by: Dave Studdert on April 18, 2026, 01:00:21 PM
While I probably should have given up, I hate being defeated.

Instructions for a working Theory Simulation.

Boinc needs to be latest version found here (https://boinc.berkeley.edu/linux_install.php)

Dont use docker, use Podman found here (https://github.com/BOINC/boinc/wiki/Installing-Podman-on-Linux)

Once Podman is installed set Lingering, done from root:

sudo loginctl enable-linger boinc

Exit root back to your user and create and or edit containers.conf

sudo nano /etc/containers/containers.conf

Add:

[engine]
cgroup_manager = "cgroupfs"


Save ctrl+O and exit ctrl+X

If not already installed, install CVMFS:

wget https://cvmrepo.s3.cern.ch/cvmrepo/apt/cvmfs-release-latest_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i cvmfs-release-latest_all.deb
rm -f cvmfs-release-latest_all.deb
sudo apt-get -y update
sudo apt-get -y install cvmfs


Download the CVMFS config file:

sudo wget https://lhcathome.cern.ch/lhcathome/download/default.local -O /etc/cvmfs/default.local

Reload the CVMFS config:

sudo cvmfs_config reload

Check CVMFS is functioning correctly:

cvmfs_config probe

Which should produce the following output:

Probing /cvmfs/atlas.cern.ch... OK
Probing /cvmfs/atlas-condb.cern.ch... OK
Probing /cvmfs/grid.cern.ch... OK
Probing /cvmfs/cernvm-prod.cern.ch... OK
Probing /cvmfs/sft.cern.ch... OK
Probing /cvmfs/alice.cern.ch... OK

If results return failed edit etc/cvmfs/default.local
find the line #CVMFS_HTTP_PROXY="auto;DIRECT" and uncomment by removing # at the beginning.

Test CVMFS again with:

cvmfs_config probe

Restart boinc client:

sudo systemctl restart boinc-client
Title: Re: LHC Theory Simulation
Post by: Dingo on April 18, 2026, 01:55:24 PM
Thanks for the details.  v:  if I ever try it again I will use these instructions.  I do not want to update boinc so I will not be proceding.