LHC Theory Simulation

[Dave Studdert]

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.

[Dingo]

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

[Dave Studdert]

Thanks Dingo,  Its working now with Docker. 
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 
 
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.

[Dingo]

Thanks I will give it a go tonight as well. 

That was quick and easy.  Installed on my Ubuntu 24.04 system and opened Theory Simulation: yes in LHC to see if it works.

[Dingo]

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.

[Dave Studdert]

The "Official Boinc" as they call it is from here 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.

[Dave Studdert]

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

Dont use docker, use Podman found here

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

[Dingo]

Thanks for the details.    if I ever try it again I will use these instructions.  I do not want to update boinc so I will not be proceding.