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David Anderson edited this page Aug 8, 2024 · 9 revisions

Web Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs)

BOINC projects export a number of Web RPCs for creating, querying and updating accounts and host records, and miscellaneous other purposes. These can be used by account management systems and credit statistics web sites.

The file boinc/html/inc/web_rpc_api.php has PHP interfaces for a few of the RPCs (lookup_account, create_account, download_info). Use those if possible, and you can skip the details below.

These RPCs have the following conventions:

  • Each RPC is an HTTP GET transaction.
  • The input is the GET arguments, i.e. a string of the form
?param1=val1&param2=val2&...&paramn=valn

where param1 ... paramN are the parameter names, and val1 ... valn are the values. Parameter values must be URL-encoded (for example, using PHP's urlencode function).

  • The output is XML.
  • If the project's get_project_config.php file includes a <web_rpc_url_base> element, its content should be used as the URL prefix; otherwise use the project's master URL.
  • Optional values are shown enclosed in square brackets.
  • If an RPC fails, the returned XML document is
<error>
    <error_num>N</error_num>
    <error_string>xxx</error_string>
</error>

where N is a BOINC error number and xxx is a textual description. BOINC error numbers are in lib/error_numbers.h; common errors are:

-1: Generic error (error_string may have more info)

-112: Invalid XML (e.g., the preferences passed to am_set_info.php are invalid)

-136: Item not found in database (bad ID of any sort, or ID refers to an item not owned by the caller)

-137: Name is not unique. The EMail address or team name is already in use.

-138: Can't access database (treat same as -183)

-161: Item not found (deprecated; treat same as -136)

-183: Project is temporarily down

-205: Email address has invalid syntax

-206: Wrong password

-207: Non-unique email address (treat same as -137)

-208: Account creation disabled

-209: Attach failed. Perhaps due to invalid invitation code.

Project configuration

action

Export project or account manager configuration info.

URL

project_url/get_project_config.php

input

none.

examples

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/get_project_config.php

output

<project_config>
    <name>Project name</name>
    <master_url>URL</master_url>
    [ <account_creation_disabled/> ]
    [ <account_manager/> ]
    [ <client_account_creation_disabled/> ]
    [ <error_num>N</error_num> ]
    [ <local_revision>12345</local_revision> ]
    [ <min_passwd_length>N</min_passwd_length> ]
    [
      <platforms>
        <platform>
          <platform_name>i686-apple-darwin</platform_name>
          <user_friendly_name>Mac OS X (Intel)</user_friendly_name>
        </platform>
        <platform>
          <platform_name>i686-pc-linux-gnu</platform_name>
          <user_friendly_name>Linux/x86</user_friendly_name>
        </platform>
        ...
      </platforms>
    ]
    [ <sched_stopped>0|1</sched_stopped> ]
    [
      <system_requirements>
        [ <p_fpops>N</p_fpops> ]
        [ <p_iops>N</p_iops> ]
        [ <p_membw>N</p_membw> ]
        [ <m_nbytes>N</m_nbytes> ]
        [ <m_swap>N</m_swap> ]
        [ <d_free>N</d_free> ]
        [ <bwup>N</bwup> ]
        [ <bwdown>N</bwdown> ]
      </system_requirements>
    ]
    [ <terms_of_use>TEXT</terms_of_use> ]
    [ <uses_username/> ]
    [ <web_rpc_url_base>URL</web_rpc_url_base> ]
    [ <web_stopped>0|1</web_stopped> ]
</project_config>

name

Project name

master_url

Master URL

account_creation_disabled

If present, this project is not allowing creation of new accounts

account_manager

If present, this is an account manager, not a BOINC project

client_account_creation_disabled

If present, new accounts can be created only via the web (not via the client software).

error_num

The project is currently down. A BOINC error number is returned.

local_revision

The SVN changeset number of the project's server software.

min_passwd_length

Minimum password length (for new account creation)

platforms

A list of platforms for which the project has application versions.

sched_stopped

Nonzero if the project's scheduler server is down, which means you can't get new work or report completed work.

system_requirements

Hardware requirements for participating in this project. If a computer doesn't meet these requirements it may not get sent any work by the project. All requirements are 'net'; e.g. the CPU requirements are after factors like on-fraction, active-fraction, and resource share have been taken into consideration. NOT IMPLEMENTED YET.

terms_of_use

If present, client GUIs should display this text and require that the user click Accept before attaching to this project.

uses_username

If present, this project uses names (rather than email addresses) as the primary account identifier.

web_rpc_url_base

prefix to use for web RPCs and statistics file downloads. Usually the same as master URL.

web_stopped

Nonzero if the project's database is down, which means the data-driven web pages are turned off.

Server status

action

Get project status. Can be used used to make web sites showing the server status of multiple BOINC projects. Do not poll more often than 10 minutes.

URL

project_url/server_status.php

input

[ xml ]

output formatting. 0=HTML (default), 1=XML.

examples

http://lhcathome.cern.ch/lhcathome/server_status.php?xml=1

output

<server_status>
    <update_time>1128535206</update_time>
    <daemon_status>
        <daemon>
            <host>jocelyn</host>
            <command>BOINC database</command>
            <status>running</status>
        </daemon>
        <daemon>
            <host>castelli</host>
            <command>master science database</command>
            <status>running</status>
        </daemon>
        <daemon>
            <host>klaatu</host>
            <command>data-driven web pages</command>
            <status>disabled</status>
        </daemon>
        <daemon>
            <host>galileo</host>
            <command>feeder</command>
            <status>not running</status>
        </daemon>
    </daemon_status>
	<database_file_states>
        <results_ready_to_send>614830</results_ready_to_send>
        <results_in_progress>1208959</results_in_progress>
        <workunits_waiting_for_validation>8</workunits_waiting_for_validation>
        <workunits_waiting_for_assimilation>2</workunits_waiting_for_assimilation>
        <workunits_waiting_for_deletion>4</workunits_waiting_for_deletion>
        <results_waiting_for_deletion>15</results_waiting_for_deletion>
        <transitioner_backlog_hours>0.00083333334</transitioner_backlog_hours>
    </database_file_states>
</server_status>

Create account

action

Create an account. If the project already has an account with that email address, and a different password, it returns an error. If an account with that email address exists and has the same password, it returns the authenticator. Otherwise the project creates an account and returns the authenticator.

If <opaque_auth> is included in the reply, all subsequent RPCs that reference the account must supply the given string as well as the authenticator.

URL

project_url/create_account.php

input

email_addr

email address.

passwd_hash

The MD5 hash of the concatenation of the user's password and the lower case form of their EMail address. The user password itself is never sent in an RPC call.

user_name

the user name.

[ invite_code ]

Invitation code if project requires invitation to create accounts.

[ team_name ]

optional name of a team to put user in.

[ consent_flag ]

optional - If true, sets the consent_flag to 1. If false the consent_flag is set to 0 and consent_not_required is set to 1. See UserOptInConsent#RPC|UserOptInConsent for discussion.

[ source ]

optional - Set the source of who is setting consent, e.g., 'manager' or 'web'. See UserOptInConsent#RPC|UserOptInConsent for discussion.

example

http://ralph.bakerlab.org/create_account.php?email_addr=user@example.com&passwd_hash=2ab548fae3162ccfa1a2d41a55557a92&user_name=CrunchAll

output

<account_out>
    <authenticator>XXX</authenticator>
</account_out>

Look up account

action

If passwd_hash is given and is correct, the user's authentication string is returned. This authentication string is required for many of the other RPCs. If no paswd_hash is given and the account exists, a success message is returned. If no account with the EMail address provided exists, an error is returned.

If ldap_auth is non-zero and ldap_uid and passwd are given, authenticate using the LDAP_HOST specified in project.inc. If no account with the EMail address of the ldap_uid exists, a new one is created and the authenticator returned.

URL

project_url/lookup_account.php

input

[ email_addr ]

email address of account (ignored when ldap_auth is non-zero)

[ passwd_hash ]

The MD5 hash of the concatenation of the user's password and the lower case form of the account's EMail address.

[ ldap_auth ]

Needs to be non-zero in order to use LDAP authentication. When enabled, ldap_uid and passwd must be supplied too.

[ ldap_uid ]

The LDAP userid that can be found on LDAP_HOST (defined in project.inc)

[ passwd ]

The password authenticating the LDAP userid.

examples

http://ralph.bakerlab.org/lookup_account.php?email_addr=user@example.com&passwd_hash=2ab598faf3160ccfa1a2d41a95557a92&get_opaque_auth=1

output

<account_out>
    [ <authenticator>XXX</authenticator> ]
    [ <success/> ]
</account_out>

Get account info

action

returns data associated with the given account

URL

project_url/am_get_info.php

input

account_key

Authentication string for account to retrieve information about. See create account RPC or lookup account RPC

opaque_auth

opaque authenticator, if present.

output

<am_get_info_reply>
    <success/>
    <id>ID</id>
    <name>NAME</name>
    <country>COUNTRY</country>
    <weak_auth>WEAK_AUTH</weak_auth>
    <postal_code>POSTAL_CODE</postal_code>
    <global_prefs>
        GLOBAL_PREFS
    </global_prefs>
    <project_prefs>
        PROJECT_PREFS
    </project_prefs>
    <url>URL</url>
    <send_email>SEND_EMAIL</send_email>
    <show_hosts>SHOW_HOSTS</show_hosts>
    <teamid>N</teamid>
    [ <teamfounder/> ]
    <venue>X</venue>
</am_get_info_reply>

Set account info

action

Updates one or more attributes of the given account. If email address is changed, you must also change the password hash. If the project uses opaque_auth, then it will be returned on the reply.

URL

project_url/am_set_info.php

input

account_key

Authentication string of user account being changed. See create account RPC or lookup account RPC

opaque_auth

opaque authenticator, if present.

[ name ]

[ country ]

[ postal_code ]

[ global_prefs ]

[ project_prefs ]

[ url ]

[ send_email ]

[ show_hosts ]

[ teamid ]

zero means quit current team, if any

[ venue ]

[ email_addr ]

[ password_hash ]

The password hash is MD5(password+lower_case(email_addr)).

[ consent_name ]

This is the 'shortname' of the consent_type to modify.

[ consent_flag ]

Sets the consent_flag to 0 or 1.

[ consent_not_required ]

Sets the consent_not_required flag to 0 or 1.

[ consent_source ]

The source of the consent change, most likely the account manager name, e.g. 'GridRepublic'.

output

<am_set_info_reply>
    <success/>
    [ <opaque_auth>xxx</opaque_auth> ]
</am_set_info_reply>

NOTE: because the arguments of am_set_info can potentially be very long, it's also available as a HTTP POST transaction, with the same arguments.

For more information on the four consent related parameters, see UserOptInConsent#RPC|UserOptInConsent.

Set host info

action

Updates the host's venue

URL

project_url/am_set_host_info.php

input

account_key

Authentication string of user account owning the host being changed. See create account RPC or lookup account RPC

opaque_auth

opaque authenticator, if present.

hostid

venue

output

<am_set_host_info_reply>
    <success/>
</am_set_host_info_reply>

Get account/host credit information

action

Returns info about an account. If called with the authentication string, returns a list of hosts associated with the account.

URL

project/show_user.php

input

[ userid ]

User ID to display. Either id or auth must be specified.

[ auth ]

Authentication string of user to display. See create account RPC or lookup account RPC. Either id: or auth: must be specified.

opaque_auth

opaque authenticator, if present.

format

output formatting. 'xml' is only supported value (default is HTML formatting)

examples

http://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/show_user.php?userid=123&format=xml http://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/show_user.php?auth=X&format=xml

output

<user>
    <id>123</id>
    <cpid>fe0b2753a355b17864ec061eb1b9e8de</cpid>
    <create_time>918948493</create_time>
    <name>Joe Smith</name>
    <country>United States</country>
    <total_credit>3806.869739</total_credit>
    <expavg_credit>200</expavg_credit>
    <expavg_time>1110833427.64028</expavg_time>
    <teamid>114322</teamid>
    <url>example.com</url>
    <has_profile>1</has_profile>
</user>

or

<user>
    <id>123</id>
    <cpid>fe0b2753a355b17864ec061eb1b9e8de</cpid>
    <create_time>1101918807</create_time>
    <name>David</name>
    <country>United States</country>
    <total_credit>0.293197</total_credit>
    <expavg_credit>0.000883</expavg_credit>
    <expavg_time>1116963330.83107</expavg_time>
    <teamid>0</teamid>
    <url>example.com</url>
    <has_profile>1</has_profile>
    <host>
        <id>123</id>
        <create_time>1287339128</create_time>
        <rpc_seqno>123</rpc_seqno>
        <host_cpid>fe0b2753a355b17864ec061eb1b9e8de</host_cpid>
        <total_credit>0</total_credit>
        <expavg_credit>0</expavg_credit>
        <expavg_time>0</expavg_time>
        <domain_name>Sorabji</domain_name>
        <p_ncpus>1</p_ncpus>
        <p_vendor>Mobile Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 - M CPU 2.20GHz</p_vendor>
        <p_model>Pentium</p_model>
        <p_fpops>330806175.78458</p_fpops>
        <p_iops>409200165.535107</p_iops>
        <os_name>Microsoft Windows XP</os_name>
        <os_version>Professional Edition, Service Pack 2, (05.01.2600.00)</os_version>
    </host>
    ...
</user>

expavg_credit is exponentially-smoothed average credit per day. expavg_time is the Unix time when this was last computed.

Get status of result(s)

URL

project/result_status.php

input

  • ids: comma-separated list of result IDs
  • or names: comma-separated list of result names

output

Descriptions of those result, including most of the DB fields such as server status, granted credit, etc.

examples

https://boinc.berkeley.edu/test/result_status.php?ids=5575279

output

<results>
    <result>
        <id>5575279</id>
        <create_time>1448056368</create_time>
        <workunitid>5527524</workunitid>
        <server_state>5</server_state>
        <outcome>1</outcome>
        <client_state>5</client_state>
        <hostid>1193</hostid>
        <userid>1</userid>
        <report_deadline>1453432427</report_deadline>
        <sent_time>1453428827</sent_time>
        <received_time>1453428866</received_time>
        <name>wu_nodelete_0</name>
        <cpu_time>19.93693</cpu_time>
        <batch>0</batch>
        <file_delete_state>2</file_delete_state>
        <validate_state>1</validate_state>
        <granted_credit>0.1138503608530816</granted_credit>
        <app_version_num>710</app_version_num>
        <appid>1</appid>
        <exit_status>0</exit_status>
        <elapsed_time>21.88125</elapsed_time>
        <flops_estimate>2247739772.112254</flops_estimate>
        <peak_working_set_size>5619712</peak_working_set_size>
        <peak_swap_size>3297280</peak_swap_size>
        <peak_disk_usage>203640</peak_disk_usage>
    </result>
</results>

Get result list with pending credit

DEPRECATED - BOINC NO LONGER HAS A NOTION OF PENDING CREDIT

URL

project/pending.php

input

format

Output formatting. 'xml' is only supported value (deafult is HTML formatting)

authenticator

Authentication string for user account to retrieve pending credit information about. See create account RPC or lookup account RPC

opaque_auth

opaque authenticator, if present.

examples

http://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/pending.php?format=xml&authenticator=X

output

<pending_credit>
    <result>
        <resultid> N </resultid>
        <workunitid> N </workunitid>
        <claimed_credit> N </claimed_credit>
        <received_time> N </received_time>
    </result>
    [...]
    <total_claimed_credit> N </total_claimed_credit>
</pending_credit>

Create team

REMOVED; SPAM

action

Creates a team

URL

project/create_team.php

input

account_key

Authentication string of team founder's user account. See create account RPC or lookup account RPC

opaque_auth

opaque authenticator, if present.

name

name of team.

[ url ]

team URL.

type

one of these types.

[ name_html ]

team name, with HTML formatting.

[ description ]

text describing team.

[ country ]

team country (if present, must be one of these countries).

output

<create_team_reply>
    <success/>
    <teamid>N</teamid>
</create_team_reply>

Look up teams by name

action

Teams with names matching string will be returned. A maximum of 100 teams will be returned.

URL

project/team_lookup.php

input

team_name

Substring of team name

[ format ]

Output formatting. 'xml' is only supported value (deafult is HTML formatting)

examples

http://boinc.bakerlab.org/team_lookup.php?team_name=BOINC&format=xml

output

<teams>
    <team>
        <id>5</id>
        <name>BOINC@AUSTRALIA</name>
        <country>Australia</country>
    </team>
    <team>
        <id>9</id>
        <name>BOINC Synergy</name>
        <country>International</country>
    </team>
    <team>
        <id>16</id>
        <name>BOINC.BE</name>
        <country>Belgium</country>
    </team>
    <team>
        <id>23</id>
        <name>HispaSeti & BOINC</name>
        <country>International</country>
    </team>
</teams

Look up team by ID

action

Show info on team with the given ID.

URL

project/team_lookup.php

input

team_id

Team number of the team to lookup.

examples

http://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/team_lookup.php?team_id=111

output

<team>
  <id>9</id>
  <create_time>1109465921</create_time>
  <userid>77</userid>
  <name>BOINC Synergy</name>
  <url>www.boincsynergy.com</url>
  <type>1</type>
  <country>International</country>
  <total_credit>226527.840602</total_credit>
  <expavg_credit>12.798762</expavg_credit>
  <expavg_time>1178908429.9883</expavg_time>
</team>

Get team member list

action

Show list of team members. If authentication string is that of a team administrator, show email addresses, and flag indicating whether the user opted out of getting emails.

URL

project/team_email_list.php

input

teamid

database ID of team

[ account_key ]

Authentication string of a team administrator's user account. See create account RPC or lookup account RPC

opaque_auth

opaque authenticator, if present.

xml

output formatting. 0=HTML, 1=XML. (default is 0)

[ creditonly ]

output credit related fields only and suppress users with total_credit=0 (only used with xml output).

examples

http://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/team_email_list.php?teamid=2241&account_key=Y&xml=1

output

<users>
    <user>
        <id>1</id>
        [ <email_addr>pdq@example.com</email_addr> ]
        [ <email_ok>yes|no</email_ok> ]
        <cpid>232f381c79336f0bd8df02bbce2f2217</cpid>
        <create_time>1076897105</create_time>
        <name>David</name>
        <country>United States</country>
        <total_credit>9.907264</total_credit>
        <expavg_credit>0.023264</expavg_credit>
        <expavg_time>1142628426.48937</expavg_time>
        <url>example.com/~pdq</url>
        <has_profile>1</has_profile>
    </user>
    [ ... ]
</users>

Set forum preferences

action

Update user's forum preferences

URL

project/edit_forum_preferences_action.php (NOTE: this uses POST, not GET)

input

account_key

Authentication string of user account to change preferences for. See create account RPC or lookup account RPC

[ opaque_auth ]

opaque authenticator, if present.

[ avatar_url ]

Note: the image will be downloaded and stored locally. Only JPG and PNG accepted.

[ avatar_select ]

[ forum_images_as_links ]

[ forum_link_externally ]

[ forum_hide_avatars ]

[ forum_hide_signatures ]

[ forum_jump_to_unread ]

[ forum_ignore_sticky_posts ]

[ forum_low_rating_threshold ]

[ forum_high_rating_threshold ]

[ forum_minimum_wrap_postcount ]

[ forum_display_wrap_postcount ]

[ signature_enabled ]

[ signature ]

[ forum_sort ]

[ thread_sort ]

[ faq_sort ]

[ answer_sort ]

[ forum_filter_user ]

[ removeID ... ]

output

A lot of HTML (not XML)

Get user's last posts on the forum

action

Get user's last posts from the forum, or get user's last threads from the forums.

URL

project/forum_get_data.php

input

method

"user_posts" to retrieve post details, "user_threads" to retrieve thread details.

userid

Numeric user ID you wish to see forum data about.

[ count ]

number of entries to return. Maximum 50, default 10.

[ contentlength ]

number of characters to return from post content. Default returns whole post. Only used when method=user_posts.

examples

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_get_data.php?method=user_posts&userid=18&count=20&contentlength=256 http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_get_data.php?method=user_threads&userid=182&count=20

output

<rpc_response>
    <count>1</count>
    <posts>
        <post>
        <id>4157</id>
        <threadid>76</threadid>
        <threadtitle><![CDATA[Example thread title]]></threadtitle>
        <timestamp>1162847905</timestamp>
        <content><![CDATA[Example post content]]></content>
        </post>
        [ ... ]
    </posts>
</rpc_response>

or

<rpc_response>
    <count>1</count>
    <threads>
        <thread>
            <id>356</id>
            <forumid>2</forumid>
            <replies>11</replies>
            <views>612</views>
            <timestamp>1159062318</timestamp>
            <title><![CDATA[Example forum thread title]]></title>
        </thread>
        [...]
    </threads>
</rpc_response>

Get list of application versions

URL

project/apps.php

input

[ xml ]

output formatting. 0=HTML, 1=XML. (default is 0)

examples

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/apps.php?xml=1

output

List of applications and application versions. For example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?>
<app_versions>
<application>
    <name>Upper Case</name>
    <version>
        <platform_short>i686-pc-linux-gnu</platform_short>
        <platform_long>Linux/x86</platform_long>
        <version_num>511</version_num>

        <date>21 Apr 2006 19:38:26 UTC</date>
        <date_unix>1145648306</date_unix>
    </version>
    <version>
        <platform_short>windows_intelx86</platform_short>
        <platform_long>Windows/x86</platform_long>
        <version_num>515</version_num>

        <date>8 May 2007 21:15:42 UTC</date>
        <date_unix>1178658942</date_unix>
    </version>
    ...
    </application>
</app_versions>

Get info for auto-attach download button

This lets a "source" web site provide download buttons that auto-attach to an account on a "target" BOINC project or account manager.

URL

project/download_software.php

input

user_agent

user agent string passed by user's browser

auth

authenticator of user account

rpc_key

a security key supplied by the target project

action

must be 'get_info'

output

Error if account not found, or can't figure out user's platform, or the platform doesn't support auto-attach (only Mac and Win currently do). In that case show a link to the BOINC download page, https://boinc.berkeley.edu/download.php

Otherwise returns XML of the form

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?>
<download_info>
   <project_id>X</project_id>
   <token>X</token>
   <user_id>X</user_id>
   <platform>X</platform>
   <boinc>
      <filename>X</filename>
      <size_mb>X</size_mb>
      <boinc_version>X</boinc_version>
   </boinc>
   <boinc_vbox>
      <filename>X</filename>
      <size_mb>X</size_mb>
      <boinc_version>X</boinc_version>
      <vbox_version>X</vbox_version>
   </boinc_vbox>
</download_info>

This info is used to create buttons for downloading auto-attach versions of the BOINC installer. I.e. when the user downloads and installs, they'll be attached to the given account. The <boinc_vbox> element is present if there's a combined BOINC/VirtualBox installer for the platform.

See web_rpc_api.inc for example usage in PHP; this shows how to make Download buttons based on the info returned by the RPC.

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