On my first attempt to install a Team MacNN optimized SETI@home app under BOINC 5.8.15 on a new iMac, this error dialog came up:

BOINC ownership or permissions are not set properly; please reinstall BOINC.
(Error code -1202)

I solved the problem by changing the permissions on the new files. I very much doubt reinstalling BOINC would have helped -- at least it would have been overkill. I suggest that this message be reworded.

On a vaguely related subject, many Mac users are reporting (relatively harmless) "–5000" error messages resulting from a failure to change S@h apps' (stock and optimized versions both) generic icon to the 'green dish', also caused, I presume, by the new permissions arrangement. (I don't know whether or not any other projects have custom icons for their apps.) Is there any way for a user to fix this? If not, can it be addressed in a future version of BOINC? It's mainly cosmetic, but annoying nonetheless -- and overall these error reports must be adding megabytes of superfluous text to the "stderr out" files, consuming bandwidth and cluttering the results database.

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I opened a Trac ticket on this.

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Kathryn :o)

On my first attempt to install a Team MacNN optimized SETI@home app under BOINC 5.8.15 on a new iMac, this error dialog came up:

BOINC ownership or permissions are not set properly; please reinstall BOINC.
(Error code -1202)

I solved the problem by changing the permissions on the new files. I very much doubt reinstalling BOINC would have helped -- at least it would have been overkill. I suggest that this message be reworded.

The installer does indeed set all permissions for the entire BOINC Data directory as well as the BOINC Manager application bundle, so it does fix this problem. While reinstalling may be considered "overkill" it is the easiest and fastest way to fix the permissions and something even non-technical users can understand. It takes only a few seconds to run the installer.

if you prefer, you can also use the Mac_SA_Secure.sh script which is avaialable from the BOINC web pages, but the installer is easier.

Finally, please upgrade to 5.8.17; 5.8.15 did have some bugs in the permissions area.

The ReadMe file which comes with the installer has URLs for more info on permissions and security. It should not be surprising that if you manually add a file to the BOINC Data, you must set its permissions properly for it to work.

On a vaguely related subject, many Mac users are reporting (relatively harmless) "–5000" error messages resulting from a failure to change S@h apps' (stock and optimized versions both) generic icon to the 'green dish', also caused, I presume, by the new permissions arrangement. (I don't know whether or not any other projects have custom icons for their apps.) Is there any way for a user to fix this? If not, can it be addressed in a future version of BOINC? It's mainly cosmetic, but annoying nonetheless -- and overall these error reports must be adding megabytes of superfluous text to the "stderr out" files, consuming bandwidth and cluttering the results database.

Regarding the error -5000 bug, this is the first I have heard of it. I will try to reproduce it. Does it happen when the application is downloaded by BOINC, or only when you manually put a customized application into the BOINC Data folder (and I presume use the anonymous platform mechanism)? If only the latter, then you must of course set all permissions, preferably by running the BOINC installer again.

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Charlie Fenton
BOINC / SETI@home Macintosh & Windows Programmer

The installer does indeed set all permissions for the entire BOINC Data directory as well as the BOINC Manager application bundle, so it does fix this problem. While reinstalling may be considered "overkill" it is the easiest and fastest way to fix the permissions and something even non-technical users can understand. It takes only a few seconds to run the installer.

Ah, sorry; I didn't realize that the BOINC installer would 'chown & chmod' the contents of existing project directories. (I guess I should have: of course it would have to do so when upgrading from an older version.)

if you prefer, you can also use the Mac_SA_Secure.sh script which is avaialable from the BOINC web pages, but the installer is easier.

FWIW a little shell command to fix the permissions was posted by user zombie67 on the Team MacNN forum:

"(quit BOINC)

cd /Library/Application Support/BOINC Data/projects/setiathome.berkeley.edu
sudo chown boinc_master:boinc_project *

(restart BOINC)"

Finally, please upgrade to 5.8.17; 5.8.15 did have some bugs in the permissions area.

OK, will do.

Regarding the error -5000 bug, this is the first I have heard of it. I will try to reproduce it. Does it happen when the application is downloaded by BOINC, or only when you manually put a customized application into the BOINC Data folder (and I presume use the anonymous platform mechanism)?

I first noticed it myself on the iMac mentioned upthread, while running the (automatically downloaded) stock S@h app to establish a baseline before optimizing. A couple of others have also reported it. See this "Mac OS Error -5000" thread on the S@h Mac Q&A forum; a search there also turned up this message (where it appears to be only incidental to another problem). It’s also been reported on the Team MacNN thread linked above, but there it concerned an optimized (anonymous-platform) version. Looking at stderr messages in result files you can tell which is which by the pathname given, apparently from the application developer's file structure: the stock app says

MacOS Error -5000 occured in /Volumes/Sage/BOINC_Mac/boinc/mac_build/../api/mac_icon.C line 107

while e.g. the Team MacNN app says

MacOS Error -5000 occured in /Users/alexkan/seti/boinc/mac_build/../api/mac_icon.C line 107

P.S. I can't help but observe that "occurred" is spelt incorrectly there. Does that string come from BOINC, or from Apple?

I was sloppy. To be more clear, and for those wanting to copy/paste, use the line below (due to the spaces in the directory names). The chown command was correct and will work for copy/paste.

(quit BOINC)
cd /Library/Application\ Support/BOINC\ Data/projects/setiathome.berkeley.edu/
sudo chown boinc_master:boinc_project *
(restart BOINC)

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Reno, NV
Team: SETI.USA