The downloads page lists the last version that will run on OS X 10.3 (PowerPC) as 6.6.36; however, a time capsule (a G3 iMac from my Dad's garage) has revealed that that was not the last version, as it has 6.10.17 installed. So, what is the "real" last version of BOINC that will run on 10.3? The last release in the 6.10 series, which would be 6.10.60? Is there a download archive where I can find these versions, and is there any reason to use the advertised 6.6.36 over 6.10.x?

I had been using 6.6.36 without question for a while, but I've discovered that it will not work with WUprop; even though their applications page lists compatability with 10.3, I get the "BOINC version too old" message from the project. When I uncovered the iMac with 6.10.17, it gets work from WUprop without incident. I did find the installer ZIP file in the trash on the same computer, so I can use that if needed.

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My Detailed BOINC Stats

Is there a download archive where I can find these versions

Here:

http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dl/

Claggy

I also found this page: http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/MacBuild

It says that 10.4 is required starting with 6.10.58, but I've tried installing versions back to 6.10.54 and I get the "OS X 10.4 is required" message from the installer. Short of trying every version between 6.10.17 and 6.10.54, is there a reliable way to determine which was the last to support OS X 10.3?

I guess another question would be, why does the official download page use an older version, when the newer one seems to be compatible with more projects?

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My Detailed BOINC Stats

Short of trying every version between 6.10.17 and 6.10.54, is there a reliable way to determine which was the last to support OS X 10.3?

I'm not sure if the following link is a reliable way, but check the second entry for 6.10.37 where GCC 4.0 is used. You can check your GCC version, and if it is earlier than 4.0 try installing 6.10.36 to see if it works.

http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dev/forum_thread.php?id=2518&postid=31673#31673

Edit: Looks like Jord came up with a more definitive answer, so his advice should be heeded.

I guess another question would be, why does the official download page use an older version, when the newer one seems to be compatible with more projects?

A lot of the 'newer versions' are alpha and beta versions, with a lot of bugs in them. The official download page only shows the recommended versions, the download all page shows the latest Alpha version as well. The DL site is just an archive of all older versions that have ever seen the light of day.

The last one that will install on OS X 10.3 is 6.10.21, as per the change log 6.1 - 6.10:
BOINC 6.10.22 released for testing for all platforms

7 December 2009
Charlie
- Mac installer: If user tries to install on OS 10.3.9, display an alert and quit


And why that was done? Probably because of:
3 December 2009
Charlie
- Mac client: update build scripts, XCode project for curl-7.19.7 and c-ares 1.7.0
and
4 December 2009
Charlie
- Mac MGR: Fix crashes on OS 10.3.9 due to accessibility APIs implemented on OS 10.4

The developers can only build one version of BOINC for all platforms, so if OS X has moved to 10.4 by then on the Power PC and that causes crashes on on pre-OS X 10.4, then sorry, but not going to build a version for each release of OS X. If need be, you can always try to build it yourself.

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Thank you; I think for my purposes, 6.10.22 will be sufficient. Without building any project-specific apps of my own, most projects that still support G3 will probably be fine with that version for the time being. The major hurdle I was looking to overcome, were the failures in WUprop. I'll make sure to put a post in over there, so that others with 10.3 can get the correct version for data reporting.

I have just noticed that for some OSes, a newer version will be introduced but another OS is held back--I assume that's usually because of OS-specific bugs. I'm referring to the "Recommended Version", not the development version.

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My Detailed BOINC Stats

I have tried versions 6.10.19, 6.10.20 and 6.10.21 to no avail on two hosts running OS X 10.3.9; an iMac G3 Rev. D and an iBook G3 Clamshell. The later three versions all install successfully, but the BOINC Manager application crashes on startup. 6.10.17 works just fine on both hosts.

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My Detailed BOINC Stats