Can't install or run on Ubuntu 18.10

[XJDHDR]

Good day

I am trying to get the Folding@Home v7.5.1 client installed and running on my Ubuntu 18.10 headless server. I was following the instructions here:

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https://foldingathome.org/support/faq/installation-guides/linux/manual-installation-advanced/

While installing, after the point where I tell the installer if I want F@H to start automatically, I get the following error:

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/var/lib/dpkg/info/fahclient.postinst: line 40: /usr/share/doc/fahclient/sample-config.xml: No such file or directory
dpkg: error processing package fahclient (--install):
 installed fahclient package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
Processing triggers for systemd (239-7ubuntu10.10) ...
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.60ubuntu1) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 fahclient

I then tried to run the client with sudo /etc/init.d/FAHClient start but it just told me: Starting fahclient ... FAIL
After some investigation, I found that there were no files in the /etc/fahclient/ directory, including config.xml so I manually created one. This did not solve my problem.
I then tried to look for a log file under /var/lib/fahclient/. However, the directory is empty.

Please can anyone help me get this working? I would greatly appreciate it.

[foldy]

I have the same issue but can start it in console when I goto /etc/init.d/ and there type FAHClient

[Theodore]

The advanced method uses an older fah client.
The guide probably hasn't been updated.
Remove it (sudo apt remove fahclient), and fahcontrol as well
Then go to the main page, and download the Deb or rpm package, whatever your system runs, and install from Deb (you can use an installer in the gui if you prefer).

[XJDHDR]

As I said in my OP, I am trying to run FaH on a Headless server, so any GUI based installation instructions are out of the question. For the same reason, I don't have FaHControl installed because an advanced GUI is not useful on a PC that doesn't even have a GPU installed.
As I also said in my OP, I installed the v7.5.1 client, which is the latest version.

These are the steps I took to install the FaHClient:

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wget https://download.foldingathome.org/releases/public/release/fahclient/debian-stable-64bit/v7.5/fahclient_7.5.1_amd64.deb

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sudo dpkg -i --force-depends fahclient_7.5.1_amd64.deb

During that second step is when I encountered the first error I posted. This seems to suggest that there is something wrong with the DEB package as the error indicates that the sample config file (which I assume is supposed to be supplied by the DEB package) that gets copied to the /etc directory doesn't exist. I checked the /usr/share/doc/fahclient/ directory and sample-config.xml is definitely not there.

That said, I have managed to get the FaHClient working. It seems there is an error in the documentation. I forgot to mention that I was also using these instructions to try get the client running:

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https://foldingathome.org/support/faq/installation-guides/linux/command-line-options/

The error is where it tells you to use this to start the service:

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sudo /etc/init.d/FAHClient start

These instructions are incorrect. The service is actually run through Systemd, which means the commands to get this running are actually:

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sudo systemctl start FAHClient
sudo systemctl enable FAHClient

[Theodore]

I think Fahclient has 2 different versions of itself installed in Ubuntu, with the same name, or the FAHClient file doesn't respond properly using the command from any directory.

When trying to start fahclient from the terminal, other than from /etc/init.d, it won't work properly.
It will respond, but won't start.

I have Ubuntu 18.10 installed as well, and I can start or stop the service using
Sudo /etc/init.d/FAHclient start

Works just fine over here...

[bruce]

There are 3 different version of FAHClient ... one for Linux, one for Windows, and one for MacOS-X.
Why are you attempting to start or stop FAHClient. It is intended to operate as a Linux daemon, not as something you run from a terminal.

Think of the Linux printer daemon. It starts at boot time and there's no reason to mess with it. You would never think of starting a second copy in your user-space with a terminal command. It manages a queue for each Device/Printer, accepts jobs to be processed as necessary and delivered as intended. It runs in it's own user-space. You would never stop it or try to start another copy from a terminal. You manage the queues through a process that lets you pause/reorder/restart specific printer files that originate from something that one of the Linux users asked it to deliver to a specific printer. Once all the files have been delivered (or its queue is paused) The daemon just sits there waiting for a new file or a new command.

FAHClient is intended to be start at boot-time and it will manage a queue for each applicable device. If you want to issue specific commands to it, you can manage how it does that by submitting specific commands through FAHControl or WEBConrol which are the interactive processes belonging to FAH. If you connect to Linux through an XTerminal, you can start a copy of FAHControl and it will accept commands to any of the Linux/Windows/MaC systems on your network that happen to be running a copy of FAHClient. In fact, FAHControl can be running on say, a Windows system, and it lets you manage the queue(s) on a Linux system.

I recommend that when you install FAHClient on each system, you let it start automatically during reboot processing (issuing the sudo /etc/init.d FAHClient start and you forget about it.

[XJDHDR]

I just want to reiterate that I have fixed the second problem and the FAHClient is running. The biggest problem I had is that the documentation doesn't mention the Systemd service anywhere. Instead, I only found it after I, on a guess, got a list of all the services Systemd was controlling. At that point, I saw the FAHClient service configured but not enabled or running.

@Bruce
I think you have completely misunderstood what my posts are about. I never said anything about Windows or OSX or installing F@H on multiple systems. I never said anything about stopping the client or running multiple copies of it at once or running it from the terminal or giving it special commands. Where did you get the idea that I'm trying to do any of this?

To reiterate, my posts were about:
1. The "No such file or directory" error I'm getting while installing FAHClient
2. The fact that my FAHClient service was not starting at all.

Think of the Linux printer daemon. It starts at boot time and there's no reason to mess with it.

If the printer daemon is starting at boot and running properly, then indeed, you don't need to mess with it. If this is not the case, then you do, in fact, need to mess with it until it works. Otherwise, you have a broken printer daemon.

FAHClient sis intended to be start at boot-time and it will manage a queue for each applicable device.

And this is what I was trying to achieve. But, as I've explained, this was not happening.

If you want to issue specific commands to it, you can manage how it does that by submitting specific commands through FAHControl or WEBConrol which are the interactive processes belonging to FAH. If you connect to Linux through an XTerminal, you can start a copy of FAHControl and it will accept commands to any of the Linux/Windows/MaC systems on your network that happen to be running a copy of FAHClient. In fact, FAHControl can be running on say, a Windows system, and it lets you manage the queue(s) on a Linux system.

Okay, I didn't know about managing remote FAHClients with FAHControl. Thanks for that tip. But as I said earlier, I installed F@H on a headless server that doesn't have a GPU installed. Thus, I can't install or run any programs that have a GUI (like FAHControl or a web browser). Also, using these control programs to configure FAHClient doesn't help me if I can't start the FAHClient service to begin with. Finally, looking at the screenshots, I don't see anything in FAHControl that can't already be configured by editing config.xml.

I recommend that when you install FAHClient on each system,

While installing, after the point where I tell the installer if I want F@H to start automatically, I get the following error:

, you let it start automatically during reboot processing (issuing the sudo /etc/init.d FAHClient start and you forget about it.

I then tried to run the client with sudo /etc/init.d/FAHClient start but it just told me: Starting fahclient ... FAIL

[micha137]

Now quite exactly one year and this problem persists, I just hit it.