After restarting the VM I got a subset of the same message:

Operation failed: read() failed

I think the problem is related to permissions as Dave says. Although your userid is now part of the boinc group, the gui_rpc_auth.cfg may not have 'group' read permission.

To fix, first note that the gui_rpc_auth.cfg in /var/lib/boinc is actually a link into the /etc/boinc-client directory:

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 34 Apr 20  2022 gui_rpc_auth.cfg -> /etc/boinc-client/gui_rpc_auth.cfg

and if we look at the permissions of the linked file in my files:

ls -l /etc/boinc-client/gui_rpc_auth.cfg
-rw-r----- 1 root boinc 1 Oct  1  2019 /etc/boinc-client/gui_rpc_auth.cfg

It says 'root' owns the file but the group owner is 'boinc' and we have group 'read' permission (the second 'r' in the first column). You probably don't have this set, perhaps yours is '-rw------' instead. If that's the case, then change it with:

sudo chmod g+r /etc/boinc-client/gui_rpc_auth.cfg

Hopefully that will fix it!

When I do:

ls -l /etc/boinc-client/gui_rpc_auth.cfg

I get

-rw-r----- 1 root boinc 1 Dec 2  2022 /etc/boinc-client/gui_rpc_auth.cfg

A blank gui_rpc_auth.cfg file will work - I tend to keep mine empty. There's also no special reason why /var/lib/boinc/gui_rpc_auth.cfg is a link to the default in /etc/boinc-client. You can delete the link and create a real file of the same name in /var/lib/boinc-client.

p.s. the install, I think, should really have done all this for you. Not sure why it fails on this machine and not the other you mentioned which worked.

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I did a search for boinc and read() type error messages of the kind you posted earlier. I found one hit here: https://boinc.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=12290. Unfortunately there was no solution posted, but the suggestion was it was something to do with the UFW (Ubuntu's 'uncomplicated' firewall).

I had a look at your machines. I see both the Ubuntu VMs have been running tasks quite successfully. I mistakenly thought this was a new install on a new Ubuntu VM. So the question is, what's changed? Was boincmgr/boniccmd working fine before until after a recent change?

From what you've posted, the install looks ok (apart from the /etc/group change). Though I don't understand how you were able to read the gui_rpc_auth.cfg file to find it was blank if your username wasn't in the boinc group.

Did you make any security changes on Windows? Or upgrade it? Just wondering if something has altered in the BIOS that's preventing the VMs from working correctly.

This whole adventure started when I posted in the Windows forum that one of my PC was not getting any tasks. One of the replies indicated that I might improve the VirtualBox Linux tasks if I upgraded the boinc version.

Independent from that:
Your Linux clients run BOINC v7.18.1 which is an Android only release.
Using it on Linux is known to cause lots of problems, hence must not be used.
See:
https://boinc.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=15014&postid=112098
https://boinc.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=15014&postid=112100

Perhaps I should restore my VM to BOINC v7.18.1 which actually runs?

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That rather implies that the new version of BOINC - you need to tell us where you got it from - was compiled to use a different version of the software package runtime libraries.

Trying to start the separate binary programs (boinc, boincmgr) in a terminal window might give you some useful error messages, but if you feel you've wasted too much time on it already - yes, revert to v7.18.1. If it runs, it'll be OK.

That rather implies that the new version of BOINC - you need to tell us where you got it from - was compiled to use a different version of the software package runtime libraries.

I knew there was a reason other than perversity for compiling my own!

Trying to start the separate binary programs (boinc, boincmgr) in a terminal window might give you some useful error messages, but if you feel you've wasted too much time on it already - yes, revert to v7.18.1. If it runs, it'll be OK.

I am running

Dec 18  2022 boinc-client-7.20.2-1.el8.x86_64.rpm
Apr 10 22:09 boinc-client-doc-7.20.2-1.el8.noarch.rpm
Feb  7 15:25 boinc-manager-7.20.2-1.el8.x86_64.rpm

on my Red Hat Enterprise Linux release 8.8 (Ootpa) machine.

On my Windows 10 machine, I just updated this morning to

Operating System  Microsoft Windows 10
Core x64 Edition, (10.00.19045.00)
BOINC version 	  7.22.2

It was running 7.20.2 for quite a while.

They both seem to be running just fine.

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This whole adventure started when I posted in the Windows forum that one of my PC was not getting any tasks. One of the replies indicated that I might improve the VirtualBox Linux tasks if I upgraded the boinc version.

Independent from that:
Your Linux clients run BOINC v7.18.1 which is an Android only release.
Using it on Linux is known to cause lots of problems, hence must not be used.
...

Perhaps I should restore my VM to BOINC v7.18.1 which actually runs?

Well, I use 7.18.1 on all my linux boxes (the one that says pre-release) and I've not had a single problem with it. Yet I recently had problems with the Windows version 7.22 on a WINE install which worked when I dropped back to an earlier boinc version. So one might suppose there's issues with 7.22.

There's an old saying: 'If it's not broke, don't fix it' :) If I was you, I'd go back to the earlier boinc version.

I don't understand your point about not getting CPDN tasks as your profile shows you've run plenty on both the VMs? It's probably just that there are usually more Windows machines subscribed to CPDN than tasks available. I also miss out sometimes.

p.s. if you had some failed tasks lately because of the bad batch, it will take time for the server to start sending you tasks again as I believe it black-lists your host for a short while.

That rather implies that the new version of BOINC - you need to tell us where you got it from - was compiled to use a different version of the software package runtime libraries.

I knew there was a reason other than perversity for compiling my own!

I got it from here:

Check https://launchpad.net/~costamagnagianfranco/+archive/ubuntu/boinc

Gianfranco is an official BOINC builder.

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I am surprised. Gianfranco's offerings are usually reliable.

This whole adventure started when I posted in the Windows forum that one of my PC was not getting any tasks. One of the replies indicated that I might improve the VirtualBox Linux tasks if I upgraded the boinc version.

Independent from that:
Your Linux clients run BOINC v7.18.1 which is an Android only release.
Using it on Linux is known to cause lots of problems, hence must not be used.
...

Perhaps I should restore my VM to BOINC v7.18.1 which actually runs?

Well, I use 7.18.1 on all my linux boxes (the one that says pre-release) and I've not had a single problem with it. Yet I recently had problems with the Windows version 7.22 on a WINE install which worked when I dropped back to an earlier boinc version. So one might suppose there's issues with 7.22.

There's an old saying: 'If it's not broke, don't fix it' :) If I was you, I'd go back to the earlier boinc version.

That's what I will do. Thanks for all your help.

I don't understand your point about not getting CPDN tasks as your profile shows you've run plenty on both the VMs? It's probably just that there are usually more Windows machines subscribed to CPDN than tasks available. I also miss out sometimes.

p.s. if you had some failed tasks lately because of the bad batch, it will take time for the server to start sending you tasks again as I believe it black-lists your host for a short while.

It has been years since I have received any Windows tasks on that PC. I suspect that it's not simply the luck of the draw, but that's a topic for the other forum.

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