Within theBOINC platform forvolunteer computing, theBOINC Credit System[1] helpsvolunteers keep track of how muchCPU time they have donated to various projects. This ensures users are returning accurate results for both scientific and statistical reasons.
Onlinedistributed computing relies heavily, if not entirely, onvolunteercomputers. For this reason, projects such asSETI@home and otherBOINC projects depend on a complicated balance among long-term users and the cycle of new users and retiring users.[2]
Note that this reasons are not mutually exclusive.
The basis for the BOINC credit system is thecobblestone, named after Jeff Cobb ofSETI@home. By definition, 200 cobblestones are awarded for one day of work on a computer that can meet either of two benchmarks:
The actual computational difficulty needed to run a given work unit is the basis for the number of credits that should be granted. The BOINC system allows for work of any length to be processed and have identical amounts of credit issued to a user. In so doing, BOINC usesbenchmarks to measure the speed of a system, combining that figure with the amount of time required for a work unit to be processed. The interface then can “guess” at the amount of credit a user should receive. Since systems have many variables, including the amount ofRAM, theprocessor speed, and specific architectures of differentmotherboards andCPUs, there can be wide discrepancies in the number of credits that different computers (and projects) judge a user to have earned.
Most projects[which?] require a consensus to be reached by having multiple hosts return the same work unit. If they all agree, then the credit is calculated and all hosts receive the same amount regardless of what they asked for. Each project can use their own policy depending on what they see is best for their specific needs. In general, the top and bottom claimed credits are dropped and anaverage[citation needed] of the remaining is taken. However, certain other projects[which?] award a flat amount per work unit returned and validated.
Credits are tracked internally for computers, users, and teams. When a computer processes and returns a work unit, it receives no credit for that action alone. It must first have that work unit validated by the given, project-specific method. Once validated, the computer is granted credit, which can be less than, equal to, or greater than what was requested. This amount is immediately added to the computer, user, and team total. If a work unit is returned past the given deadline (in most cases) or is found to be inaccurate, it is marked as invalid and results in no credit. Users and teams commonly determine world rank by comparing the total number of credits accumulated. This highly favors users and teams that have been around for the longest time. This makes it extremely difficult for new users to rapidly gain ground in the rankings, even if they are running many computers. That said, given the exponential increase in computing power of the average PC, it is relatively easy to surpass inactive BOINC users who have earned all of their points on obsolete machines – even if they were at one time ranked highly. Thus, the highest ranked BOINC users will generally be the ones who are actively crunching.
To find the useful amount of work provided by a computer, a special calculation calledrecent average credit (RAC) is used. This calculation is designed to estimate the number of credits a computer, user, and team will accumulate on an average day.
The credit allocation has been challenged for several projects like EON[3] and Asteroids@Home.[4] These concerns have led to the shut down of many such projects over time and have also led to several alternative allocation strategies.[5]
BOINC projects export statistical information in the form ofXML files, and make it available for anyone todownload. Many different third-partystatisticalwebsites have been developed to track the progress of BOINC projects. These sites track computers, users, teams, andcountries within individual projects and across many projects. Many different sites provide summarygraphics, which can be used on web pages that automatically update to contain the statistical information for the specified user or team: