FB Sprint 2026 Notifications

[UBT - Timbo]

Just had a look at my previous posts in this forum and I had complained about the same thing in 2018: viewtopic.php?p=545#p545

I guess there is a pattern to how the Formula is being run.

Hi

Yes, there is a pattern as to how FB runs...it is up to me, as a volunteer admin to try and oversee how best for it to continue, now that Sebastien has taken more of a back-seat.

And forgive me for not remembering your post from 8 years ago, even though that was about a different Sprint project...and at the time, I was not an admin here, so I am not able to say what was done before as far as advising BOINC admins about Sprint events, though I believe that BOINC admins were being informed.

One will just has to accept that I am NOT a computer, I have a real job that takes up some of my time and I have a real life too. But I would not have taken on this role, if I didn't think I could do a decent job, compared to the only other option which was for the site to shut down.

regards
Tim

[magiceye04]

For me the minimum for a project would be that the admin of the project agrees that the project can be chosen for the FB upfront (maybe at the beginning of every year).

If this means that there are only 10 or 5 projects available, than this would be OK for me.

In the real F1 tracks are also cancelled if they do not fulfill the needs of the F1 circus.

Other competitions have only 5 or 6 projects every year and it makes fun anyway.

[UBT - Timbo]

For me the minimum for a project would be that the admin of the project agrees that the project can be chosen for the FB upfront (maybe at the beginning of every year).

Hi

Thanks for your input.

In fact this is what I do already, about a week before each Sprint. But some BOINC admins are too busy to reply or they do not respond for some other reason.

And we cannot do this at the beginning of the year, UNTIL the head honchos at F1 publish their race schedule.

So, I have to take a balanced view on this as to whether the project can support a Sprint based on recent evidence of tasks being completed.

If this means that there are only 10 or 5 projects available, than this would be OK for me.

In the real F1 tracks are also cancelled if they do not fulfill the needs of the F1 circus.

Other competitions have only 5 or 6 projects every year and it makes fun anyway.

Being based on an F1 season means we have lots of Sprints. So, we need to vary the choice as much as possible, to keep it fair, as otherwise, some might bunker tasks, in advance, based on which projects are active, making large numbers of tasks available. Limiting the number of projects will just make it easier to second-guess the chosen project.

regards
Tim

[UBT - Timbo]

Hi all

The 4th Sprint starts next week !!

2026-04-09 18:00 UTC - 2026-04-12 18:00 UTC

and the project has now been randomly selected.

Edit: 9th April In case you did not know, it's NumberFields

Once their admin confirms there are no planned maintenance periods for the above dates and that tasks will be available, then it will be "locked in".

Edit: 5th April
Project admin has now confirmed that the Sprint will have enough tasks available during the Sprint period.

regards
Tim

[JeromeC]

Running smoothly, thanks Tim.

[UBT - Timbo]

Running smoothly, thanks Tim.

Hi

You can thank the admins at NumberFields for their efforts to make sufficient tasks available.

HOWEVER: At time of writing, the project website seems to be inaccessible (at least to me) - so I hope this Sprint has not caused them any issues and likewise, I hope that some low-life, idiot, fu*ktards have not targeted the project with a DDOS attack, which basically ruins the Sprint.

regards
Tim

[UBT - Timbo]

Hi all

The next Sprint project has been randomly chosen (from an ever decreasing number of alternatives it seems )

I'm awaiting to hear back from the admin to see if their project can support this event.

regards
Tim

If anyone is interested, this is my working template, which gets updated a week before each Sprint so that I can then choose a list of projects that can then go into a random draw to select a suitable candidate. As you can see, some previous projects cannot be chosen due to either a very limited or even a lack of available tasks.

Code: Select all

		Suitable for a:	Marathon? / Sprint?
some tasks	Asteroids	Yes	Yes
some tasks	Moo!Wrapper	Yes	Yes
some tasks	NFS		Yes	Yes
some tasks	NumberFields	Yes	Yes
some tasks	PrimeGrid	Yes	Yes
some tasks	Ramanujan	Yes	Yes
some tasks	SiDock		Yes	Yes
some tasks	srBase		Yes	Yes
some tasks	Gerasim		Yes	Yes (Sometimes)
some tasks	yoyo		Yes	Yes (Sometimes)

limited tasks	einstein	Yes	Maybe
limited tasks	gpugrid		Yes	Maybe
limited tasks	lhc		Yes	Maybe
limited tasks	Rosetta		Yes	Maybe

some tasks	ODLK		Yes	No
some tasks	ODLK1		Yes	No
some tasks	ODLK2025	Yes	No
some tasks	PrivateGFN	Yes	No
some tasks	gaia		No	No
some tasks	lhc-dev		No	No
some tasks	LODA		No	No
some tasks	SPACIOUS	No	No

			Suitable for a:	Marathon? / Sprint?			
zero tasks (26-04-11)	Amicable	Yes	??
zero tasks (26-04-11)	milkyway	Yes	??
zero tasks (26-04-11)	TN-Grid		Yes	??
zero tasks (26-04-11)	Yafu		Yes	??
zero tasks (26-04-11)	DENIS		Yes	No
zero tasks (26-04-11)	ithenaComp	Yes	No
zero tasks (26-04-11)	RakeSearch	Yes	No
zero tasks (26-04-11)	Universe	Yes	No
zero tasks (26-04-11)	Climate Prediction	No	No
zero tasks (26-04-11)	ithenaMeas	No	No
zero tasks (26-04-11)	Minecraft	No	No
zero tasks (26-04-11)	QuChemPed	No	No
zero tasks (26-04-11)	RNAWorld	No	No

			Suitable for a: Sprint?			
no data		boinc@tacc		No
no data		Collatz			No
no data		Cosmology		No
no data		dodo			No
no data		goofyxGrid		No
no data		LLMentor		No
no data		MindModelling		No
no data		MLC			No
no data		nanoHUB			No
no data		QCN			No
no data		Radioactive		No
no data		Ralph			No
no data		SPT			No
no data		T.Brada			No
no data		USPEX			No
no data		WEP-M+2			No
no data		WUProp			No

The above DOES vary, depending on each projects on-going efforts to either remain active or to go into hiatus for any length of time.

[Yeti]

Timbo,

the FB-Stats from running sprint seems to hang, the website shows:

Last update : 2026-04-12 14:45 UTC

It should be 15:00 Uhr UTC or even 15:15 UTC

Could you please check this ?

Thanks in advance

Yeti

EDIT: Seems as if it fixed just now with 15:15 UTC

[yoyo]

BTW: Yafu has always tasks.
Or what is your source saying it dosn't?

[UBT - Timbo]

BTW: Yafu has always tasks.
Or what is your source saying it dosn't?

Hi

Sorry for the delay in replying.

My source on 11th April was here:

https://grafana.kiska.pw/d/boinc/boinc? ... 30d&to=now

And with a declining number of tasks being available (since a high of 1,882 on 21st March and a LOW of 882 today, 14th April) so, I sadly had to discount the project from the list of suitable projects that could support the high demand for many, many thousands of tasks during a Sprint.

Of course, if the admin wanted to be involved in a Sprint AND by prior arrangement, they could ensure that when the Sprint started that far more tasks would be available over the course of the Sprint period, then of course the project could be selected.

I am very open to the possibility of Yafu being chosen as a Sprint project - but there has to be sufficient tasks available and for the project website not to be saturated with download requests, causing it to go offline.

regards
Tim