[Rd] Connections to https: URLs -- IE expert help needed

[Prof Brian Ripley]

I've added to R-devel the ability to use download.file() and url() to 
https: URLs, *only* if --internet2 is used on Windows.

This uses the Internet Explorer internals, and only works if the 
certificate is accepted (so e.g. does not work for 
https://svn.r-project.org).

Now I use IE (and Windows for that matter) only when really necessary, and 
Firefox has simple ways to permanently accept non-verifiable certificates. 
I would be grateful if someone who is much more familiar with IE could 
write a note explaining how to deal with this that we could add to the 
rw-FAQ.

To forestall the inevitable question: there are no plans to add https: 
support on any other platform, but it is something that would make a nice 
project for a user contribution.  The current internal code is based on 
likxml2, and that AFAICS still does not have https: support.

-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595