[R] update.packages with proxy?

[Prof Brian Ripley]

On Mon, 3 Sep 2001, RINNER Heinrich wrote:

> This reminds me of a question I've never asked yet: Is there a trick to make
> this work when a username authentication is required for using the proxy?
> I need a user name and a password to connect to the Internet, and so I get:
> > version
>          _
> platform i386-pc-mingw32
> arch     x86
> os       Win32
> system   x86, Win32
> status
> major    1
> minor    3.0
> year     2001
> month    06
> day      22
> language R
> > CRAN.packages()
> trying URL `http://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/contrib/PACKAGES'
> Error in download.file(url = paste(contriburl, "PACKAGES", sep = "/"),  :
>         cannot open: HTTP status was `407 Proxy authorization required'
> >
>
> I understand why this does not work, but don't know what I can do about it.

There is no provision for that in the default code.  (It's not usual
for http proxies.)

There was a documentation bug in 1.3.0 under Windows. Here's what
1.3.1 says

  Proxies can be specified via environment variables.
  Setting \code{"no_proxy"} stops any proxy being tried.
  Otherwise the setting of \code{"http_proxy"} or \code{"ftp_proxy"}
  (or failing that, the all upper-case version) is consulted and if
  non-empty used as a proxy site.  For FTP transfers, the username
  and password on the proxy can be specified by \code{"ftp_proxy_user"}
  and \code{"ftp_proxy_password"}.

  There is an alternative method if you have Internet Explorer 4 or
  later installed.   You can use \code{modules\\internet2.dll} to
  replace \code{modules\\internet.dll}, when
  the `Internet Options' of the system are used to choose proxies and so
  on; these are set in the Control Panel and are those used for Internet
  Explorer.

The procedure is the same under 1.3.0, and internet2.dll may work for you.
Alternatively, use method="wget".


-- 
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 272860 (secr)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595

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