[R] Fwd: CRAN problem with plyr-1.4.1

[Uwe Ligges]

On 12.04.2011 14:52, Ian Davis wrote:
> Uwe,
>
> I really do appreciate the help from you and Douglas on resolving this
> problem.  However, I respectfully disagree on a few points:
>
> - install.packages() was broken and failing to install successfully.

install.packages() works well, it is *not* broken.


> This is why I was tracking down the URL via the CRAN website.

yes, but that was not recent since the repository was more recent. And 
updating web pages takes its time for 3000 packages.

download.packages() would have done it fine, since it is not relying on 
the web page. But then, install.packages() worked as well.


> - I think it's crazy to have an update process that breaks links for ~24
> hours every time a package is updated.

No, I just said wait for 24 hours to be on the safe side. I does not 
take 24 hours. For binary package versions, you need to wait 72 hours 
(at least that is what we promise).


 > This means that on any given
> day, some significant fraction of R packages just cannot be installed?

They can always be installed, since a repository is up to date at once, 
just the web pages are not updates at once.


> Even if you "just" have broken links on the web site, it looks pretty
> bad. "Wait till tomorrow" seems like a poor response for a project as
> large and widely used as R.
>
> I'll repeat what I told Douglas -- as a user of R, it would be very
> helpful if the list of mirrors indicated which one(s) were authoritative
> (and by implication, which are unreliable).

Unreliable mirrors are removed from the list of mirrors from time to 
time. Mirrors are updates at least twice a week.

Best,
Uwe Ligges


>
> Thanks again for your help, and for your work on maintaining R.
>
> Best,
> Ian
>
> 2011/4/12 Uwe Ligges <ligges at statistik.tu-dortmund.de
> <mailto:ligges at statistik.tu-dortmund.de>>
>
>
>
>     On 11.04.2011 21:03, Douglas Bates wrote:
>
>         The first thing to do is try another mirror.  The "official" (or as
>         official as we ever get about anything) U.S. mirror is
>
>         http://cran.us.R-project.org
>
>         They tend to be very good about updating.  Presently the source
>         package for plyr is at version 1.5 and the binary versions are
>         both at
>         1.4.1
>
>
>     Right, and on CRAN master the update process was running and hence
>     you got a 440. Or in other words: Please just be a bit patient after
>     a package was updated, the automated processes may take a day to
>     complete. You can access the repositories without any problem using
>     install.packages() and friends.
>
>     Uwe Ligges
>
>
>
>             On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 1:27 PM, Ian
>             Davis<ian.w.davis at gmail.com <mailto:ian.w.davis at gmail.com>>
>               wrote:
>             It looks like there might be some kind of problem with the
>             Plyr-1.4.1
>             packages pushed to CRAN?  The web pages show 1.4.1 as the
>             current version,
>             but trying to fetch the source through the provided link
>             gives a 404:
>
>
>             http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/R/CRAN/web/packages/plyr/index.html
>
>             $ wget
>             http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/R/CRAN/src/contrib/plyr_1.4.1.tar.gz
>             --2011-04-11 13:19:09--
>             http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/R/CRAN/src/contrib/plyr_1.4.1.tar.gz
>             Resolving lib.stat.cmu.edu... 128.2.241.212
>             Connecting to lib.stat.cmu.edu
>             <http://lib.stat.cmu.edu>|128.2.241.212|:80... connected.
>             HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 404 Not Found
>             2011-04-11 13:19:09 ERROR 404: Not Found.
>
>
>             This prevented me from installing ggplot2 until I went back
>             and found an old
>             version (1.4) of Plyr to install manually.  Since it looks
>             like Plyr was
>             *just* updated a few days ago, I'm guessing something went
>             awry?  I checked
>             several CRAN mirrors and got the same problem with all of
>             them.  They think
>             the current version is 1.4.1, but they don't have any files
>             available for
>             download.
>
>             Hope this helps,
>             Ian
>
>                     [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
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>
>         ______________________________________________
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>