[R] download.file error - corrupt: Can't read SAT; charset=binary'

[Henrik Bengtsson]

On Thu, Aug 22, 2013 at 12:23 PM, Tal Galili <tal.galili at gmail.com> wrote:
> Quick update - I think most of the problem is resolved.
> After more checks (following Uwe comments):
> 1) I see that the installer file runs properly when I set "mode='wb'", and
> fails when "mode='w'" (so that solves why some of the time the installer
> didn't run)

It's a common mistake, cf.
https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-devel/2012-August/064739.html.  Also
one of the reasons for why R.utils::downloadFile() exists.

> 2) I still get the error massage mentioned before (e.g: "Composite Document
> File V2 Document, corrupt: Can't read SAT, etc..."). I don't know what it
> means, or if it is important (since the installer now runs properly).

I also get this message (on R devel on Windows).  It's seems to be
part of the HTTP header and nothing that R generates.  Using wget
--save-headers <url> (outside of R) you get:

HTTP/1.0 200 OK
Content-Length: 5799936
Content-Type: Composite Document File V2 Document, corrupt: Can't read
SAT; charset=binary
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="pandoc-1.11.1.msi"
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2013 20:14:08 GMT
Last-Modified: Sun, 17 Mar 2013 22:27:41 GMT
Expires: Thu, 29 Aug 2013 20:14:08 GMT
Cache-Control: public, max-age=604800
Server: DFE/largefile
Alternate-Protocol: 80:quic
Connection: keep-alive

/Henrik

>
> Tal
>
>
>
>
> ----------------Contact
> Details:-------------------------------------------------------
> Contact me: Tal.Galili at gmail.com |
> Read me: www.talgalili.com (Hebrew) | www.biostatistics.co.il (Hebrew) |
> www.r-statistics.com (English)
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 22, 2013 at 8:52 PM, Tal Galili <tal.galili at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Dear Uwe,
>>
>> Here is the updated code and error massage I get:
>>
>> exe_URL = 'http://pandoc.googlecode.com/files/pandoc-1.11.1.msi'
>> exe_filename <- file.path(tempdir(), basename(exe_URL))
>> download.file(exe_URL, destfile = exe_filename, mode = "wb", method=
>> "internal")
>> #############
>> ### Error massage:
>>  trying URL 'http://pandoc.googlecode.com/files/pandoc-1.11.1.msi'
>> Content type 'Composite Document File V2 Document, corrupt: Can't read
>> SAT; charset=binary' length 5799936 bytes (5.5 Mb)
>> opened URL
>> downloaded 5.5 Mb
>>
>>
>> 1) I am very sorry about the chipped previous massage (it is a side effect
>> of some form of "reply" in gmail, which I have not noticed before).
>> 2) I'm sorry about using the wrong function name - it comes with the
>> "installr" package, since I have it running on startup, I was blind to see
>> the code was not standard. Also, now that I know such a function exists in
>> base R, I will move to using it.
>>
>> Best,
>> Tal
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ----------------Contact
>> Details:-------------------------------------------------------
>> Contact me: Tal.Galili at gmail.com |
>> Read me: www.talgalili.com (Hebrew) | www.biostatistics.co.il (Hebrew) |
>> www.r-statistics.com (English)
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Aug 22, 2013 at 12:12 PM, Uwe Ligges <
>> ligges at statistik.tu-dortmund.de> wrote:
>>
>>> Tal,
>>>
>>> please quote the whole message!
>>> I had to look for the original one now.
>>>
>>> And then I found that code was not reproducible for me:
>>>
>>>
>>>  exe_URL = 'http://pandoc.googlecode.com/**files/pandoc-1.11.1.msi<http://pandoc.googlecode.com/files/pandoc-1.11.1.msi>
>>> '
>>>  exe_filename <- file.path(tempdir(), file.name.from.url(exe_URL))
>>>
>>> Error in file.path(tempdir(), file.name.from.url(exe_URL)) :
>>>   could not find function "file.name.from.url"
>>>
>>> and I do not know such a function. From its name I can guess
>>>
>>>  basename(exe_URL)
>>>
>>> is the base function that does the trick.
>>>
>>> So please specify full and reproducible code that shows the error,
>>> including and does not contain any additional quirks like the mode="w"....
>>>
>>>
>>> Anyway, the installer works for me downloaded with the method I indicated
>>> before.
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Uwe Ligges
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 22.08.2013 07:23, Tal Galili wrote:
>>>
>>>> Dear Uwe,
>>>> My apologies - my original code had mode="wb", which also *does not* work
>>>>
>>>> and produce the errors I've mentioned in the previous e-mail.
>>>>
>>>> The code I pasted had mode ="w", since that is one of the versions I've
>>>> played with (which also does not work).
>>>>
>>>>   With regards,
>>>> Tal
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Aug 21, 2013 at 11:45 PM, Uwe Ligges <
>>>> ligges at statistik.tu-dortmund.**de <ligges at statistik.tu-dortmund.de>>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>  Uwe
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ----------------Contact
>>>> Details:----------------------**------------------------------**---
>>>> Contact me: Tal.Galili at gmail.com |
>>>> Read me: www.talgalili.com (Hebrew) | www.biostatistics.co.il (Hebrew) |
>>>> www.r-statistics.com (English)
>>>> ------------------------------**------------------------------**
>>>> ------------------------------**----
>>>>
>>>>         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
>>
>
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>
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