[R] unable to download library

[David Winsemius]

> On Dec 16, 2015, at 1:58 PM, Rolf Turner <r.turner at auckland.ac.nz> wrote:
> 
> On 17/12/15 07:29, John Karon wrote:
>> I am trying to download the “Formula” library using
>> install.packages(“Formula”); I have had no problem downloading other
>> libraries recently.  I receive the error message
>> 
>> Warning: unable to access index for repository
>> https://cran.cnr.Berkeley.edu/bin/windows/contrib/3.2 Warning
>> message: package ‘Formula’ is not available (for R version 3.2.2)
>> 
>> I receive the same message adding lib=<path> to the install.packages
>> call.  An internet search suggests using download.file(), but that
>> requires knowing the url of the file in the repository. Can someone
>> tell me the url (just add Formula to the url above?) or suggest
>> another solution?  Thanks.
> 
> I installed "Formula" just now, under R 3.2.2, using install.packages(), with no problem. Did you have a *look* at the URL
> 
>    https://cran.cnr.Berkeley.edu/bin/windows/contrib/3.2
> 
> ???

When I attempt to open that with Chrome I get an error:

This webpage is not available

DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN

Like Bert, I also get an error report when I attempt to us the Berkeley repo, but I do not get an error when I use the CRAN repo in Switzerland.


> 
> Going there I see that the file Formula_1.2-1.zip is present and I was able to download it by clicking on it.

Well, those of us using Macs would not choose the zip file.

> 
> So if you insist on using download.file() you could just tack "/Formula_1.2-1.zip" onto the end of your URL.  But there is really no reason to do that; install.packages() works.

Well it works for some people with some repos but not for all people with all repos. I have had problems since upgrading to R 3.2.3.


sessionInfo()
R version 3.2.3 (2015-12-10)
Platform: x86_64-apple-darwin13.4.0 (64-bit)
Running under: OS X 10.11.2 (El Capitan)

locale:
[1] en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8/C/en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8

attached base packages:
[1] grDevices utils     datasets  stats     graphics  grid     
[7] methods   base     

other attached packages:
 [1] maps_3.0.1      rms_4.4-0       SparseM_1.7     Hmisc_3.17-0   
 [5] ggplot2_1.0.1   Formula_1.2-1   survival_2.38-3 sos_1.3-8      
 [9] brew_1.0-6      lattice_0.20-33

loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
 [1] Rcpp_0.12.2         RColorBrewer_1.1-2  plyr_1.8.3         
 [4] tools_3.2.3         rpart_4.1-10        digest_0.6.8       
 [7] polspline_1.1.12    gtable_0.1.2        nlme_3.1-122       
[10] Matrix_1.2-3        mvtnorm_1.0-3       proto_0.3-10       
[13] gridExtra_2.0.0     stringr_1.0.0       cluster_2.0.3      
[16] MatrixModels_0.4-1  nnet_7.3-11         foreign_0.8-66     
[19] multcomp_1.4-1      latticeExtra_0.6-26 TH.data_1.0-6      
[22] reshape2_1.4.1      magrittr_1.5        codetools_0.2-14   
[25] scales_0.3.0.9000   MASS_7.3-45         splines_3.2.3      
[28] colorspace_1.2-6    quantreg_5.19       sandwich_2.3-4     
[31] stringi_1.0-1       acepack_1.3-3.3     munsell_0.4.2      
[34] zoo_1.7-12         


> 
> It is a mystery what your problem could be,
> 
> cheers,
> 
> Rolf Turner
> 
> -- 
> Technical Editor ANZJS
> Department of Statistics
> University of Auckland
> Phone: +64-9-373-7599 ext. 88276
> 
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David Winsemius
Alameda, CA, USA