[R-SIG-Mac] cannit get list of binary packages from the GUI

[David Winsemius]

On Mar 16, 2012, at 7:21 PM, Simon Urbanek wrote:

>
> On Mar 16, 2012, at 8:55 AM, Prof Brian Ripley wrote:
>
>> On 16/03/2012 12:31, Ken knoblauch wrote:
>>> Federico Calboli<f.calboli<at>  imperial.ac.uk>  writes:
>>>> Apologies, I forgot to say, I have R 2.14.2, latest 64-bit GUI
>>> from http://r.research.att.com/, OS 10.7.3
>>>>> I just noticed the following weird issue.  If I go to the menu
>>> 'Packages and Data',  select 'Package
>>>> Installer' the installer goes up, but when I tell it to give the
>>> list of binaries available (I like to keep up
>>>> to date, and check every couple of days) the list comes up empty.
>>> The list for CRAN sources, and for
>>>> Bioconductor binaries work fine.
>>>>>
>>>>> I tried to change the mirror, but it does not make a difference.
>>>>>
>>>>> Am I the only one with the problem? what's going on?
>>>
>>> I second this observation.
>>
>> What is going on is that http://cran.r-project.org/bin/macosx/leopard/contrib/2.14/ 
>>  has an empty PACKAGES file.  Given that it hadn't been updated for  
>> a couple of weeks on Weds, you may just need to be patient.  But in  
>> any case, only Simon can fix this as only he has sufficient access  
>> to the package builder. So reporting to Simon is always going to be  
>> the most effective way forward for similar problems.
>>
>
> Hmm... it's not empty on the master machine -- use http://r.research.att.com 
>  as the mirror - it should work ...
>

Could PACKAGES file be in some damaged state that R cannot process?  
When I change the repository to that value  in the R64 GUI and try to  
see either either the binary versions or the source versions of  
contributed packages in the Package Installer I get these warnings at  
the console:

Warning: unable to access index for repository  http://r.research.att.com/bin/macosx/leopard/contrib/2.14

Warning: unable to access index for repository  http://r.research.att.com/src/contrib

I am able to see the .tgz packages at http://r.research.att.com/bin/macosx/leopard/contrib/2.14/ 
  with Firefox.

I am able to get a list of source packages (but not binary) to display  
in the Package Installer if I use a different repository. And I am  
able to install binary packages with ... for example:

install.packages("actuar", repo="http://r.research.att.com",  
type="mac.binary.leopard")

(Which updated an existing version to the current version.)

Admittedly I am running a somewhat behind the times version, but this  
is completely different behavior than it has exhibited up to a few  
days ago.

-- 
David Winsemius, MD

R version 2.14.0 Patched (2011-11-13 r57650)
Platform: x86_64-apple-darwin9.8.0/x86_64 (64-bit)

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] splines   stats     grDevices utils     datasets  graphics
[7] methods   base

other attached packages:
[1] rms_3.4-0        Hmisc_3.9-2      survival_2.36-10
[4] sos_1.3-1        brew_1.0-6       lattice_0.20-0

loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
[1] cluster_1.14.1 grid_2.14.0    tools_2.14.0



> Few days ago the build machine has lost network connectivity due to  
> a faulty ethernet cable, so maybe it has thrown off mirroring,  
> that's the closest I can get to an explanation...
>
>
>> Perhaps this can encourage people to test 2.15.0 beta?  Its binary  
>> package repository does have a populated PACKAGES file.
>>
>
> Yes, we can't stress is often enough that we need people to test  
> betas, reporting bugs after the release is too late!
>
> Thanks,
> Simon
>
>
>>>
>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Federico C. F. Calboli
>>>>> Neuroepidemiology and Ageing Research
>>>>> Imperial College, St. Mary's Campus
>>>>> Norfolk Place, London W2 1PG
>>>>>
>>>>> Tel +44 (0)20 75941602   Fax +44 (0)20 75943193
>>>>>
>>>>> f.calboli [.a.t] imperial.ac.uk
>>>>> f.calboli [.a.t] gmail.com
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> R-SIG-Mac mailing list
>>> R-SIG-Mac at r-project.org
>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-mac
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> 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
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>
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David Winsemius, MD
West Hartford, CT