net install from github does not work on Windows, but works on Mac

[Mikko Rönkkö]

I am trying to install a package from github. It works well on Mac, but on Windows I get an error message:

net install markdoc, force from("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ha...arkdoc/master/")


https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ha...arkdoc/master/ either
1) is not a valid URL, or
2) could not be contacted, or
3) is not a Stata download site (has no stata.toc file).

current site is still http://fmwww.bc.edu/repec/bocode/m/

I am using Stata 13.1 on Window 7 and Mac OS X 10.10.5 The windows computer is in a computer lab and has a network mounted work directory using a UNC path if that makes a difference.

[wbuchanan]

I think it might be the URL (at least the way it is rendering on my phone).

I also just attempted this on a Windoze box at work:

 
net inst markdoc, from("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/haghish/MarkDoc/master/")

And it worked without a problem.

[Mikko Rönkkö]

I copy-pasted your command to ensure that there is no typo and I get the same result.

Perhaps this is something to contact Stata user support about?

[wbuchanan]

Mikko Rönkkö are you behind some type of firewall or using a proxy? I had issues where I work now to get GitHub whitelisted so perhaps that is the problem? The UNC path might cause some headaches when actually installing the programs, but this looks like the computer itself isn't successfully connecting to the site. If I attempt going directly to the site I used above I get a HTTP 400 error, but if I add stata.toc to the end of the https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ha...ster/stata.toc the toc file is found without a problem. An alternative for haghish would be to create a GitHub Pages site for the repository (e.g., git branch gh-pages && git checkout gh-pages then set up the URL) in which case the site would be public facing at https://haghish.github.io/MarkDoc. As an example, if you go to this project page which is the project site for the strutil repository. It doesn't take too much time to set up a project page and I've found it to be more useful/helpful since it can also contain examples and additional documentation.

[Jorrit Gosens]

No issue here, also on 13.1 and win7
May be firewalling issue somewhere?

[Mikko Rönkkö]

I do not think that it is a firewall issue, at least not on the network side. As far as I know, the windows laptops do not have client side firewalls that would block outgoing requests. I have tried both fixed network and WLAN. On both networks on my mac it works and on a colleague's windows laptop it does not. Switching to administrator account will not solve the problem.

copy https://raw.githubusercontent.com/haghish/MarkDoc/master/stata.toc temp

gives

error 1

Using copy to get a random image from wikipedia over https works.

[Mikko Rönkkö]

This does work

net inst strutil, from("https://wbuchanan.github.io/StataStringUtilities/")

And we can access https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ha...ster/stata.toc with browser without problems.

[wbuchanan]

That definitely is bizarre and would probably be good to let tech support know about it. haghish may also be able to help diagnose the issue on your end (e.g., perhaps it is something with the repository configuration).

[Mikko Rönkkö]

I emailed the tech support and will post back here if/when the problem is resolved.

[haghish]

I am trying to install a package from github. It works well on Mac, but on Windows I get an error message:

net install markdoc, force from("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ha...arkdoc/master/")

Mikko this is really strange! Especially after seeing you could access and install a package with "https" address. I can't think of any reason at the moment. Was MarkDoc installed on that computer before? (although, if it was uninstalled, it makes no difference)...

[Mikko Rönkkö]

Yes, it is weird. I am discussing this with the tech support.

[haghish]

Mikko Rönkkö

Mikko another person reported the same problem and it seems it was solved by reinstalling and uninstalling the package from SSC. Here's the link to post
http://www.statalist.org/forums/foru...packages/page5

But I'm not sure if you also got the "unknown network protocol" error.

[Mikko Rönkkö]

I did not manage to identify the source of this problem, but after upgrading to Stata 14, it just started working.

[wbuchanan]

Mikko Rönkkö did you ever hear anything back from tech support?

[Mikko Rönkkö]

wbuchanan Yes I did, and they were really helpful (as always). I was out of office last week and therefore did not time to try everything they suggested before the update to Stata 14 solved the problem, whatever it was.