Installation of the teradial package for DEA Bootstrapping failed

[Carlos Eduardo Freitas]

I performed a search for the teradial package, which returned this:

Search of official help files, FAQs, Examples, and Stata Journals

SJ-16-3 st0444 . . . . . . . . . Nonparametric frontier analysis using Stata
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O. Badunenko and P. Mozharovskyi
(help tenonradial, teradial, teradialbc, nptestind, nptestrts
if installed)
Q3/16 SJ 16(3):550--589
describes five new commands that fit and provide statistical
inference in nonparametric frontier models


After attempting the installation, I received the following message:

connection timed out
http://www.stata-journal.com/software/sj16-3/ 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/t/

I also tried these commands:

net install teradial, from("http://fmwww.bc.edu/repec/bocode/t/")
file http://fmwww.bc.edu/repec/bocode/t/teradial.pkg not found
could not load teradial.pkg from http://fmwww.bc.edu/repec/bocode/t/
r(601);

. ssc install teradial
ssc install: "teradial" not found at SSC, type search teradial
(To find all packages at SSC that start with t, type ssc describe t)
r(601);

Could you please help me?

[Nick Cox]

Two absolutes here:

1. The package is not on SSC, so installation using ssc will not work.

2. The package is on the Stata Journal website, and I just installed it successfully, so troubleshooting needs to be done your end. Sometimes a university, college or workplace inhibits or prohibits downloads.

However, I share your puzzlement as if your Stata can talk to SSC, why can't it talk to the Stata Journal site?

[Carlos Eduardo Freitas]

Dear Nick,

Thank you for confirming the two points: that the package is not on SSC and that you were able to install it successfully from the Stata Journal website. This confirms the package is available and the issue is indeed on my end.

I wanted to clarify the exact error message I receive when trying to install using the search window link or net install:

When I click on the link provided after searching for teradial (which correctly shows net js 16-3 st0444), Stata immediately returns a connection timed out error: connection timed out
http://www.stata-journal.com/software/sj16-3/ 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).

r(2);

As you noted, the puzzling part is that my Stata (Version 18, perpetual license) can successfully connect to and search the SSC archive, confirming that the general internet connection and Stata's ability to talk to some external sites is functional.

This behavior strongly suggests that the university firewall/proxy is selectively blocking the domain www.stata-journal.com, while allowing traffic to the SSC servers (fmwww.bc.edu). To bypass the likely network restrictions, I will proceed with the manual installation.

However, since I don't have the package file, could you possibly provide or link the st0444.zip file directly? Having the ZIP file would allow me to copy the .ado files into my Stata PLUS directory immediately, resolving the issue caused by the network timeout.

Thank you again for your time and clarification.

[Nick Cox]

However, since I don't have the package file, could you possibly provide or link the st0444.zip file directly? Having the ZIP file would allow me to copy the .ado files into my Stata PLUS directory immediately, resolving the issue caused by the network timeout.

If I understand this correctly, you're asking me (or anyone else) to zip up the files for st0444 and post a zip file here directly. Sorry, but that would not be a proper use of this forum or an appropriate way to treat Stata Journal packages and would set a precedent that is decidedly uncomfortable. Your best way forward is to get a fix for the access problem at work or possibly to download files privately. However, what to do is clearly your call too.

[Carlos Eduardo Freitas]

Dear Nick,

Good news! The teradial package installation was successful. It was indeed a firewall/network proxy issue, as suspected. Thank you for your guidance.

However, after successfully installing the package, I am now encountering a new error when attempting to run the following simarwilson command:
simarwilson (taxa_empreg vaci prenatal nut_gest nut_ccas = PBF Num_benef_pbf) ///
pobres ext_pobre taxa_analf taxa_mort_infantil if ano == 2018, ///
algorithm(2) rts(vrs) bcreps(1500) reps(2000) dots ///
tebc(eff_bcc_bc) bias(dea_bias)

command _deaparse is unrecognized

I have checked and believe I have all the necessary DEA and bootstrapping packages installed (including the relevant ones from the SSC archive), but I still receive this error.

Could you please assist me with this new issue? I am specifically trying to run a two-stage DEA analysis using the Simar and Wilson method.

Best regards

[Harald Tauchmann]

Dear Carlos,
_deaparse.ado is part of the Stata Journal package st0444 ("Nonparametric frontier analysis using Stata"). It seems that you have not yet installed it properly.
Best wishes,
Harald

[Nick Cox]

I suggest contacting the program authors for support.

(Ha! An author replied simultaneously.)