R devel - Nov 2001 - Suggesting to have download.file() reflect a new option

The "auto" method of downloading a file cannot cope with a proxy
firewall
requiring authentication. However, wget can handle this very easily (using
e.g. ~/.wgetrc).  While it is feasible to add the required
	 method="wget" 
to calls such as update.packages(), this approach is rather tedious and could
easily be controlled by use of a new option.

Below is a simple patch to download.file.R which, when no method is
specified, queries the (suggested) option download.file.method and sets it if
found; else the old default "auto" is used. The same patch can be
applied to
windows/download.file.R.  I'd be happy to add a small patch to the
documentation of both download.file() and options() to complement this is the
patch is deemed acceptable.  

Regards,  Dirk


edd@sonny:~/debian/r-base-1.3.1> diff -u
src/library/base/R/unix/download.file.R{.orig,}
--- src/library/base/R/unix/download.file.R.orig        Fri Apr 13 02:50:27
2001+++ src/library/base/R/unix/download.file.R     Sun Nov  4 09:27:47 2001
@@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
 download.file <- function(url, destfile, method,
                           quiet = FALSE, mode = "w")
 {
-    method <- if(missing(method)) "auto" else
-    match.arg(method,
-              c("auto", "internal", "wget",
"lynx", "socket"))
+    method <- if (missing(method))
+      ifelse(!is.null(getOption("download.file.method")),
+             getOption("download.file.method"),
+             "auto")
+    else
+      match.arg(method, c("auto", "internal",
"wget", "lynx", "socket"))
 
     if(method == "auto") {
         if(capabilities("http/ftp"))


-- 
Better to have an approximate answer to the right question 
than a precise answer to the wrong question. -- John Tukey
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Sounds very reasonable.  Please send me a patch file.

Brian

On Sun, 4 Nov 2001, Dirk Eddelbuettel wrote:
>
> The "auto" method of downloading a file cannot cope with a proxy
firewall
> requiring authentication. However, wget can handle this very easily (using
> e.g. ~/.wgetrc).  While it is feasible to add the required
> 	 method="wget"
> to calls such as update.packages(), this approach is rather tedious and
could
> easily be controlled by use of a new option.
>
> Below is a simple patch to download.file.R which, when no method is
> specified, queries the (suggested) option download.file.method and sets it
if
> found; else the old default "auto" is used. The same patch can be
applied to
> windows/download.file.R.  I'd be happy to add a small patch to the
> documentation of both download.file() and options() to complement this is
the
> patch is deemed acceptable.
>
> Regards,  Dirk
>
>
> edd@sonny:~/debian/r-base-1.3.1> diff -u
src/library/base/R/unix/download.file.R{.orig,}
> --- src/library/base/R/unix/download.file.R.orig        Fri Apr 13 02:50:27
2001+++ src/library/base/R/unix/download.file.R     Sun Nov  4 09:27:47 2001
> @@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
>  download.file <- function(url, destfile, method,
>                            quiet = FALSE, mode = "w")
>  {
> -    method <- if(missing(method)) "auto" else
> -    match.arg(method,
> -              c("auto", "internal", "wget",
"lynx", "socket"))
> +    method <- if (missing(method))
> +      ifelse(!is.null(getOption("download.file.method")),
> +             getOption("download.file.method"),
> +             "auto")
> +    else
> +      match.arg(method, c("auto", "internal",
"wget", "lynx", "socket"))
>
>      if(method == "auto") {
>          if(capabilities("http/ftp"))
>
>
> --
> Better to have an approximate answer to the right question
> than a precise answer to the wrong question. -- John Tukey
>
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> r-devel mailing list -- Read
http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~hornik/R/R-FAQ.html
> Send "info", "help", or "[un]subscribe"
> (in the "body", not the subject !)  To:
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>
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>
-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley@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 272860 (secr)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595

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r-devel mailing list -- Read http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~hornik/R/R-FAQ.html
Send "info", "help", or "[un]subscribe"
(in the "body", not the subject !)  To:
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