R help - Feb 2016 - Version 3.2.3: package not available error with https

Hi,

I recently installed version 3.2.3.  When I call

install.packages("RCurl")

I get a pop-up menu labelled "HTTPS CRAN Mirror" with a shortish list
of
mirrors.  However, I don't seem to be able to reach any of these
mirrors, and always get an error like the following

Error in download.file(url, destfile = f, quiet = TRUE) : 
  unsupported URL scheme
Warning: unable to access index for repository
https://cran.uni-muenster.de/src/contrib:
  unsupported URL scheme
Warning message:
package ?RCurl? is not available (for R version 3.2.3) 

If I choose the menu entry "(HTTP mirrors)" I get the list of HTTP
mirrors with which I am familiar from previous versions of R.  These
mirrors I can reach.

I assume I have some local, probably firewall-related problem, but can
someone confirm that the HTTPS mirrors do indeed work?

Cheers,

Loris

-- 
Dr. Loris Bennett (Mr.)
ZEDAT, Freie Universit?t Berlin         Email loris.bennett at fu-berlin.de

>>>>> Loris Bennett <loris.bennett at fu-berlin.de>
>>>>>     on Mon, 29 Feb 2016 12:09:14 +0100 writes:
    > Hi, I recently installed version 3.2.3.  When I call

    > install.packages("RCurl")

    > I get a pop-up menu labelled "HTTPS CRAN Mirror" with a
    > shortish list of mirrors.  However, I don't seem to be
    > able to reach any of these mirrors, and always get an
    > error like the following

    > Error in download.file(url, destfile = f, quiet = TRUE) :
    > unsupported URL scheme Warning: unable to access index for
    > repository https://cran.uni-muenster.de/src/contrib:
    > unsupported URL scheme Warning message: package ?RCurl? is
    > not available (for R version 3.2.3)

    > If I choose the menu entry "(HTTP mirrors)" I get the list
    > of HTTP mirrors with which I am familiar from previous
    > versions of R.  These mirrors I can reach.

    > I assume I have some local, probably firewall-related
    > problem, 

yes.  I assume other may help you *if* give a bit more
information than just your version of R.

    > but can someone confirm that the HTTPS mirrors do indeed work?

Sure, I confirm.  They are nowadays used by default by probably
100s of 1000s of R users.

Martin Maechler, ETH Zurich

    > Cheers,

    > Loris

    > -- 
    > Dr. Loris Bennett (Mr.)  ZEDAT, Freie Universit?t Berlin
    > Email loris.bennett at fu-berlin.de

    > ______________________________________________
    > R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and
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On 29/02/2016 6:09 AM, Loris Bennett wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I recently installed version 3.2.3.  When I call
>
> install.packages("RCurl")
>
> I get a pop-up menu labelled "HTTPS CRAN Mirror" with a shortish
list of
> mirrors.  However, I don't seem to be able to reach any of these
> mirrors, and always get an error like the following
>
> Error in download.file(url, destfile = f, quiet = TRUE) :
>    unsupported URL scheme
> Warning: unable to access index for repository
https://cran.uni-muenster.de/src/contrib:
>    unsupported URL scheme
That error message suggests the problem is in your build, e.g. possibly 
an out of date or missing libcurl.  What does capabilities("libcurl")
say?

Duncan Murdoch

> Warning message:
> package ?RCurl? is not available (for R version 3.2.3)
>
> If I choose the menu entry "(HTTP mirrors)" I get the list of
HTTP
> mirrors with which I am familiar from previous versions of R.  These
> mirrors I can reach.
>
> I assume I have some local, probably firewall-related problem, but can
> someone confirm that the HTTPS mirrors do indeed work?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Loris
>

Duncan Murdoch <murdoch.duncan at gmail.com> writes:
> On 29/02/2016 6:09 AM, Loris Bennett wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I recently installed version 3.2.3.  When I call
>>
>> install.packages("RCurl")
>>
>> I get a pop-up menu labelled "HTTPS CRAN Mirror" with a
shortish list of
>> mirrors.  However, I don't seem to be able to reach any of these
>> mirrors, and always get an error like the following
>>
>> Error in download.file(url, destfile = f, quiet = TRUE) :
>>    unsupported URL scheme
>> Warning: unable to access index for repository
https://cran.uni-muenster.de/src/contrib:
>>    unsupported URL scheme
>
> That error message suggests the problem is in your build, e.g. possibly an
out
> of date or missing libcurl.  What does capabilities("libcurl")
say?
FALSE

It seems that R needs libcurl 7.28.0, but my platform (Scientific Linux
6.7) only provides version 7.19.7.

Thanks for the pointer.

Loris
> Duncan Murdoch
>
>
>> Warning message:
>> package ?RCurl? is not available (for R version 3.2.3)
>>
>> If I choose the menu entry "(HTTP mirrors)" I get the list of
HTTP
>> mirrors with which I am familiar from previous versions of R.  These
>> mirrors I can reach.
>>
>> I assume I have some local, probably firewall-related problem, but can
>> someone confirm that the HTTPS mirrors do indeed work?
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Loris
>>
-- 
Dr. Loris Bennett (Mr.)
ZEDAT, Freie Universit?t Berlin         Email loris.bennett at fu-berlin.de