bugGNU Octave - Bugs: bug #50268, get_forge_pkg: could not read URL

 
 

bug #50268: get_forge_pkg: could not read URL

Submitted by:  Michele <michele31415>
Submitted on:  Thu 09 Feb 2017 09:33:40 PM UTC  
 
Category: Octave FunctionSeverity: 3 - Normal
Priority: 5 - NormalItem Group: Unexpected Error
Status: Wont FixAssigned to: None
Originator Name: michele31415Open/Closed: Closed
Release: 4.2.1Operating System: Microsoft Windows

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Mon 14 Aug 2017 04:27:26 PM UTC, comment #21:

A note has already been added on the wiki, if someone wants to document this elsewhere or expand on that, and optionally point to this closed issue, that might help. Closing as won't fix.

Mike Miller <mtmiller>
Project Administrator
Wed 01 Mar 2017 06:59:37 PM UTC, comment #20:

I don't think we want to go backwards on secure access to downloading Forge packages.

Maybe it should be documented on the wiki that it is a known issue that https access does not work on Windows XP, and therefore pkg install -forge will not work on Windows XP. Workaround is to download package files using a modern browser / TLS stack and install them in Octave from local files.

Mike Miller <mtmiller>
Project Administrator
Wed 01 Mar 2017 06:31:32 PM UTC, comment #19:

I am also running 32-bit Windows XP. This doesn't seem like much of an Octave issue. It is upstream with very old operating systems and the Microsoft TLS stack. I would be tempted to close this bug again since I don't think there's much we can do on the Octave front. Trying to decode the error from the curl library and pinpoint it to an operating system/website mismatch seems difficult, and I would rather have volunteers tackling bigger issues in Octave than this one.

One possibility--and this is a question for those who manage Octave Forge rather than Octave Core--would be to have just regulary http access for Forge packages. The code is public so we don't strictly need SSL access. If a person is worried about man-in-the-middle attacks they should be checking the hashes and signatures of the package anyways.

Rik <rik5>
Project Administrator
Wed 01 Mar 2017 05:07:00 PM UTC, comment #18:

ok. sounds like enough evidence to point to it being an XP incompatibility.

Is there a fix that can be included in Octave? A set of workarounds that can be provided in documentation to users on XP? Or do we simply have to provide a 'certain functions are no longer compatible with XP' message?

Nicholas Jankowski <nrjank>
Wed 01 Mar 2017 05:03:07 PM UTC, comment #17:

"Michele,
which version of Windows are you running?"

XP Home SP3 with all MS updates applied. The machine is an Asus EeePC laptop with a 1.6 GHz. Atom N270

Michele <michele31415>
Wed 01 Mar 2017 04:16:11 PM UTC, comment #16:

related to this maybe?:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/40562808/curl-gives-error-on-xp-when-downloading-via-tls

Nicholas Jankowski <nrjank>
Wed 01 Mar 2017 03:52:01 PM UTC, comment #15:

If I was reading it correctly, it looks like WinXP doesn't support some of the newer certificates, and way around it was to install some intermediate certs.

I just installed XP in a VM on my machine and have issues viewing a number of websites using Internet explorer 6.0

John Donoghue <lostbard>
Project Member
Wed 01 Mar 2017 02:26:30 PM UTC, comment #14:

so far both confirmed cases are 32 bit... Rik, zip or exe installer? Michele, which version of Windows are you running?

John, I didn't really follow the curl discussion. Some seemed to focus on unincluded certificates in the cert store? Does it make sense that this would only affect either 32bit installs or certain Windows versions? I thought the fix pushed with the 4.2.1 MXE builds was supposed to fix the SSL issue. It did here at least.

Nicholas Jankowski <nrjank>
Wed 01 Mar 2017 11:20:07 AM UTC, comment #13:

Doing a quick look around, it looks like it is this issue https://github.com/curl/curl/issues/267

John Donoghue <lostbard>
Project Member
Wed 01 Mar 2017 05:38:15 AM UTC, comment #12:

"Michele, what version are you using? Which installer did you use, zip or executable? 32 or 64 bit?"

4.2.1, 32 bit executable

Michele <michele31415>
Wed 01 Mar 2017 02:09:17 AM UTC, comment #11:

Michele, what version are you using? Which installer did you use, zip or executable? 32 or 64 bit?

Nicholas Jankowski <nrjank>
Wed 01 Mar 2017 01:27:50 AM UTC, comment #10:

Re-opening this bug. I can confirm this at the command line in a Windows XP 32-bit virtual machine.

Trying to read from the original address shows that it has been "temporarily" redirected to an https address (SSL). However, trying to read that new SSL address results in some very scary error with the version of curl that is shipped with Octave 4.2.1.

Since this is only a problem on Windows, I'm adding John D. to the CC list. He handles issues with MXE which we use to cross-build Octave for windows. Looking in the log for the keyword curl I see

Maybe winssl isn't as good as openssl (cset 4248)?

Rik <rik5>
Project Administrator
Wed 01 Mar 2017 12:43:44 AM UTC, comment #9:

"This will discard the actual text, ok will be true or false indicating whether the fetch succeeded, and errmsg should contain a string from the curl library list of error codes."

>> [~, ok, errmsg] = urlread ("http://packages.octave.org/list>


ok = 0
errmsg = SSL connect error

>>


That's odd. But connecting to that URL directly in Firefox works OK.

Michele <michele31415>
Tue 28 Feb 2017 09:59:04 PM UTC, comment #8:

Try

This will discard the actual text, ok will be true or false indicating whether the fetch succeeded, and errmsg should contain a string from the curl library list of error codes. If the message is not helpful, you may be able to reproduce this with the curl executable if it is included in the distribution.

Mike Miller <mtmiller>
Project Administrator
Tue 28 Feb 2017 09:56:24 PM UTC, comment #7:

Hmm. Well then I suppose this could be a firewall issue. Could someone tell me what URL it's trying to read? Or at least what domain?

Michele <michele31415>
Tue 28 Feb 2017 09:51:10 PM UTC, comment #6:

I just ran the same command and it worked. Well, at least it downloaded and tried to install the parallel package. install failed.

OS: Windows 7, 64bit

but the parallel package file did appear in the working directory. and I haven't had any other trouble downloading package files with ver 4.2.1

Nicholas Jankowski <nrjank>
Tue 28 Feb 2017 08:25:19 PM UTC, comment #5:

Thanks, but I still get the same error:

>> version

ans = 4.2.1

>> pkg install -forge parallel


error: get_forge_pkg: could not read URL, please verify internet
connection
error: called from
get_forge_pkg at line 66 column 7
get_forge_download at line 26 column 12
pkg at line 382 column 29

>> pkg install -forge instrument-control

error: get_forge_pkg: could not read URL, please verify internet
connection
error: called from
get_forge_pkg at line 66 column 7
get_forge_download at line 26 column 12
pkg at line 382 column 29

>>

Michele <michele31415>
Mon 27 Feb 2017 06:29:05 PM UTC, comment #4:

just adding that pkg update and pkg -forge functionality is restored on Windows in the just released 4.2.1

Nicholas Jankowski <nrjank>
Mon 13 Feb 2017 06:37:39 PM UTC, comment #3:

and I noticed that, when working with a proxy, environment variable https_proxy must be set following the transition to https, http_proxy only is not sufficient (it is sufficient for wget, not for curl).

A.R. Burgers <arb>
Fri 10 Feb 2017 12:22:25 PM UTC, comment #2:

Also note that this bug affects 4.2.0 for Windows, because it was not built with Windows native ssl support, and Octave Forge was transitioned to https somewhat recently. A newer build of Octave (either 4.2.0 rebuilt by someone with new build rules, or a future 4.2.1 release) will need to be used to download Octave Forge packages over https.

Mike Miller <mtmiller>
Project Administrator
Fri 10 Feb 2017 04:19:41 AM UTC, comment #1:

Version 4.0.0 is deprecated and no longer supported. Try using the latest stable version 4.2.0 available at https://www.gnu.org/software/octave/#install.

Rik <rik5>
Project Administrator
Thu 09 Feb 2017 09:33:40 PM UTC, original submission:

While trying to load a package, I get this error, despite the fact that I am in fact connected to the Internet:

>> pkg install -forge parallel

error: get_forge_pkg: could not read URL, please verify internet
connection
error: called from
get_forge_pkg at line 77 column 7
get_forge_download at line 26 column 12
pkg at line 393 column 29

>>

Michele <michele31415>

 

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    Follow 8 latest changes.

    Date Changed By Updated Field Previous Value => Replaced By
    Mon 14 Aug 2017 04:27:26 PM UTCmtmillerStatusConfirmed=>Wont Fix
      Open/ClosedOpen=>Closed
    Wed 01 Mar 2017 01:27:50 AM UTCrik5StatusWont Fix=>Confirmed
      Open/ClosedClosed=>Open
      Release4.0.0=>4.2.1
      Carbon-Copy-=>Added lostbard
    Fri 10 Feb 2017 04:19:41 AM UTCrik5StatusNone=>Wont Fix
      Open/ClosedOpen=>Closed

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