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In the last 6 months, reaching the website https://yihui.name/tinytex/ has become very difficult here in Moscow (Russia) and in the last days impossible. I have no idea why it was blocked, but it can be reached only using a VPN. This problem does not allow me to install Tinytex and therefore I cannot use the bookdown package.

For example, if I try to install tinytex, I get the following error:

tinytex::install_tinytex()

trying URL 'http://mirror.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnet/install-tl.zip'
Content length 352 bytes downloaded 21.5 MB
trying URL 'https://yihui.name/gh/tinytex/tools/pkgs-custom.txt'
trying URL 'https://yihui.name/gh/tinytex/tools/pkgs-custom.txt'
trying URL 'https://yihui.name/gh/tinytex/tools/pkgs-custom.txt'
Error in xfun::download_file(..., quiet = Sys.getenv("APPVEYOR") != "") : 
  No download method works (auto/wininet/wget/curl/lynx)
In addition: Warning messages:
1: In download.file(url, output, ..., method = method) :
  URL 'https://yihui.name/gh/tinytex/tools/pkgs-custom.txt': status was 'Couldn't connect to server'
2: In download.file(url, output, ..., method = method) :
  InternetOpenUrl failed: 'A connection with the server could not be established'
3: In download.file(url, output, ..., method = method) :
  InternetOpenUrl failed: 'A connection with the server could not be established'
Please quit and reopen your R session and IDE (if you are using one, such as RStudio or Emacs) and check if tinytex:::is_tinytex() is TRUE.

The session info is reported below:

xfun::session_info('tinytex')
R version 3.4.3 (2017-11-30)
Platform: x86_64-w64-mingw32/x64 (64-bit)
Running under: Windows 10 x64 (build 16299), RStudio 1.2.1335
Locale:
  LC_COLLATE=Russian_Russia.1251  LC_CTYPE=Russian_Russia.1251    LC_MONETARY=Russian_Russia.1251 LC_NUMERIC=C                   
  LC_TIME=Russian_Russia.1251    
Package version:
  tinytex_0.12.4 tools_3.4.3    xfun_0.6

As a consequence, I have these two questions:

1) can I install tinytex without resorting to the website yihui.name/tinytex?

2) Alternatively, is it possible to tell Rstudio Desktop, during the installation of tinytex, to connect to yihui.name/tinytex using a VPN ?

Thanks.

Dean Fantazzini
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  • For `R version 3.4.3 (2017-11-30)`, is it possible for you to upgrade R (although I guess it won't help since your problem does not seem to be from R but your Internet connection)? – Yihui Xie May 13 '19 at 01:38
  • Unfortunately, the problem was created when upgrading R and trying to install tinytex again: the old tinytex was removed, but the new one could not be installed. I am working in emergency mode with an old laptop where an old vesion of tinytex is installed, but, as you may imagine, this is only a temporary solution – Dean Fantazzini May 13 '19 at 04:56
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    You may try `tinytex:::install_prebuilt()` instead. – Yihui Xie May 13 '19 at 13:47
  • Thanks, it worked! Moreover, I also noticed that the blocking of the website https://yihui.name/tinytex/ does not cover the full 24 hours, but it seems to be in place for a specific time range, so that it can be reached for at least some hours during the day. Thanks again. – Dean Fantazzini May 13 '19 at 21:32

0 Answers0