Forum OpenACS Q&A: Problems downloading OpenACS 3.2.4

I'm having problems downloading the 3.2.4 release of OpenACS: in
Netscape Communicator 4.7.4 on Mac OS, clicking on the download link
starts the download, but the connection terminates abruptly with no
more than 10% of the downloaded file transferred. The same thing
happens with a dedicated, download-only client: here's the log (with
Set-Cookie removed).

GET /sdm/download-package/1/12/openacs-3.2.4.tar.gz HTTP/1.0
Accept: */*
Host: openacs.org
User-Agent: Anarchie/3.7

HTTP/1.0 200 OK
MIME-Version: 1.0
Date: Sun, 01 Oct 2000 12:48:24 GMT
Server: AOLserver/3.0+ad2
Content-Type: application/x-compressed
Content-Length: 2523221
Last-Modified: Sat, 23 Sep 2000 00:30:30 GMT
Connection: close

I'm pointing my fingers at the OpenACS.org server, because this problem
happens with these 2 clients and connecting with 2 different ISPs. Can
anyone shed some light there?

Sebastiano Pilla

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Posted by Don Baccus on
<shrug> I just downloaded it with no problem, so I think the problem probably lies at your end, or more precisely somewhere in the chain of  servers from your ISP(s) to openacs.org.

Try again.  You might have more success if you use a download client that can restart midway through an unsuccessful download.

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Posted by Ben Adida on
I've seen enough of these download complaints that I am starting to get *very* suspiscious of what's going on. I still can never reproduce the problem though! I am going to upgrade AOLserver and see where we stand.
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Posted by Sebastiano Pilla on
Try again. You might have more success if you use a download client that can restart midway through an unsuccessful download.
Unfortunately the problem is different. I get a successful download completion, but the file size is about 10-15% of what it should be (as indicated by the HTTP headers). I'm not getting "broken pipe" or "connection terminated" errors, just a normal completion, so no download client would flag it as an unsuccessful download.
I'll try again in the following days: if the problem persists, I'll try to install a packet logger so I can see the TCP activity when downloading the file.
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Posted by Sebastiano Pilla on
I've seen enough of these download complaints that I am starting to get *very* suspiscious of what's going on. I still can never reproduce the problem though! I am going to upgrade AOLserver and see where we stand.
Update: I tried yesterday, and got a perfect download via a 2Mbps dedicated line; however today, with my 56K modem, the same problem as before. Maybe you can't reproduce the problem because your connection is too fast (and perhaps the AOLserver configuration is unfavorable to clients with slow connections). Just conjecturing, but maybe it could be useful towards a more scientific analysis of the problem.
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Posted by Sebastiano Pilla on
I promise this is my last post in this thread.

I've just had the exact same problem trying to download this PowerPoint presentation from the AOLserver site, so its definitely an AOLserver problem with not-too-fast connections.