Michael S. Hanson ([email protected]) ran into a problem while
trying to update Stata/SE 8 for Macintosh OSX:
> When I tried to update my copy of Stata/SE 8 today, I ran into a
> problem. The ado files appear to have updated correctly, but not the
> executable. After each of several attempts, I get the following error
> message:
>
> . update executable
> (contacting http://www.stata.com)
>
> Executable update log
> 1. verifying "/Applications/Stata/" is writeable
> 2. downloading new executable
> file transmission error (checksums do not match)
> http://www.stata.com/updates3/mac_se.osx/StataSE.tgz not copied
> r(639);
Before I explain what went wrong, Michael should try to update
again; it will work now:
. update executable
. update swap
What went wrong when Michael tried to -update- Stata before? To
answer that, we have to go back to October 2003. In October 2003,
we changed the Macintosh executable from being a standalone executable
to a Mac OSX file package, which Apple wanted software developers
under OSX to do.
Prior to that change, -update executable- on a Macintosh would
download a single file with the extension '.bin'. Since the
change, .tgz collection of files is downloaded.
Since .tgz files won't uncompress if they have been corrupted,
we do not create Stata checksum (.sum) files for the Macintosh
.tgz updates since October 2003. However, for anyone who had
not updated since before October 2003, we have left behind
the last .bin update file along with the corresponding .sum
checksum file.
It is that checksum file along with the fact that Michael has
previously done a -set checksum on- that caused the error.
Stata found the .tgz file that needed to be downloaded for the
update. Stata saw that -set checksum- was on and so replaced
the .tgz extension with .sum.
Stata found a file on our web site with the appropriate .sum name,
downloaded it, and compared it against a fresh checksum calculated on
the .tgz update file. They of course did not match since the .sum
file was intended to be used with the old .bin update.
A workaround for Michael would have been to -set checksum off-
before performing the update. However, since .tgz files in effect
have a checksum built in, we felt that the .sum file in the
directory where the .tgz files are stored was unnecessary and
have removed it. Michael should encounter no more problems while
updating.
--Alan
([email protected])
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