FAQ
Q: Why does DownloadPsychtoolbox persistently fail with svn CHECKOUT and PROPFIND errors?
A: This can occur not because of problems with the svn server at berlios.de, but because the computer you are using to to download the Psychtoolbox is behind a firewall and access to the repository is routed through a proxy host. The proxy host blocks direct 'svn', 'http' and even 'https' requests and so the download falls over. To use svn with a proxy host, follow the instructions below:
- On Windows: Go to Start → Run and paste this command: notepad %APPDATA%\Subversion\servers
- On OSX or Linux:
- You have to use an editor to edit a file called “servers” that is in a hidden directory called “.subversion” (note the dot) to provide the required information.
- Open a Unix shell (using Terminal or XTerm). An Xterm shell usually starts up when X11 does, with Matlab. Terminal is in the "Utilities" folder in "Applications"
- With a Unix shell open, at the prompt type:
Pico is the least bad of the unix editors (at least it has a list of commands at the bottom of the editor window. Note, in pico ^ is the control key, so ^X is Control-X).
pico ~/.subversion/servers
[global]
# http-proxy-exceptions = *.exception.com, www.internal-site.org
# http-proxy-host = Proxy host
# http-proxy-port = Port number
# http-proxy-username = username
# http-proxy-password = password
# http-compression = no
# No http-timeout, so just use the builtin default.
# No neon-debug-mask, so neon debugging is disabled.
# ssl-authority-files = /path/to/CAcert.pem;/path/to/CAcert2.pem
# http-proxy-exceptions = *.exception.com, www.internal-site.org
# http-proxy-host = Proxy host
# http-proxy-port = Port number
# http-proxy-username = username
# http-proxy-password = password
# http-compression = no
# No http-timeout, so just use the builtin default.
# No neon-debug-mask, so neon debugging is disabled.
# ssl-authority-files = /path/to/CAcert.pem;/path/to/CAcert2.pem
- Replace “Proxy host” and “Port number” with the information your System Administrator provides. “username” and “password” are those for your system-wide account (i.e., used to check your email, access the internet, etc).
- Remove the # and the following space. It's crucial that the 'http-etc' strings start in the first column.
- Save the changes, the [global] section should now look something like this:
[global]
http-proxy-exceptions = *.
http-proxy-host = something.edu
http-proxy-port = 8080
http-proxy-username = myusername
http-proxy-password = mypassword
# http-compression = no
# No http-timeout, so just use the builtin default.
# No neon-debug-mask, so neon debugging is disabled.
# ssl-authority-files = /path/to/CAcert.pem;/path/to/CAcert2.pem
http-proxy-exceptions = *.
http-proxy-host = something.edu
http-proxy-port = 8080
http-proxy-username = myusername
http-proxy-password = mypassword
# http-compression = no
# No http-timeout, so just use the builtin default.
# No neon-debug-mask, so neon debugging is disabled.
# ssl-authority-files = /path/to/CAcert.pem;/path/to/CAcert2.pem
If it still does not work it might be that your institutions proxy does not support the HTTP methods listed in the Subversion FAQ: http://subversion.tigris.org/faq.html#http-methods .
Just a final note, your username and password are now hard-coded in the servers file so if your institution requires you to change your password periodically, it won’t be updated in the servers file automatically, you'll have to update it manually (by editing the servers file). If you don’t, DownloadPsychtoolbox or UpdatePsychtoolbox may fail in the future because the proxy host rejects your out-of-date password.
