Unable to install ssc files - work around sought

[Bob Green]

Hello,

I have stata 14 installed at work and at home. At home I can install ssc files without problem.

At work, which is a government health service, I receive the following error.

. ssc install leftalign
server refused to send file
http://fmwww.bc.edu/repec/bocode/l/ either
1) is not a valid URL, or
2) could not be contacted, or
3) is not a Stata download site (has no stata.toc file).
r(672);

I searched for the error message and supplied the the local IT department the stata site advice. The various options the IT tried didn't fix the problem. Is there a way to manually install the files without having to do it via the web-site?

Any assistance is appreciated,

Regards

Bob

[Nick Cox]

ssc would put your installed files in what adopath calls PLUS according to the first letters of each filename (so, files for the same package could go to different directories or folders). So, at worst that is what you have do manually. Even this depends on your having write access to those places, evidently.

[Bob Green]

Nick,

Thanks. I just found an ado/plus folder on my hard drive . I'll try copying this folder to my C drive at work. Presumably if I didn't specify where to save this folder in the first place, stata will look for it for it in the same place on another computer (though this may be wishful thinking).


Bob.

[Nick Cox]

No need for guesswork or wishful thinking here. Run

adopath

at work to see where it would regard as PLUS. (Possibly that directory or folder does not exist.) You can also use adopath to change that to somewhere else.

[Bob Green]

Nick, thanks again.

[Nick Cox]

It's hard to advise on site set-up but StataCorp technical support know all the tricks there are.

Locally on one network, each student user can install their own files on what looks to them like a dedicated drive. They can also use many possible physical machines in classrooms, libraries, etc., but none "belongs" to them. Hence there is no question of copying to C:. So, we installed Stata so that profile.do automatically fixes the adopath, so that they can install from SSC and use those installed files without bother.

[wbuchanan]

I would second @Nick Cox's suggestion regarding the use of profile.do and/or sysprofile.do. They are also helpful to use when you want to start up Stata with your personal development directories (the location of PERSONAL and PLUS on OSX isn't the most convenient to get to, but I can remove a - at the start of my sysprofile.do to put all of my development projects on the ADOPATH). This could also be useful if you use any cloud/server based service for file sharing (e.g., Dropbox) to keep all of the scripts accessible on your ADOPATH from multiple machines.

[Bob Green]

Thanks. Do you have a simple version of what you are describing that you could post?

[Nick Cox]

I misspoke; it's sysdir that you also need. This is an example:

sysdir set PERSONAL !!!
sysdir set PLUS !!! 
sysdir set OLDPLACE !!!
adopath + !!! 
adopath + !!! 
set scheme s1color

except that of course you should fill in !!!. Note the scope for multiple extensions to your adopath.

Graph scheme is of course nothing to do with the question but the last command may serve here as a reminder of a preference you may wish to declare.

[Bob Green]

Nick,

Thanks again.