Bug#425771: marked as done (curl command quoted on 'Downloading Debian CD/DVD Images via http/ftp' webpage will not work)
Your message dated Wed, 23 May 2007 21:32:47 +0000
with message-id <BAY123-W11DEAF1D97BC837148E034C1350@phx.gbl>
and subject line Format of bug report email
has caused the attached Bug report to be marked as done.
This means that you claim that the problem has been dealt with.
If this is not the case it is now your responsibility to reopen the
Bug report if necessary, and/or fix the problem forthwith.
(NB: If you are a system administrator and have no idea what I am
talking about this indicates a serious mail system misconfiguration
somewhere. Please contact me immediately.)
Debian bug tracking system administrator
(administrator, Debian Bugs database)
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Package: www.debian.org
The command "curl -C - URL" suggested on <http://www.debian.org/CD/http-ftp/> will not succeed in downloading a copy of a file on an http or ftp server to the user's own machine.
Issuing this command as given will result in a copy of the remote file being sent to stdout. All the perplexed user will get is an "endless" screed of unreadable text scrolling by on their terminal screen.
In order to direct the output from a curl command to a local file on the user's own machine, either the "-o" or "-O" option needs to be invoked as part of that command.
The "-O" option is the most straightforward, as it creates a local copy of the file with exactly the same filename as that of the remote file on the server.
If the "-o" option is invoked instead, a local file will be created with the user's own choice of filename (which the user needs to enter in the command as an argument to the "-o" option).
Also, there is nothing whatever to be gained by invoking the "-C -" option when starting a fresh download using curl. Doing so is a harmless but pointless exercise, as this option has no "preemptive" or "precautionary" value. If the transfer were to be interrupted, curl could equally well pick it up again from exactly where it left off, regardless of whether or not the "-C -" option had been invoked in the first instance. It is only when a transfer has actually been interrupted that the "-C -" option is of any value: it now needs to be invoked (along with everything else that was in the original command) in order to resume the transfer from the precise point at which it was broken.
The curl manpage refers: <http://curl.haxx.se/docs/manpage.html>
I suggest that the command given on <http://www.debian.org/CD/http-ftp/> be reworded to "curl -O URL".
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Sorry, it seems I should have added a "Version:" pseudo-header to that email just sent - at least, as far as I can work out, missing one out must be the reason why the whole of my message is now spelled out on <http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?pkg=www.debian.org;dist=unstable>.
Though what I should say as to a "version" in respect of the www.debian.org pseudopackage still is not clear to me.
With this thought in mind, I looked into some of the other reports on that page before sending it. Since many of them did not have a "Version:" pseudoheader, I concluded it was not necessary that mine did either...
Maybe some more explicit help and guidance on the Web page as to how to file bug reports on pseudopackages would be helpful - ?
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