Download/install problem - HD Linux

[James McIninch]

I ordered HD for Linux from the online store and clicked on the provided link to download. I got the "install.bin" file and then marked it executable and ran it.

This is what I get:

$ ./install.bin
Preparing to install...
Extracting the JRE from the installer archive...
Unpacking the JRE...
gzip: /tmp/install.dir.30441/Linux/resource/vm.tar.Z: not in gzip format
/tmp/install.dir.30441/Linux/resource/vm.tar.Z: not in compressed format

gzip: /tmp/install.dir.30441/Linux/resource/vm.tar.Z: not in gzip format The included VM could not be uncompressed (GZIP/UNCOMPRESS). Please try to download the installer again and make sure that you download using 'binary' mode. Please do not attempt to install this currently downloaded copy.

... of course, the site only allows you one chance to download, and there's nothing on the site that tells how many bytes or provides a checksum to see if it cam through okay. This is what I have:

$ md5sum install.bin ; ls -l install.bin
d882f1de645d74d0c8218c89090172d1 install.bin
-r-xr--r-- 1 james james 40295170 Feb 14 15:48 install.bin

... is that right? I checked the vm.tar.Z file and it is not a compressed tar file:

$ file /tmp/install.dir.30441/Linux/resource/vm.tar.Z ; ls -l /tmp/install.dir.30441/Linux/resource/vm.tar.Z
/tmp/install.dir.30441/Linux/resource/vm.tar.Z: data
-rw-r--r-- 1 james james 33920902 Feb 15 09:50 /tmp/install.dir.30441/Linux/resource/vm.tar.Z

It seems like a wast to install the VM as I have a perfectly fine copy of Java installed. If I could have simply downloaded the application without the VM and installer crud, I'd have it running now.

Any suggestions?

[Simon]

Hrrrm....odd. It looks like you got a bad d/l.

Here's what I show for the file on the server:

md5sum install.bin ; ls -l install.bin
e4af8adbccd191db06ed7f930fca094f install.bin
40294195 install.bin

I've reset your account so that you can download the file again. Please let me know if you have any problems with the d/l.

The reason I include the JVM is twofold:

1. You would not believe the number of people who have problems installing their own JVM.....it tends to piss them off when they find that everything isn't included in the installer.

2 (most importantly) I wanted to maintain as consistent an environment for HD to run in as possible. By including the JVM for HD in the installer, I can keep _most_ of the variables consistent between systems.

[James McIninch]

I just tried to fetch it again, but your site is exhibiting the inifinte redirect loop error again (I had e-mailed with this problem earlier this week).

It seems the whole order-download thing is a little flaky right now. Perhaps when you've had time to get it working you can let me know, reset the account again, and I'll give it another shot.

I was really hoping to work with it this weekend...

[Simon]

Well hang on a sec...this is the first I had heard of an "infinite redirect loop error". Can you define what you're seeing?

I just entered a test order for myself for the Linux download of HD and it seems to be working fine.

If you can help me to understand what you're seeing on your end, I can certainly get things working....I'm just in the dark right now as to what's happening.

Edit: Just a note: I've reset your account again so that you can download the file, since the system had logged you as having already received it.

[James McIninch]

Sepcifically, when I attempt to follow the provided link that says "Right click and Save As to Download File" I get a pop-up about a cyclic link. I tried it a couple of times with different browsers (at first, you see, it allowed me to try a number of times). The specific error is:

An error occured while loading
https://secure.compnetco.com/herogames/getItem.jsp/install.bin?itemID=73156&purchaseDate=2003-02-12%2017:50:00-08:

Found a cyclic link in https://secure.compnetco.com/herogames/getItem.jsp/browse.jsp

This happened earlier in the week (I emailed orders@herogames.com on Wednesday about it), and happened again today when I tried after you had reset the account... I'll try again right now... It's downloading... No Content-Length set in HTTP header... got it... Same size and same MD5 sum as before... It doesn't work...

[Simon]

It's sounding like there might be something up with your Linux configuration....perhaps some of the Linux gurus can chime in here (I know that the installer has been working on most Linux distros)....

[James McIninch]

I'm not sure sabout that... The file size and checksum I download differ from what you report on the server, and I've tried the install on 3 different Linux systems (two versions of Mandrake and one of RedHat) so far...

The looping redirect problem has happened with at least 3 different browsers (lynx, Konqueror, and Mozilla)... The only common thing being that all machines lie behind a firewall and share a common DNS server (Comcast). I think I'll just ask HERO to credit me for the download and I'll just order the CD. That way I can at least start with an uncorrupted install.bin and work from there.

[Simon]

Ok...James, if you're still reading these boards, I have been spending some time looking at the download process to see if I could find anything in there that might be causing the problems that you're having.

What I found was that there was a few bytes of white space being inserted at the beginning of the files.

I went ahead and edited the server-side code which serves the files and am now getting an exact download on all files that I've tried (i.e. no more "extra whitespace").

I've gone ahead and reset your order status page (again), in case you want to try the download one more time.

The way I have things set now, there should be no difference at all between the file that you download and the file that is on the server.

Please let me know if this helps....

[James McIninch]

FANTASTIC! Dan, you rock!

Incidentally, I've just played with a bit and I have to say that it's absolutely beautiful. I have the day off tomorrow and I know what I'll be doing all day...

[Simon]

<b>Very</b> cool! Glad the fix worked (finally) :D

Make sure you grab the update that is available on the Free Stuff page.....there have been a lot of changes since 1.0 ;)

[Chaosliege]

Yet another example for the "Dan rocks" category. :D