Failed to download `melpa' archive

[hpr]

I get the error Failed to download melpa archive. when I try to M-x package-refresh-contents, yet doing a (browse-url-emacs "https://melpa.org/packages/archive-contents" t) from within emacs works just fine and gives me the correct file. Here's my .emacs:

(require 'package)
(add-to-list 'package-archives
             '("melpa" . "https://melpa.org/packages/") t)
(when (< emacs-major-version 24)
  ;; For important compatibility libraries like cl-lib
  (add-to-list 'package-archives '("gnu" . "http://elpa.gnu.org/packages")))
(package-initialize)

I'm using emacs version 24.4. What can be done to debug / fix this problem?

[xuchunyang]

Not answering your question, but

(add-to-list 'package-archives '("gnu" . "http://elpa.gnu.org/packages")

you forget the tailing slash of GNU ELPA URL, as far as I know, it matters.

[hpr]

Thank you, I added the trailing slash but I am still getting the same error when trying to download the mepla archive. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[milkypostman]

do you have debug-on-error set?

some more logging details might be shown in the *Messages* buffer.

[hhnr]

Hi @milkypostman , here's the error after setting debug-on-error. Emacs version 24.5. But for some reason it works with emacs 25.

Debugger entered--Lisp error: (error "Could not create connection to melpa.org:443")
signal(error ("Could not create connection to melpa.org:443"))
error("Could not create connection to %s:%d" "melpa.org" 443)
url-http([cl-struct-url "https" nil nil "melpa.org" nil "/packages/archive-contents" nil nil t nil t] #[128 "\302\303\304p#\210\300\305\240\2$
url-https([cl-struct-url "https" nil nil "melpa.org" nil "/packages/archive-contents" nil nil t nil t] #[128 "\302\303\304p#\210\300\305\240$
url-retrieve-internal("https://melpa.org/packages/archive-contents" #[128 "\302\303\304p#\210\300\305\240\210\301p\240\207" [(nil) (nil) url-$
url-retrieve("https://melpa.org/packages/archive-contents" #[128 "\302\303\304p#\210\300\305\240\210\301p\240\207" [(nil) (nil) url-debug ret$
url-retrieve-synchronously("https://melpa.org/packages/archive-contents")
url-insert-file-contents("https://melpa.org/packages/archive-contents")
package--download-one-archive(("melpa" . "https://melpa.org/packages/") "archive-contents")
#0 "\301\300\302"\207" [("melpa" . "https://melpa.org/packages/") package--download-one-archive "archive-contents"] 3 "\n\n(fn)"
funcall(#[0 "\301\300\302"\207" [("melpa" . "https://melpa.org/packages/") package--download-one-archive "archive-contents"] 3 "\n\n(fn)"])
package-refresh-contents()
(if (package-installed-p (quote use-package)) nil (package-refresh-contents) (package-install (quote use-package)))
eval-buffer() ; Reading at buffer position 789
call-interactively(eval-buffer record nil)
command-execute(eval-buffer record)
execute-extended-command(nil "eval-buffer")
call-interactively(execute-extended-command nil nil)
command-execute(execute-extended-command)

[purcell]

Are you maybe on Windows? My guess is that 24.4 was relying on an external program such as gnutls or openssl to make an https connection, whereas (I think) 25 has SSL support compiled-in on Windows. The error indicates that your Emacs 24.4 was either incapable of https, or the helper program declined to make the connection. You can test it with other URLs, e.g. by evaluating (url-copy-file "https://www.google.com/" "google.txt").

[hhnr]

I'm using Ubuntu 14.04 @purcell. And with (url-copy-file "https://www.google.com/" "google.txt") from emacs-24.5 -nw -Q i get the same error

Debugger entered--Lisp error: (error "Could not create connection to www.google.com:443")
signal(error ("Could not create connection to www.google.com:443"))
error("Could not create connection to %s:%d" "www.google.com" 443)
url-http([cl-struct-url "https" nil nil "www.google.com" nil "/" nil nil t nil t] #[128 "\302\303\304p#\210\300\305\240\210\301p\240\207" [(n$
url-https([cl-struct-url "https" nil nil "www.google.com" nil "/" nil nil t nil t] #[128 "\302\303\304p#\210\300\305\240\210\301p\240\207" [($
url-retrieve-internal("https://www.google.com/" #[128 "\302\303\304p#\210\300\305\240\210\301p\240\207" [(nil) (nil) url-debug retrieval "Syn$
url-retrieve("https://www.google.com/" #[128 "\302\303\304p#\210\300\305\240\210\301p\240\207" [(nil) (nil) url-debug retrieval "Synchronous $
url-retrieve-synchronously("https://www.google.com/")
url-copy-file("https://www.google.com/" "google.txt")
eval((url-copy-file "https://www.google.com/" "google.txt") nil)
eval-last-sexp-1(nil)
eval-last-sexp(nil)
call-interactively(eval-last-sexp nil nil)
command-execute(eval-last-sexp)

[hhnr]

I'm using Emacs 24.5 GNU Emacs 24.5.1 (i686-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 2.24.23) of 2016-03-27

[milkypostman]

does it work without https?

On Sun, May 22, 2016 at 9:08 PM, rdotdk notifications@github.com wrote:

I'm using Emacs 24.5 GNU Emacs 24.5.1 (i686-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version
2.24.23) of 2016-03-27

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You are receiving this because you were mentioned.
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub
#3914 (comment)

[lascott]

In debug-on-error mode, I tried as https and http, both failed.
grabbing google with url-copy-file works just fine.

emacs --version : 24.3.1
uname -a : Linux Neruda 3.19.0-32-generic #37~14.04.1-Ubuntu
dpkg -l :
ii libssl1.0.0:amd64 1.0.1f-1ubuntu2 amd64 Secure Sockets Layer toolkit - shared libraries
ii libssl1.0.0:i386 1.0.1f-1ubuntu2 i386 Secure Sockets Layer toolkit - shared libraries
ii openssl 1.0.1f-1ubuntu2 amd64 Secure Sockets Layer toolkit - cryptographic ut

(when (>= emacs-major-version 24) (require 'package) (add-to-list 'package-archives '("melpa" . "https://melpa.org/packages/") t) (package-initialize))

Loading /home/louis/.emacs.d/init.el (source)...done
Contacting host: elpa.gnu.org:80
Saving file /home/louis/.emacs.d/elpa/archives/gnu/archive-contents...
Wrote /home/louis/.emacs.d/elpa/archives/gnu/archive-contents
Contacting host: melpa.org:80
package-handle-response: Error during download request: Not Found

next I evaluated (url-copy-file "https://www.google.com/" "google.txt")
which read successfully.

Mark set
load-file: Cannot open load file: /home/louis/
Contacting host: www.google.com:443
Wrote /home/louis/google.txt

[hhnr]

@milkypostman it works with http for me.

[milkypostman]

i think this is a local issue, not a problem with the server.

[haight6716]

I'm having the same problem. When I visit the recommended package url (https://melpa.org/packages/) with a web browser, I get an "empty" error page with a meta-redirect embedded. Seems like an obvious problem. Looks like someone rejiggered the website for human consumption without thinking about how machines will cope with it?

[milkypostman]

Emacs doesn't read that address. It reads
http://melpa.org/packages/archive-contents which is the package index which
package.el loads.
On Fri, Jun 10, 2016 at 10:18 Julian Haight notifications@github.com
wrote:

I'm having the same problem. When I visit the recommended package url (
https://melpa.org/packages/) with a web browser, I get an "empty" error
page with a meta-redirect embedded. Seems like an obvious problem. Looks
like someone rejiggered the website for human consumption without thinking
about how machines will cope with it?

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#3914 (comment), or mute
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.

[NJBS]

It looks like contents of archive-contents are cut off once again.

[xuchunyang]

and https://melpa.org/#/ website is not working correctly either

[purcell]

@NJBS / @xuchunyang unrelated. disk is full. see #3985

[tarsius]

Since we haven't heard from the affected users in a while, I am going to assume that this no longer is an issue. I also think that this is quite likely the case:

i think this is a local issue, not a problem with the server.

[abrahamparayil]

I still have this issue

[tarsius]

I still have this issue

What is "this issue"? What error messages do you get?

[abrahamparayil]

"Failed to download melpa archive." was the error message I got. Then I stayed up through the night and kinda copy pasted package installation code from different init files I found on Github and its working. The melpa link is different and this link seems to work. I'm very new to emacs.
This is what I use in my init file I've added another source too:

(load "package")
(package-initialize)
(add-to-list 'package-archives
'("marmalade" . "http://marmalade-repo.org/packages/"))
(add-to-list 'package-archives
'("melpa" . "http://melpa.milkbox.net/packages/") t)

[purcell]

@guy-fawks The milkbox.net URL is obsolete and you should instead follow the instructions in the MELPA README.

[abrahamparayil]

@purcell 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[AdanCortes]

From https://melpa.org/#/getting-started

"Enable installation of packages from MELPA by adding an entry to package-archives after (require 'package) and before the call to package-initialize in your init.el or .emacs file"