Occasional download failure of database snapshot 'hpr.sql' #17

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opened 2025-11-02 18:00:37 +00:00 by davmo · 1 comment
Owner

When attempting to download this file it is possible to receive the following error:

--2025-11-01 19:07:36--  https://www.hackerpublicradio.org/hpr.sql
Resolving www.hackerpublicradio.org (www.hackerpublicradio.org)... 204.13.239.180
Connecting to www.hackerpublicradio.org (www.hackerpublicradio.org)|204.13.239.180|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 403 Forbidden
2025-11-01 19:07:36 ERROR 403: Forbidden.

It seems likely that the file is unavailable because it is being written at that moment.

It would be better if the process that generates the file used the more resilient approach which makes the update "atomic". In general this consists of:

  • Writing new data to a temporary file
  • Changing its permissions in line with the downloadable file
  • Renaming it using mv to overwrite the existing file with the new one, this is an atomic process

See the StackExchange discussion of this: rewrite existing file so that it gets replaced by new version atomically, only once fully written

When attempting to download this file it is possible to receive the following error: ``` --2025-11-01 19:07:36-- https://www.hackerpublicradio.org/hpr.sql Resolving www.hackerpublicradio.org (www.hackerpublicradio.org)... 204.13.239.180 Connecting to www.hackerpublicradio.org (www.hackerpublicradio.org)|204.13.239.180|:443... connected. HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 403 Forbidden 2025-11-01 19:07:36 ERROR 403: Forbidden. ``` It seems likely that the file is unavailable because it is being written at that moment. It would be better if the process that generates the file used the more resilient approach which makes the update "atomic". In general this consists of: - Writing new data to a temporary file - Changing its permissions in line with the downloadable file - Renaming it using `mv` to overwrite the existing file with the new one, this is an _atomic_ process See the StackExchange discussion of this: [rewrite existing file so that it gets replaced by new version atomically, only once fully written](https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/24395/rewrite-existing-file-so-that-it-gets-replaced-by-new-version-atomically-only-o)
Owner

This has been re-engineered

This has been re-engineered
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