Re: Re: st: ssc problems? failed install of strgroup

[Christopher Baum <kit.baum@bc.edu>]

<>
On May 10, 2013, at 2:33 AM, Sandorl wrote:

> I am not sure Stata should "not find" the program on SSC just because
> the plugin might not be supported. I think tech support is looking
> into the problem as an error. 

The default behavior of the -ssc- command is tell you 'nothing to install' if Stata detects that you are
not running one of the supported platforms for which a plugin file is available. That is, it will not install any file unless
it can install a working package. -ssc describe- will not even show you that there is such a package. 
You are, of course, free to say

ssc type strgroup.hlp
or
ssc type strgroup.sthlp

to see the help file for the package. That help file says that the supported platforms include both
"Macintosh" and "Macintosh (Intel 64-bit)" each with MacOSX as the requisite OS. But

ssc type strgroup.pkg

shows only one plugin for Macintosh systems. 

Furthermore, Sandori's server reports

> S_StataMP:      MP
> S_StataSE:      SE
> S_CONSOLE:      console
> S_FLAVOR:       Intercooled
> S_OS:           Unix
> S_MACH:         Macintosh (Intel 64-bit)

showing that S_OS is Unix rather than MacOSX. This may well be the problem, as both the machine type
and OS must match that of the plugin. I can reproduce this on my own MacOSX server; in GUI mode, it can find and
install the package, but in console mode, -ssc desc strgroup- and -ssc inst strgroup- say no such package exists.

I am thankful that plugins are no more popular than they are, given the unStataish platfform-specific problem they create.
Several packages that have used them in the past have abandoned their use, finding that a well-written Mata implementation of compute-bound code may well suffice. 

Kit

Kit Baum   |   Boston College Economics & DIW Berlin   |   http://ideas.repec.org/e/pba1.html
                             An Introduction to Stata Programming  |   http://www.stata-press.com/books/isp.html
  An Introduction to Modern Econometrics Using Stata  |   http://www.stata-press.com/books/imeus.html
                                                                                                   | http://www.crup.com.cn/Item/111779.aspx	


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