On Jul 22, 2007, at 13:23, Chris Doucette wrote:

I've been trying to install ncbi_tools and get a checksum error, namely

Error: Checksum (md5) mismatch for ncbi.tar.gz Error: Target org.macports.checksum returned: Unable to verify file checksums Error: Status 1 encountered during processing.

I've manually downloaded the file by FTP from the source site (ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/toolbox/ncbi_tools/) and it downloads and expands fine, without corruption, and it apparently hasn't been altered in about five years, so I'm assuming there's some problem on the macports side rather than it being a corrupted file or a stealth update.

You're seeing ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/toolbox/ncbi_tools/ ncbi.tar.gz which hasn't been modified since 2002, true, but it's only a *symlink* to ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/toolbox/ncbi_tools/ CURRENT/ncbi.tar.gz which was modified 10/15/06. The version of the port is "20060507" so I'd say the software has indeed been updated since the port was last changed. It looks like the maintainer submitted an updated portfile 3 months ago: http://trac.macosforge.org/projects/macports/ticket/11869 But nobody noticed it. I'll commit it now. Wait 12 hours, do a "sudo port sync", then try installing ncbi_tools again.

Is there a way I can force the installer to use the expanded archive I downloaded myself and skip the checksum?

Yes, I believe there is a way to do this, but I don't remember it.... Besides, it defeats the reason why we have checksums -- because someone needs to first test whether the new version can be compiled in the same way as the old one.