Using curl to download NeoOffice

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curl is a command-line resumable download tool. It is useful when downloading files over unsteady connections or when your browser stops early when downloading some files. We have found that some combinations of browsers and internet connections have a high frequency of incomplete downloads of NeoOffice releases.

When this happens, double-clicking the .dmg file will usually produce an error message stating "No mountable file systems" or similar.

You can use these instructions to download NeoOffice (or, often, complete a failed download)—and NeoOffice patches, too (just substitute the URL to the patch for the URL to the full binary in the instructions).

Contents

Using curl to download a NeoOffice release

To download a NeoOffice release using curl, please follow the instructions provided at the bottom of the Download Mirrors page on the NeoOffice.org website.

Using curl to download a NeoOffice patch

To use curl, follow these steps:

  1. Open a new Terminal window (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app)
  2. cd to the directory (folder) where you want the NeoOffice patch .dmg download to appear and press return
    For instance, if you want to download to the Desktop, type cd ~/Desktop and press return
    (be sure to type the the ~ symbol, which is the UNIX shortcut for "your home folder")
  3. Visit the NeoOffice patch download page in your browser and find a mirror to use (if you happen to know a mirror is located in your part of the world, use it; otherwise, pick the top mirror) and control-click on the download link. Select Copy Link Location (or similar-sounding option in your browser) from the context menu.
  4. Switch back to the Terminal and type the following, without pressing return: curl -C - -O
    (that's a capital o, not a zero)
  5. Then press the spacebar and then paste the link you copied from your browser
    The full command should look something like this:
    curl -C - -O http://www.mirror.com/path/to/NeoOffice-Patch.dmg
  6. Press return and the download will start.
  7. If you need to disconnect for any reason, pressing control-c will stop the download.
  8. If the download "finishes" early (compare the .dmg size on disk—select the file and choose Get Info from the Finder's File menu—with the size listed on the NeoOffice patch download page) or was interrupted for any reason, just repeat the full command (if the Terminal window is still open, pressing the up arrow key will usually redisplay the last command so you won't have to retype it; just press return.
    Repeat this step until the size of the downloaded .dmg file matches that from the NeoOffice patch download page and the disk image opens properly after double-clicking.

Using curl to complete a “failed” download begun by a web browser

In many cases, you can also use curl to complete a download that you started in your web browser but which did not complete properly. This will not always work (sometimes curl cannot pick up where the browser left off and must start over), but even if curl has to start over from scratch, you should be able to stop and restart the "new" download that curl began.

Resuming a “failed” download of a NeoOffice release begun by a web browser

If you are attempting to continue a download of a NeoOffice release or language patch begun by your web browser, please follow the instructions provided at the bottom of the Download Mirrors page on the NeoOffice.org website.

If your web browser did not save they NeoOffice .dmg to your Desktop, you must replace the cd ~/Desktop part of the command with cd /path/to/folder/containing/failed/download, e.g. if your failed NeoOffice download is saved in a "Downloads" folder in your user's home folder, you would type cd ~/Downloads for the initial part of the command.

Resuming a “failed” download of a NeoOffice patch begun by a web browser

  1. Open a new Terminal window (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app)
  2. cd to the directory (folder) where your partially-downloaded NeoOffice .dmg is located and press return
    For instance, if the file is on the Desktop, type cd ~/Desktop and press return
    (be sure to type the the ~ symbol, which is the UNIX shortcut for "your home folder")
  3. Visit the NeoOffice patch download page in your browser and find a mirror you used and then control-click on the download link. Select Copy Link Location (or similar-sounding option in your browser) from the context menu.
    Some browsers store or display the URL of a download in the download manager, so you can copy the URL of the failed NeoOffice download from there. You may have to control-click on the download and choose Copy Source URL or Copy Link or similar from the context menu.
  4. Switch back to the Terminal and type the following, without pressing return: curl -C - -O
    (that's a capital o, not a zero)
  5. Then press the spacebar and then paste the link you copied from your browser
    The full command should look something like this:
    curl -C - -O http://www.mirror.com/path/to/NeoOffice-Version.dmg
  6. Press return and curl will attempt to resume the download from where the browser left off.
  7. If you need to disconnect for any reason, pressing control-c will stop the download.
  8. If the download "finishes" early (compare the .dmg size on disk—select the file and choose Get Info from the Finder's File menu—with the size listed on the NeoOffice patch download page) or was interrupted for any reason, just repeat the full command (if the Terminal window is still open, pressing the up arrow key will usually redisplay the last command so you won't have to retype it; just press return.
    Repeat this step until the size of the downloaded .dmg file matches that from the NeoOffice download page and the disk image opens properly after double-clicking.


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