# Breaking Linux downloads

**URL:** <https://discourse.slicer.org/t/breaking-linux-downloads/44342>\
**Category:** Support\
**Tags:** web-infrastructure, installation\
**Created:** [September 4, 2025, 3:16pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/breaking-linux-downloads/44342 "2025-09-04T15:16:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 5

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**Author:** ![lassoan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/lassoan/32/13_2.png) [@lassoan](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/lassoan)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 3:43am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/breaking-linux-downloads/44342/5 "2025-10-14T03:43:31Z")

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Slicer uses girder as storage backend for application packages. Unfortunately, girder has a bug: HTTP range requests are implemented incorrectly It would be OK if the server did not support it, but instead the server claims it can do it, but actually ignores the requested range parameters. The issue is described in detail here:

> [@Incomplete Slicer package download - \`gzip: stdin: invalid compressed data--format violated\`](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/incomplete-slicer-package-download-gzip-stdin-invalid-compressed-data-format-violated/29748/12):
>
> Thank you, the file that you got was interesting. The file has the correct size (373537536 bytes). The first 43883184 bytes were correctly downloaded. After that point, the file content restarts from the beginning. This indicates that the download was interrupted (it can happen for example if the server loses its patience because your network connection is slow) and then your download client thought that it could resume the interrupted download from where it was left off, but the server did not…

I’ve been downloading Slicer on various computers over various internet connections and usually the speed is between 3 MB/sec and 100 MB/sec. The entire package is downloaded within one minute, there are no interruptions, no need for resumes, so the HTTP range request bug has no impact. If the download speed for some reason is unusually slow (e.g., 0.3MB/sec), then the connection may be interrupted and your download client may then try to use “resume” feature (HTTP range request), which will result in an invalid downloaded file or other failure.

The problem will get higher priority if we get more complaints or we can get significant funding for improving the hosting infrastructure. But for now the approach will remain “watch and wait”.

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_[View the full topic](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/breaking-linux-downloads/44342)._