retry network operations 3 times

[vszakats]

To avoid transient network or server issues.

---

I'm not sure if the required PowerShell is present in CI runners. 5.1 doesn't support this option, 7.4 (LTS) does.
A CI run should clarify it.

Ref: https://learn.microsoft.com/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.utility/invoke-webrequest?view=powershell-7.4#-maximumretrycount

[gstrauss]

Tested here and failed: https://github.com/gstrauss/lighttpd1.4/actions/runs/14082875060/job/39439677948

Invoke-WebRequest : A parameter cannot be found that matches parameter name 'MaximumRetryCount'.
At D:\a\_temp\d1334e20-2170-4e8a-a056-1a82d41828a2.ps1:3 char:77
+ ... ygwin.com/setup-x86_64.exe -OutFile C:\setup.exe -MaximumRetryCount 3
+                                                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidArgument: (:) [Invoke-WebRequest], ParentContainsErrorRecordException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : NamedParameterNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.InvokeWebRequestCommand

The workflow is configured runs-on: windows-latest
and the full command run in the output above is
Invoke-WebRequest https://cygwin.com/setup-x86_64.exe -OutFile C:\setup.exe -MaximumRetryCount 3

Would you file an issue (elsewhere) to request upgrading PS in the github Windows CI runners?

[vszakats]

Tested here and failed: https://github.com/gstrauss/lighttpd1.4/actions/runs/14082875060/job/39439677948

Invoke-WebRequest : A parameter cannot be found that matches parameter name 'MaximumRetryCount'.
At D:\a\_temp\d1334e20-2170-4e8a-a056-1a82d41828a2.ps1:3 char:77
+ ... ygwin.com/setup-x86_64.exe -OutFile C:\setup.exe -MaximumRetryCount 3
+                                                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidArgument: (:) [Invoke-WebRequest], ParentContainsErrorRecordException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : NamedParameterNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.InvokeWebRequestCommand

The workflow is configured runs-on: windows-latest and the full command run in the output above is Invoke-WebRequest https://cygwin.com/setup-x86_64.exe -OutFile C:\setup.exe -MaximumRetryCount 3

Would you file an issue (elsewhere) to request upgrading PS in the github Windows CI runners?

@gstrauss Thanks a lot for testing!

I'd prefer not to file it there, it's too far down the rabbit hole.

That said an upgrade would be nice indeed, not just for this.

[gstrauss]

Ref: https://learn.microsoft.com/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.utility/invoke-webrequest?view=powershell-7.4#-maximumretrycount

-MaximumRetryCount

Specifies how many times PowerShell retries a connection when a failure code between 400 and 599, inclusive or 304 is received. Also see RetryIntervalSec parameter for specifying the interval between retries.

@vszakats How will that flag fix #9 as you suggested in your original post? The failures are not 4xx or 5xx.

[vszakats]

It's the laziest fix to offer some kind of retry. The reasons for a failure can be many. I delete the reference to #9.

But, since this doesn't work anyway due to lack of support in PowerShell, I guess a better approach would be using curl with --retry-all-errors or similar.

[jon-turney]

Please review #26

[gstrauss]

Well, I'm not a windows expert here.

With powershell 6 and 7, powershell was renamed to pwsh.

With some more testing, I found that if your PR changed shell: powershell to shell: pwsh, then you could use -MaximumRetryCount 3 so I think that is a worthwhile PR to change to use pwsh.

[gstrauss]

@jon-turney should this PR be resurrected? Or would you prefer a separate PR to change shell: powershell to shell: pwsh?

[vszakats]

@jon-turney: Thanks for #26. LGTM, made a comment there.

[jon-turney]

should this PR be resurrected

The documentation seems to indicate that MaximumRetryCount doesn't do anything on socket connection refused or timeout, so it's effective a worthless option.

So, thanks for the PR, but this seems hobbled into uselessness by choices made in pwsh. ☹️

[gstrauss]

The documentation seems to indicate that MaximumRetryCount doesn't do anything on socket connection refused or timeout, so it's effective a worthless option.

Yes. I was able to test this a few days ago when retrieving setup.exe from the mirror was for some reason slow. Even using pwsh with Invoke-WebRequest -MaximumRetryCount 3 ended up failing fairly quickly, i.e. it did not help much, if at all. I'll check (in a different PR) to see if the timeouts can be increased.