BinaryProvider.jl: powershell download blocked by antivirus/anti-malware software

Hi,

I am working on a corporate computer with Windows 7 Enterprise and Powershell version 2.0.

When I am trying to install packages such as Sundials.jl or CxxWrap.jl, I get an error when the powershell command invoked by BinaryProvider.jl is trying to download some binary files (see the screenshot below to see the error message).

I have disabled my Symantec Endpoint Protection or try to set some exceptions for powershell in this antivirus/anti-malware software but none of that was able to solve the problem.

So would you have any suggestions to bypass this security issue or a way to install a package manually like in R where the package can be installed from a zip file with the command install.packages(“filepath.zip”).

Thanks,

Antoine

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r took many years to work in corporate environments. Hopefully julia will get there sooner. these are the things that need to be focused on

I don’t have access to a windows machine ATM, but I would try the following:

  • does run(`powershell`) work from Julia?
  • if not, can you run it from the command line?

In my (thankfully limited) Windows experience, EPERM can come from a lot of things.

Powershell can be disabled domain-wide via a group policy setting. If I remember correctly, this is the case for my workplace. I will try on Monday whether I can reproduce the problem.

run("powershell") works from Julia.
It’s the specific powershell command used to download a .tar.gz file which is blocked by my antivirus software when run either in Julia or in the Windows command prompt:

powershell -NoProfile -Command ‘[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol =[System.Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12; $webclient = (New-Object System.Net.Webclient); $webclient.DownloadFile(“https://github.com/JuliaDiffEq/SundialsBuilder/releases/download/dummy-0.0.3/Sundials.x86_64-w64-mingw32.tar.gz”, “C:\Portable\APPS\Julia\JuliaPackages\v0.6\Sundials\deps\usr\downloads\Sundials.x86_64-w64-mingw32.tar.gz”)’

So, it’s not an Julia issue per se. But I would like to find a solution to circumvent the problem by either replacing the powershell command in the BinaryProvider.jl package or by installing the package manually from a zip file.

Thanks for checking. Unfortunately, I am working in a large company so I won’t be able to get our IT department to change a group policy setting for Julia especially when I see that Symantec has a full document on the use of powershell to attack systems (Powershell Symantec).

I neither have hope for my employer in that regard. But that would mean that there needs to be a workaround to make BinaryProvider and also Base Julia work in locked-down environments.

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Perhaps someone with a stake in this should open an issue at

Want to do some testing first :slight_smile: