[ci] [R-package] Windows jobs failing at 'setup-tinytex': "URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL"

[jameslamb]

Description

Starting some time in the last 3 days (unsure when), Windows CI jobs have been failing while running r-lib/actions/setup-tinytex, like this:

C:\Users\RUNNER~1\AppData\Local\Temp>curl.exe -fsSLO 'https://tinytex.yihui.org/install-bin-windows.ps1' 
curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL

C:\Users\RUNNER~1\AppData\Local\Temp>powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "install-bin-windows.ps1"  
The argument 'install-bin-windows.ps1' to the -File parameter does not exist. Provide the path to an existing '.ps1' file as an argument to the -File parameter.
Windows PowerShell
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Install the latest PowerShell for new features and improvements! https://aka.ms/PSWindows


D:\a\_actions\r-lib\actions\6f6e5bc62fba3a704f74e7ad7ef7676c5c6a2590\setup-tinytex\node_modules\@actions\exec\lib\toolrunner.js:592
                error = new Error(`The process '${this.toolPath}' failed with exit code ${this.processExitCode}`);
^
Error: The process 'D:\a\_temp\install-windows.bat' failed with exit code 4294770688
    at ExecState.processExited [as _setResult] (D:\a\_actions\r-lib\actions\6f6e5bc62fba3a704f74e7ad7ef7676c5c6a2590\setup-tinytex\node_modules\@actions\exec\lib\toolrunner.js:592:1)
    at ExecState.exitCode [as CheckComplete] (D:\a\_actions\r-lib\actions\6f6e5bc62fba3a704f74e7ad7ef7676c5c6a2590\setup-tinytex\node_modules\@actions\exec\lib\toolrunner.js:577:1)
    at ChildProcess.<anonymous> (D:\a\_actions\r-lib\actions\6f6e5bc62fba3a704f74e7ad7ef7676c5c6a2590\setup-tinytex\node_modules\@actions\exec\lib\toolrunner.js:471:1)
    at ChildProcess.emit (node:events:524:28)
    at maybeClose (node:internal/child_process:1104:16)
    at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (node:internal/child_process:304:5)

(build link)

Reproducible example

Any PR's CI.

Environment info

N/A

Additional Comments

I suspect this is related to these changes / discussions:

• [setup-tinytex] Use GH URL r-lib/actions#1060
• Switch from the .bat to .ps1 installer script for TinyTeX r-lib/actions#1049
• [setup-tinytex] updates r-lib/actions#1054

[jameslamb]

That script does seem to exist.

$ curl -i -I https://tinytex.yihui.org/install-bin-windows.ps1
HTTP/2 200
accept-ranges: bytes
age: 1
cache-control: public,max-age=0,must-revalidate
cache-status: "Netlify Edge"; fwd=miss
content-type: application/octet-stream
date: Fri, 01 May 2026 03:34:28 GMT
etag: "c8fce86a801e3af7a55a3686d61b8814-ssl"
server: Netlify
strict-transport-security: max-age=31536000
x-nf-request-id: 01KQGSM8CF7QZJZ57Q33V5H6NE
content-length: 2495

But maybe something has changed about its hosting that makes it incompatible with the curl being invoked by Powershell on GitHub-Hosted Windows runners?

I'm not sure, but updating to the latest r-lib/actions/setup-tinytex seems to resolve this so 🤷🏻

[jameslamb]

Ok actually, I think the root of the problem may have been in TinyTex itself. This looks relevant:

I didn't know until today that curl.exe has been available on Windows for 8 years. Sigh. How much of my life has been wasted in fighting with those stupid download methods in .bat and power(???)shell scripts over these years!

Anyway, TinyTeX users on Windows can enjoy a faster installation now.

ref: https://bsky.app/profile/yihui.org/post/3mkq6yn2mc22u

See this commit: rstudio/tinytex@70c3cb7

Either way, over in #7249 it looks like just updating to the latest r-lib/actions/setup-tinytex does resolve this so, still, 🤷🏻