Error: Unknown SSL protocol error in connection to api.bls.gov:443

[tiernanmartin]

I am experiencing the following error when trying to use this package:

# API Version 1

response <- blsAPI::blsAPI("LAUCN040010000000005", api_version = 1)
## Error in function (type, msg, asError = TRUE) : Unknown SSL protocol error in connection to api.bls.gov:443

# API Version 2

response <- blsAPI::blsAPI("LAUCN040010000000005", api_version = 2)
## Error in function (type, msg, asError = TRUE) : Unknown SSL protocol error in connection to api.bls.gov:443

Thanks for your work on this package 👍

Session info

devtools::session_info()
## Session info -------------------------------------------------------------
##  setting  value                       
##  version  R version 3.5.1 (2018-07-02)
##  system   x86_64, mingw32             
##  ui       RTerm                       
##  language (EN)                        
##  collate  English_United States.1252  
##  tz       America/Los_Angeles         
##  date     2018-10-03
## Packages -----------------------------------------------------------------
##  package   * version   date       source                            
##  backports   1.1.2     2017-12-13 CRAN (R 3.5.0)                    
##  base      * 3.5.1     2018-07-02 local                             
##  bitops      1.0-6     2013-08-17 CRAN (R 3.5.0)                    
##  blsAPI      0.2.0     2018-10-03 Github (mikeasilva/blsAPI@11850a0)
##  compiler    3.5.1     2018-07-02 local                             
##  datasets  * 3.5.1     2018-07-02 local                             
##  devtools    1.13.6    2018-06-27 CRAN (R 3.5.1)                    
##  digest      0.6.15    2018-01-28 CRAN (R 3.5.1)                    
##  evaluate    0.11      2018-07-17 CRAN (R 3.5.1)                    
##  graphics  * 3.5.1     2018-07-02 local                             
##  grDevices * 3.5.1     2018-07-02 local                             
##  htmltools   0.3.6     2017-04-28 CRAN (R 3.5.1)                    
##  knitr       1.20      2018-02-20 CRAN (R 3.5.1)                    
##  magrittr    1.5       2014-11-22 CRAN (R 3.5.1)                    
##  memoise     1.1.0     2017-04-21 CRAN (R 3.5.1)                    
##  methods   * 3.5.1     2018-07-02 local                             
##  Rcpp        0.12.18   2018-07-23 CRAN (R 3.5.1)                    
##  RCurl       1.95-4.11 2018-07-15 CRAN (R 3.5.1)                    
##  rjson       0.2.20    2018-06-08 CRAN (R 3.5.0)                    
##  rmarkdown   1.10      2018-06-11 CRAN (R 3.5.1)                    
##  rprojroot   1.3-2     2018-01-03 CRAN (R 3.5.1)                    
##  stats     * 3.5.1     2018-07-02 local                             
##  stringi     1.2.3     2018-06-12 CRAN (R 3.5.1)                    
##  stringr     1.3.1     2018-05-10 CRAN (R 3.5.1)                    
##  tools       3.5.1     2018-07-02 local                             
##  utils     * 3.5.1     2018-07-02 local                             
##  withr       2.1.2     2018-03-15 CRAN (R 3.5.1)                    
##  yaml        2.1.19    2018-05-01 CRAN (R 3.5.1)

[tiernanmartin]

I sent an email to the BLS API and they informed me that as of October 1, 2018 they no longer support Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.0:

Hello,

Thank you for using BLS API. Please refer to the below link

https://www.bls.gov/bls/disable-transport-layer-security-1-0.htm

You may need to update / configure client libraries to connect using TLS 1.1 and higher (preferably TLS 1.2)

Thanks,
Rajesh.

I found that this problem has impacted other packages and one suggested solution is to convert RCurl::curlPerfrom() to httr::VERB(). I made an attempt to do this myself but unfortunately I am out of my depth.

[mikeasilva]

@tiernanmartin . Thanks for the bug report. Will you please run libcurlVersion() and submit your output. The package runs fine on my Linux machine.

[tiernanmartin]

libcurlVersion()
## [1] "7.59.0"
## attr(,"ssl_version")
## [1] "OpenSSL/1.0.2n (WinSSL)"
## attr(,"libssh_version")
## [1] "libssh2/1.8.0"
## attr(,"protocols")
## [1] "dict"   "file"   "ftp"    "ftps"   "gopher" "http"   "https"  "imap"  
##  [9] "imaps"  "ldap"   "ldaps"  "pop3"   "pop3s"  "rtsp"   "scp"    "sftp"  
## [17] "smtp"   "smtps"  "telnet" "tftp"  

[hmhensen]

@mikeasilva Wanted to let you know I'm having the same problem on all three of my machines. Two Windows 10 and one Windows 7. Same exact output as @tiernanmartin when running libcurlVersion(). Thanks for your work on this package!

[pgg1309]

@mikeasilva I am facing the same problem after the BLS changed its security to TLS 1.1 or higher. I could not find a way out. I'm investigating replacing the curlPerform() call but no luck so far. Please let me know if you or @trijamms find a way to make it work again.
Thanks and congrats on the good work.

[pgg1309]

Hello,
I have found a good solution. One can use the package https://github.com/keberwein/blscrapeR or look into how the developer has used httr::POST and replace that in the blsAPI.
@tiernanmartin @mikeasilva

[doylek]

@mikeasilva, I've forked the package and integrated httr in lieu of RCurl. Please feel free to test it out and implement the changes if you see fit. The new version is up and running with my scripts on my machine.

I had the same problem on my Windows machine as @trijamms and @tiernanmartin with the same output from libcurlVersion(). This seems to be an issue with Windows + RCurl.

[tyoung94]

doylek is a scholar and a gentleman. This fix works perfectly

[mikeasilva]

@tiernanmartin, @trijamms, @pgg1309, @doylek, $tyoung94:

I think I have resolved this issue. You will need to update the blsAPI package using devtools::install_github('mikeasilva/blsAPI'). Will you try it out and see if it works in your environments?

[doylek]

No luck for me. I think the problem is with the POST call and how it treats encode = "json" differently than httr::content_type_json(). If I understood the documentation, the former attempts to perform formatting but the latter is just communicating content-type to the server.

[mikeasilva]

@doylek - Sorry I missed your changes, but I folded them in. Again please try it and confirm that it works for your situation.

[doylek]

@mikeasilva I've installed the branch with the new code via devtools::install_github('mikeasilva/blsAPI', ref = 'fix_issue_19') and it's working well with my scripts. Thanks!

[mikeasilva]

Fantastic news @doylek. Thanks for your solution! @tyoung94 , @pgg1309 @tiernanmartin , @trijamms is it working for you? I would love to close the issue and submit this to CRAN but want confirmation from someone else that it is working.