I'm trying to install the RStudio addin examples on Windows. I get the following error:
> devtools::install_github("rstudio/addinexamples", type = "source")
Installation failed: Failure when receiving data from the peer
I'm able to install R packages from CRAN, though. Any idea what could be the problem?
The most likely explanation is that this is the result of an (intermittent?) internet connectivity issue. Are you able to install any other packages on GitHub? What happens if you try, for example,
devtools::install_github("rstudio/rstudioapi")@kevinushey I have to leave the office now, but I'll try again tomorrow and let you know. Could this be proxy-related?
That's certainly possible -- that (or perhaps another mechanism?) may be restricting the R session's ability to access GitHub. Do regular package installs from CRAN work (with e.g. install.packages()?)
Yes, as I wrote initially, installing from CRAN works flawlessly. Do you know if I can set a proxy in R? I know both the proxy URL and the port. Oddly, the proxy doesn't create any problems with the CRAN packages
You should be able to set a proxy, as per here:
I think the proxy settings there will also apply to devtools, which uses the curl package underneath the hood.
Sweet! I'll try tomorrow and let you know. Thanks! 
@kevinushey apparently there was some weird connectivity issue, because in the following days I was able to install_github without having to configure any proxy. Anyway, thanks for the link! Can I tweet about it? It could be useful for people using R in a company.
Anyway, I have to say that the R ecosystem is the most proxy/firewall-friendly I've ever worked with - I've been able to install.packages() and update RStudio for years without having to configure a single proxy, much unlike Python's pip for example.