[tex-live] tlmgr working despite laptop wifi off ?!

[jfbu]

Hi,

tonight (European time) something very weird happened.

I had turned off the wifi on my laptop to spare batteries,
but had forgotten that and decided to update my TL2018,

here is how it started (as one can see in transcript I hit Ctrl-C quickly)

$ tlmgr update --all
cannot contact mirror.ctan.org, returning a backbone server!

^CNo connection to the internet.
Unable to download the checksum of the remote TeX Live database,
but found a local copy so using that.

You may want to try specifying an explicit or different CTAN mirror;
see the information and examples for the -repository option at
http://tug.org/texlive/doc/install-tl.html
(or in the output of install-tl --help).


BUT lo and behold it then continued....:

tlmgr: package repository http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/systems/texlive/tlnet (not verified: unknown)
tlmgr: saving backups to /usr/local/texlive/2018/tlpkg/backups
[1/9, ??:??/??:??] update: dtxgallery [345k] (15878 -> 49504) ... ^CTLPDB::_install_package: downloading did not succeed


(I hit CTRL-C in panick as seen above, as some aetheral power had taken control of my laptop)

(then I hit CTRL-C again on each package update:)

tlmgr: Installation of new version of dtxgallery failed, trying to unwind.
tlmgr: Restoring old package state succeeded.
done
[2/9, 00:19/29:19] update: ketcindy [15118k] (49309 -> 49502) ... ^CTLPDB::_install_package: downloading did not succeed
tlmgr: Installation of new version of ketcindy failed, trying to unwind.
tlmgr: Restoring old package state succeeded.
done
[3/9, 00:21/00:43] update: lstfiracode [58k] (49462 -> 49503) ... ^CTLPDB::_install_package: downloading did not succeed
tlmgr: Installation of new version of lstfiracode failed, trying to unwind.
tlmgr: Restoring old package state succeeded.
done
[4/9, 00:23/00:47] update: pdfx [5000k] (49333 -> 49487) ... ^CTLPDB::_install_package: downloading did not succeed
tlmgr: Installation of new version of pdfx failed, trying to unwind.
tlmgr: Restoring old package state succeeded.
done
[5/9, 00:26/00:40] update: pstricks [7001k] (49437 -> 49486) ... ^CTLPDB::_install_package: downloading did not succeed
tlmgr: Installation of new version of pstricks failed, trying to unwind.
tlmgr: Restoring old package state succeeded.
done
[6/9, 00:27/00:31] update: tablvar [173k] (49214 -> 49493) ... ^CTLPDB::_install_package: downloading did not succeed
tlmgr: Installation of new version of tablvar failed, trying to unwind.
tlmgr: Restoring old package state succeeded.
done
[7/9, 00:29/00:33] update: texlive-docindex [242k] (49466 -> 49490) ... ^CTLPDB::_install_package: downloading did not succeed
tlmgr: Installation of new version of texlive-docindex failed, trying to unwind.
tlmgr: Restoring old package state succeeded.
done
[8/9, 00:32/00:36] update: texlive-scripts [3965k] (49475 -> 49498) ... ^CTLPDB::_install_package: downloading did not succeed
tlmgr: Installation of new version of texlive-scripts failed, trying to unwind.
tlmgr: Restoring old package state succeeded.
done
[9/9, 00:33/00:33] update: xurl [45k] (49441 -> 49488) ... ^CTLPDB::_install_package: downloading did not succeed
tlmgr: Installation of new version of xurl failed, trying to unwind.
tlmgr: Restoring old package state succeeded.
done
tlmgr: action update returned an error; continuing.
running mktexlsr ...
done running mktexlsr.
tlmgr: package log updated: /usr/local/texlive/2018/texmf-var/web2c/tlmgr.log
tlmgr: An error has occurred. See above messages. Exiting.


Then, I turned on the wifi and tried again, and much to my surprise, indeed the very same packages as listed above got updated (about the timings, I moved my laptop to the more favourable location in the room during ketcindy download which was more or less stalled)

~$ tlmgr update --all
tlmgr: package repository http://ctan.tetaneutral.net/systems/texlive/tlnet (verified)
tlmgr: saving backups to /usr/local/texlive/2018/tlpkg/backups
[1/9, ??:??/??:??] update: dtxgallery [345k] (15878 -> 49504) ... done
[2/9, 00:07/10:48] update: ketcindy [15118k] (49309 -> 49502) ... done
[3/9, 02:20/04:49] update: lstfiracode [58k] (49462 -> 49503) ... done
[4/9, 02:21/04:50] update: pdfx [5000k] (49333 -> 49487) ... done
[5/9, 02:40/04:09] update: pstricks [7001k] (49437 -> 49486) ... done
[6/9, 03:00/03:28] update: tablvar [173k] (49214 -> 49493) ... done
[7/9, 03:03/03:31] update: texlive-docindex [242k] (49466 -> 49506) ... done
[8/9, 03:05/03:31] update: texlive-scripts [3964k] (49475 -> 49509) ... done
[9/9, 03:17/03:17] update: xurl [45k] (49441 -> 49488) ... done
running mktexlsr ...
done running mktexlsr.
tlmgr: package log updated: /usr/local/texlive/2018/texmf-var/web2c/tlmgr.log



How is it possible that my mac book air could let tlmgr simultaneously
report no connection to the Internet and at the very same time still
find out which packages could get updated ?

(all of this happening while my WIFI icon in the top menu bar indicated
that WIFI was "deactivated")

(but the Terminal window process itself had been launched at a time
of WIFI "on" and had had some internet activity before WIFI got turned "off")

Jean-François