the new reporting facility is nice,. but there is one event that is not reported:
<pre>
rff@ut:~/darcs$ darcs get http://fooa.hup

darcs failed:  Not a repository: http://fooa.hup (Failed to download URL
http://fooa.hup/_darcs/inventory: couldn't resolve host name)
</pre>
If the connection/name server is down or very slow darcs will hang indefinitely
before giving the error message/progress report. 
Something like "Tryng to connect.." would be nice, i.e.
<pre>
rff@ut:~/darcs$ darcs get http://fooa.hup
Trying to connect to fooa.hup..
darcs failed:  Not a repository: http://fooa.hup (Failed to download URL
http://fooa.hup/_darcs/inventory: couldn't resolve host name)
</pre>

As a second user opinion, I would fine with resolving this as "wont-fix". 

First, the test URL given returned an immediate and useful failure message for
me with darcs 2. 

Second, there is a "--debug-verbose" flag in Darcs2, which provides more detail
about what's going on. 

Third, by referencing the manual:
http://www.darcs.net/manual/node5.html#SECTION00520000000000000000

You can turn on the verbose mode for "wget", when then gives what I think is
exactly the kind of feedback you are hoping for:

DARCS_GET_HTTP='wget --verbose -O -' darcs get  http://fooa.hup
--20:36:25--  http://fooa.hup/_darcs/prefs/motd
           => `-'
Resolving fooa.hup... failed: Name or service not known.
--20:36:27--  http://fooa.hup/_darcs/format
           => `-'
Resolving fooa.hup... failed: Name or service not known.
--20:36:28--  http://fooa.hup/.git/darcs-format
           => `-'
Resolving fooa.hup... failed: Name or service not known.
--20:36:30--  http://fooa.hup/_darcs/inventory
           => `-'
Resolving fooa.hup... failed: Name or service not known.
--20:36:31--  http://fooa.hup/_darcs/hashed_inventory
           => `-'
Resolving fooa.hup... failed: Name or service not known.
--20:36:31--  http://fooa.hup/_darcs/format
           => `-'
Resolving fooa.hup... failed: Name or service not known.
--20:36:31--  http://fooa.hup/.git/darcs-format
           => `-'
Resolving fooa.hup... failed: Name or service not known.

darcs failed:  Not a repository: http://fooa.hup ((wget --verbose -O -) failed
to fetch: http://fooa.hup/_darcs/inventory)

#########

And then, if you want that behavior all the time, you can set it as a default in
your shell environment, and not have to remember the syntax anymore. 

   Mark

I believe this is actually fixed.  Having used my laptop over wireless this
weekend, I have abundant data that when it takes ages to connect, I now get a
progress message.