1# how to install curl and libcurl
2
3## Installing Binary Packages
4
5Lots of people download binary distributions of curl and libcurl. This
6document does not describe how to install curl or libcurl using such a binary
7package. This document describes how to compile, build and install curl and
8libcurl from source code.
9
10## Building using vcpkg
11
12You can download and install curl and libcurl using the [vcpkg](https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg/) dependency manager:
13
14    git clone https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg.git
15    cd vcpkg
16    ./bootstrap-vcpkg.sh
17    ./vcpkg integrate install
18    vcpkg install curl[tool]
19
20The curl port in vcpkg is kept up to date by Microsoft team members and community contributors. If the version is out of date, please [create an issue or pull request](https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg) on the vcpkg repository.
21
22## Building from git
23
24If you get your code off a git repository instead of a release tarball, see
25the `GIT-INFO` file in the root directory for specific instructions on how to
26proceed.
27
28# Unix
29
30A normal Unix installation is made in three or four steps (after you have
31unpacked the source archive):
32
33    ./configure --with-openssl [--with-gnutls --with-wolfssl]
34    make
35    make test (optional)
36    make install
37
38(Adjust the configure line accordingly to use the TLS library you want.)
39
40You probably need to be root when doing the last command.
41
42Get a full listing of all available configure options by invoking it like:
43
44    ./configure --help
45
46If you want to install curl in a different file hierarchy than `/usr/local`,
47specify that when running configure:
48
49    ./configure --prefix=/path/to/curl/tree
50
51If you have write permission in that directory, you can do 'make install'
52without being root. An example of this would be to make a local install in
53your own home directory:
54
55    ./configure --prefix=$HOME
56    make
57    make install
58
59The configure script always tries to find a working SSL library unless
60explicitly told not to. If you have OpenSSL installed in the default search
61path for your compiler/linker, you do not need to do anything special. If you
62have OpenSSL installed in `/usr/local/ssl`, you can run configure like:
63
64    ./configure --with-openssl
65
66If you have OpenSSL installed somewhere else (for example, `/opt/OpenSSL`) and
67you have pkg-config installed, set the pkg-config path first, like this:
68
69    env PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/opt/OpenSSL/lib/pkgconfig ./configure --with-openssl
70
71Without pkg-config installed, use this:
72
73    ./configure --with-openssl=/opt/OpenSSL
74
75If you insist on forcing a build without SSL support, even though you may
76have OpenSSL installed in your system, you can run configure like this:
77
78    ./configure --without-ssl
79
80If you have OpenSSL installed, but with the libraries in one place and the
81header files somewhere else, you have to set the `LDFLAGS` and `CPPFLAGS`
82environment variables prior to running configure.  Something like this should
83work:
84
85    CPPFLAGS="-I/path/to/ssl/include" LDFLAGS="-L/path/to/ssl/lib" ./configure
86
87If you have shared SSL libs installed in a directory where your run-time
88linker does not find them (which usually causes configure failures), you can
89provide this option to gcc to set a hard-coded path to the run-time linker:
90
91    LDFLAGS=-Wl,-R/usr/local/ssl/lib ./configure --with-openssl
92
93## More Options
94
95To force a static library compile, disable the shared library creation by
96running configure like:
97
98    ./configure --disable-shared
99
100To tell the configure script to skip searching for thread-safe functions, add
101an option like:
102
103    ./configure --disable-thread
104
105If you are a curl developer and use gcc, you might want to enable more debug
106options with the `--enable-debug` option.
107
108curl can be built to use a whole range of libraries to provide various useful
109services, and configure will try to auto-detect a decent default. But if you
110want to alter it, you can select how to deal with each individual library.
111
112## Select TLS backend
113
114These options are provided to select TLS backend to use.
115
116 - AmiSSL: `--with-amissl`
117 - BearSSL: `--with-bearssl`
118 - GnuTLS: `--with-gnutls`.
119 - mbedTLS: `--with-mbedtls`
120 - MesaLink: `--with-mesalink`
121 - NSS: `--with-nss`
122 - OpenSSL: `--with-openssl` (also for BoringSSL and libressl)
123 - rustls: `--with-rustls`
124 - schannel: `--with-schannel`
125 - secure transport: `--with-secure-transport`
126 - wolfSSL: `--with-wolfssl`
127
128# Windows
129
130## Building Windows DLLs and C run-time (CRT) linkage issues
131
132 As a general rule, building a DLL with static CRT linkage is highly
133 discouraged, and intermixing CRTs in the same app is something to avoid at
134 any cost.
135
136 Reading and comprehending Microsoft Knowledge Base articles KB94248 and
137 KB140584 is a must for any Windows developer. Especially important is full
138 understanding if you are not going to follow the advice given above.
139
140 - [How To Use the C Run-Time](https://support.microsoft.com/help/94248/how-to-use-the-c-run-time)
141 - [Run-Time Library Compiler Options](https://docs.microsoft.com/cpp/build/reference/md-mt-ld-use-run-time-library)
142 - [Potential Errors Passing CRT Objects Across DLL Boundaries](https://docs.microsoft.com/cpp/c-runtime-library/potential-errors-passing-crt-objects-across-dll-boundaries)
143
144If your app is misbehaving in some strange way, or it is suffering from
145memory corruption, before asking for further help, please try first to
146rebuild every single library your app uses as well as your app using the
147debug multithreaded dynamic C runtime.
148
149 If you get linkage errors read section 5.7 of the FAQ document.
150
151## MingW32
152
153Make sure that MinGW32's bin dir is in the search path, for example:
154
155```cmd
156set PATH=c:\mingw32\bin;%PATH%
157```
158
159then run `mingw32-make mingw32` in the root dir. There are other
160make targets available to build libcurl with more features, use:
161
162 - `mingw32-make mingw32-zlib` to build with Zlib support;
163 - `mingw32-make mingw32-ssl-zlib` to build with SSL and Zlib enabled;
164 - `mingw32-make mingw32-ssh2-ssl-zlib` to build with SSH2, SSL, Zlib;
165 - `mingw32-make mingw32-ssh2-ssl-sspi-zlib` to build with SSH2, SSL, Zlib
166   and SSPI support.
167
168If you have any problems linking libraries or finding header files, be sure
169to verify that the provided `Makefile.m32` files use the proper paths, and
170adjust as necessary. It is also possible to override these paths with
171environment variables, for example:
172
173```cmd
174set ZLIB_PATH=c:\zlib-1.2.8
175set OPENSSL_PATH=c:\openssl-1.0.2c
176set LIBSSH2_PATH=c:\libssh2-1.6.0
177```
178
179It is also possible to build with other LDAP SDKs than MS LDAP; currently
180it is possible to build with native Win32 OpenLDAP, or with the Novell CLDAP
181SDK. If you want to use these you need to set these vars:
182
183```cmd
184set LDAP_SDK=c:\openldap
185set USE_LDAP_OPENLDAP=1
186```
187
188or for using the Novell SDK:
189
190```cmd
191set USE_LDAP_NOVELL=1
192```
193
194If you want to enable LDAPS support then set LDAPS=1.
195
196## Cygwin
197
198Almost identical to the unix installation. Run the configure script in the
199curl source tree root with `sh configure`. Make sure you have the `sh`
200executable in `/bin/` or you will see the configure fail toward the end.
201
202Run `make`
203
204## Disabling Specific Protocols in Windows builds
205
206The configure utility, unfortunately, is not available for the Windows
207environment, therefore, you cannot use the various disable-protocol options of
208the configure utility on this platform.
209
210You can use specific defines to disable specific protocols and features. See
211[CURL-DISABLE.md](CURL-DISABLE.md) for the full list.
212
213If you want to set any of these defines you have the following options:
214
215 - Modify `lib/config-win32.h`
216 - Modify `lib/curl_setup.h`
217 - Modify `winbuild/Makefile.vc`
218 - Modify the "Preprocessor Definitions" in the libcurl project
219
220Note: The pre-processor settings can be found using the Visual Studio IDE
221under "Project -> Settings -> C/C++ -> General" in VC6 and "Project ->
222Properties -> Configuration Properties -> C/C++ -> Preprocessor" in later
223versions.
224
225## Using BSD-style lwIP instead of Winsock TCP/IP stack in Win32 builds
226
227In order to compile libcurl and curl using BSD-style lwIP TCP/IP stack it is
228necessary to make definition of preprocessor symbol `USE_LWIPSOCK` visible to
229libcurl and curl compilation processes. To set this definition you have the
230following alternatives:
231
232 - Modify `lib/config-win32.h` and `src/config-win32.h`
233 - Modify `winbuild/Makefile.vc`
234 - Modify the "Preprocessor Definitions" in the libcurl project
235
236Note: The pre-processor settings can be found using the Visual Studio IDE
237under "Project -> Settings -> C/C++ -> General" in VC6 and "Project ->
238Properties -> Configuration Properties -> C/C++ -> Preprocessor" in later
239versions.
240
241Once that libcurl has been built with BSD-style lwIP TCP/IP stack support, in
242order to use it with your program it is mandatory that your program includes
243lwIP header file `<lwip/opt.h>` (or another lwIP header that includes this)
244before including any libcurl header. Your program does not need the
245`USE_LWIPSOCK` preprocessor definition which is for libcurl internals only.
246
247Compilation has been verified with [lwIP
2481.4.0](https://download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/lwip/lwip-1.4.0.zip) and
249[contrib-1.4.0](https://download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/lwip/contrib-1.4.0.zip).
250
251This BSD-style lwIP TCP/IP stack support must be considered experimental given
252that it has been verified that lwIP 1.4.0 still needs some polish, and libcurl
253might yet need some additional adjustment, caveat emptor.
254
255## Important static libcurl usage note
256
257When building an application that uses the static libcurl library on Windows,
258you must add `-DCURL_STATICLIB` to your `CFLAGS`.  Otherwise the linker will
259look for dynamic import symbols.
260
261## Legacy Windows and SSL
262
263Schannel (from Windows SSPI), is the native SSL library in Windows. However,
264Schannel in Windows <= XP is unable to connect to servers that
265no longer support the legacy handshakes and algorithms used by those
266versions. If you will be using curl in one of those earlier versions of
267Windows you should choose another SSL backend such as OpenSSL.
268
269# Apple Platforms (macOS, iOS, tvOS, watchOS, and their simulator counterparts)
270
271On modern Apple operating systems, curl can be built to use Apple's SSL/TLS
272implementation, Secure Transport, instead of OpenSSL. To build with Secure
273Transport for SSL/TLS, use the configure option `--with-secure-transport`. (It
274is not necessary to use the option `--without-openssl`.)
275
276When Secure Transport is in use, the curl options `--cacert` and `--capath`
277and their libcurl equivalents, will be ignored, because Secure Transport uses
278the certificates stored in the Keychain to evaluate whether or not to trust
279the server. This, of course, includes the root certificates that ship with the
280OS. The `--cert` and `--engine` options, and their libcurl equivalents, are
281currently unimplemented in curl with Secure Transport.
282
283In general, a curl build for an Apple `ARCH/SDK/DEPLOYMENT_TARGET` combination
284can be taken by providing appropriate values for `ARCH`, `SDK`, `DEPLOYMENT_TARGET`
285below and running the commands:
286
287```bash
288# Set these three according to your needs
289export ARCH=x86_64
290export SDK=macosx
291export DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=10.8
292
293export CFLAGS="-arch $ARCH -isysroot $(xcrun -sdk $SDK --show-sdk-path) -m$SDK-version-min=$DEPLOYMENT_TARGET"
294./configure --host=$ARCH-apple-darwin --prefix $(pwd)/artifacts --with-secure-transport
295make -j8
296make install
297```
298
299Above will build curl for macOS platform with `x86_64` architecture and `10.8` as deployment target.
300
301Here is an example for iOS device:
302
303```bash
304export ARCH=arm64
305export SDK=iphoneos
306export DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=11.0
307
308export CFLAGS="-arch $ARCH -isysroot $(xcrun -sdk $SDK --show-sdk-path) -m$SDK-version-min=$DEPLOYMENT_TARGET"
309./configure --host=$ARCH-apple-darwin --prefix $(pwd)/artifacts --with-secure-transport
310make -j8
311make install
312```
313
314Another example for watchOS simulator for macs with Apple Silicon:
315
316```bash
317export ARCH=arm64
318export SDK=watchsimulator
319export DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=5.0
320
321export CFLAGS="-arch $ARCH -isysroot $(xcrun -sdk $SDK --show-sdk-path) -m$SDK-version-min=$DEPLOYMENT_TARGET"
322./configure --host=$ARCH-apple-darwin --prefix $(pwd)/artifacts --with-secure-transport
323make -j8
324make install
325```
326
327In all above, the built libraries and executables can be found in `artifacts` folder.
328
329# Android
330
331When building curl for Android it's recommended to use a Linux environment
332since using curl's `configure` script is the easiest way to build curl
333for Android. Before you can build curl for Android, you need to install the
334Android NDK first. This can be done using the SDK Manager that is part of
335Android Studio. Once you have installed the Android NDK, you need to figure out
336where it has been installed and then set up some environment variables before
337launching `configure`. On macOS, those variables could look like this to compile
338for `aarch64` and API level 29:
339
340```bash
341export NDK=~/Library/Android/sdk/ndk/20.1.5948944
342export HOST_TAG=darwin-x86_64
343export TOOLCHAIN=$NDK/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/$HOST_TAG
344export AR=$TOOLCHAIN/bin/aarch64-linux-android-ar
345export AS=$TOOLCHAIN/bin/aarch64-linux-android-as
346export CC=$TOOLCHAIN/bin/aarch64-linux-android29-clang
347export CXX=$TOOLCHAIN/bin/aarch64-linux-android29-clang++
348export LD=$TOOLCHAIN/bin/aarch64-linux-android-ld
349export RANLIB=$TOOLCHAIN/bin/aarch64-linux-android-ranlib
350export STRIP=$TOOLCHAIN/bin/aarch64-linux-android-strip
351```
352
353When building on Linux or targeting other API levels or architectures, you need
354to adjust those variables accordingly. After that you can build curl like this:
355
356    ./configure --host aarch64-linux-android --with-pic --disable-shared
357
358Note that this will not give you SSL/TLS support. If you need SSL/TLS, you have
359to build curl against a SSL/TLS layer, e.g. OpenSSL, because it's impossible for
360curl to access Android's native SSL/TLS layer. To build curl for Android using
361OpenSSL, follow the OpenSSL build instructions and then install `libssl.a` and
362`libcrypto.a` to `$TOOLCHAIN/sysroot/usr/lib` and copy `include/openssl` to
363`$TOOLCHAIN/sysroot/usr/include`. Now you can build curl for Android using
364OpenSSL like this:
365
366    ./configure --host aarch64-linux-android --with-pic --disable-shared --with-openssl="$TOOLCHAIN/sysroot/usr"
367
368Note, however, that you must target at least Android M (API level 23) or `configure`
369will not be able to detect OpenSSL since `stderr` (and the like) were not defined
370before Android M.
371
372# IBM i
373
374For IBM i (formerly OS/400), you can use curl in two different ways:
375
376- Natively, running in the **ILE**. The obvious use is being able to call curl
377  from ILE C or RPG applications.
378  - You will need to build this from source. See `packages/OS400/README` for
379    the ILE specific build instructions.
380- In the **PASE** environment, which runs AIX programs. curl will be built as
381  it would be on AIX.
382  - IBM provides builds of curl in their Yum repository for PASE software.
383  - To build from source, follow the Unix instructions.
384
385There are some additional limitations and quirks with curl on this platform;
386they affect both environments.
387
388## Multithreading notes
389
390By default, jobs in IBM i will not start with threading enabled. (Exceptions
391include interactive PASE sessions started by `QP2TERM` or SSH.) If you use
392curl in an environment without threading when options like async DNS were
393enabled, you will messages like:
394
395```
396getaddrinfo() thread failed to start
397```
398
399Do not panic! curl and your program are not broken. You can fix this by:
400
401- Set the environment variable `QIBM_MULTI_THREADED` to `Y` before starting
402  your program. This can be done at whatever scope you feel is appropriate.
403- Alternatively, start the job with the `ALWMLTTHD` parameter set to `*YES`.
404
405# Cross compile
406
407Download and unpack the curl package.
408
409`cd` to the new directory. (e.g. `cd curl-7.12.3`)
410
411Set environment variables to point to the cross-compile toolchain and call
412configure with any options you need.  Be sure and specify the `--host` and
413`--build` parameters at configuration time.  The following script is an
414example of cross-compiling for the IBM 405GP PowerPC processor using the
415toolchain from MonteVista for Hardhat Linux.
416
417```bash
418#! /bin/sh
419
420export PATH=$PATH:/opt/hardhat/devkit/ppc/405/bin
421export CPPFLAGS="-I/opt/hardhat/devkit/ppc/405/target/usr/include"
422export AR=ppc_405-ar
423export AS=ppc_405-as
424export LD=ppc_405-ld
425export RANLIB=ppc_405-ranlib
426export CC=ppc_405-gcc
427export NM=ppc_405-nm
428
429./configure --target=powerpc-hardhat-linux
430    --host=powerpc-hardhat-linux
431    --build=i586-pc-linux-gnu
432    --prefix=/opt/hardhat/devkit/ppc/405/target/usr/local
433    --exec-prefix=/usr/local
434```
435
436You may also need to provide a parameter like `--with-random=/dev/urandom` to
437configure as it cannot detect the presence of a random number generating
438device for a target system.  The `--prefix` parameter specifies where curl
439will be installed.  If `configure` completes successfully, do `make` and `make
440install` as usual.
441
442In some cases, you may be able to simplify the above commands to as little as:
443
444    ./configure --host=ARCH-OS
445
446# REDUCING SIZE
447
448There are a number of configure options that can be used to reduce the size of
449libcurl for embedded applications where binary size is an important factor.
450First, be sure to set the `CFLAGS` variable when configuring with any relevant
451compiler optimization flags to reduce the size of the binary.  For gcc, this
452would mean at minimum the -Os option, and potentially the `-march=X`,
453`-mdynamic-no-pic` and `-flto` options as well, e.g.
454
455    ./configure CFLAGS='-Os' LDFLAGS='-Wl,-Bsymbolic'...
456
457Note that newer compilers often produce smaller code than older versions
458due to improved optimization.
459
460Be sure to specify as many `--disable-` and `--without-` flags on the
461configure command-line as you can to disable all the libcurl features that you
462know your application is not going to need.  Besides specifying the
463`--disable-PROTOCOL` flags for all the types of URLs your application will not
464use, here are some other flags that can reduce the size of the library:
465
466 - `--disable-ares` (disables support for the C-ARES DNS library)
467 - `--disable-cookies` (disables support for HTTP cookies)
468 - `--disable-crypto-auth` (disables HTTP cryptographic authentication)
469 - `--disable-ipv6` (disables support for IPv6)
470 - `--disable-manual` (disables support for the built-in documentation)
471 - `--disable-proxy` (disables support for HTTP and SOCKS proxies)
472 - `--disable-unix-sockets` (disables support for UNIX sockets)
473 - `--disable-verbose` (eliminates debugging strings and error code strings)
474 - `--disable-versioned-symbols` (disables support for versioned symbols)
475 - `--enable-symbol-hiding` (eliminates unneeded symbols in the shared library)
476 - `--without-libidn` (disables support for the libidn DNS library)
477 - `--without-librtmp` (disables support for RTMP)
478 - `--without-openssl` (disables support for SSL/TLS)
479 - `--without-zlib` (disables support for on-the-fly decompression)
480
481The GNU compiler and linker have a number of options that can reduce the
482size of the libcurl dynamic libraries on some platforms even further.
483Specify them by providing appropriate `CFLAGS` and `LDFLAGS` variables on
484the configure command-line, e.g.
485
486    CFLAGS="-Os -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections
487            -fno-unwind-tables -fno-asynchronous-unwind-tables -flto"
488    LDFLAGS="-Wl,-s -Wl,-Bsymbolic -Wl,--gc-sections"
489
490Be sure also to strip debugging symbols from your binaries after compiling
491using 'strip' (or the appropriate variant if cross-compiling).  If space is
492really tight, you may be able to remove some unneeded sections of the shared
493library using the -R option to objcopy (e.g. the .comment section).
494
495Using these techniques it is possible to create a basic HTTP-only shared
496libcurl library for i386 Linux platforms that is only 113 KiB in size, and an
497FTP-only library that is 113 KiB in size (as of libcurl version 7.50.3, using
498gcc 5.4.0).
499
500You may find that statically linking libcurl to your application will result
501in a lower total size than dynamically linking.
502
503Note that the curl test harness can detect the use of some, but not all, of
504the `--disable` statements suggested above. Use will cause tests relying on
505those features to fail.  The test harness can be manually forced to skip the
506relevant tests by specifying certain key words on the `runtests.pl` command
507line.  Following is a list of appropriate key words:
508
509 - `--disable-cookies`          !cookies
510 - `--disable-manual`           !--manual
511 - `--disable-proxy`            !HTTP\ proxy !proxytunnel !SOCKS4 !SOCKS5
512
513# PORTS
514
515This is a probably incomplete list of known CPU architectures and operating
516systems that curl has been compiled for. If you know a system curl compiles
517and runs on, that is not listed, please let us know!
518
519## 85 Operating Systems
520
521AIX, AmigaOS, Android, Aros, BeOS, Blackberry 10, Blackberry Tablet OS, Cell
522OS, ChromeOS, Cisco IOS, Cygwin, Dragonfly BSD, eCOS, FreeBSD, FreeDOS,
523FreeRTOS, Fuchsia, Garmin OS, Genode, Haiku, HardenedBSD, HP-UX, Hurd,
524Illumos, Integrity, iOS, ipadOS, IRIX, LineageOS, Linux, Lua RTOS, Mac OS 9,
525macOS, Mbed, Micrium, MINIX, MorphOS, MPE/iX, MS-DOS, NCR MP-RAS, NetBSD,
526Netware, Nintendo Switch, NonStop OS, NuttX, OpenBSD, OpenStep, Orbis OS,
527OS/2, OS/400, OS21, Plan 9, PlayStation Portable, QNX, Qubes OS, ReactOS,
528Redox, RICS OS, Sailfish OS, SCO Unix, Serenity, SINIX-Z, Solaris, SunOS,
529Syllable OS, Symbian, Tizen, TPF, Tru64, tvOS, ucLinux, Ultrix, UNICOS,
530UnixWare, VMS, vxWorks, WebOS, Wii system software, Windows, Windows CE, Xbox
531System, z/OS, z/TPF, z/VM, z/VSE
532
533## 22 CPU Architectures
534
535Alpha, ARC, ARM, AVR32, Cell, HP-PA, Itanium, m68k, MicroBlaze, MIPS, Nios,
536OpenRISC, POWER, PowerPC, RISC-V, s390, SH4, SPARC, VAX, x86, x86-64, Xtensa
537