DN/External/curl-8.17.0/docs/INSTALL-CMAKE.md

33 KiB

Building with CMake

This document describes how to configure, build and install curl and libcurl from source code using the CMake build tool. To build with CMake, you of course first have to install CMake. The minimum required version of CMake is specified in the file CMakeLists.txt found in the top of the curl source tree. Once the correct version of CMake is installed you can follow the instructions below for the platform you are building on.

CMake builds can be configured either from the command line, or from one of CMake's GUIs.

Configuring

A CMake configuration of curl is similar to the autotools build of curl. It consists of the following steps after you have unpacked the source.

We recommend building with CMake on Windows. For instructions on migrating from the projects/Windows Visual Studio solution files, see this section.

Using cmake

You can configure for in source tree builds or for a build tree that is apart from the source tree.

  • Build in the source tree.

    $ cmake -B .
    
  • Build in a separate directory (parallel to the curl source tree in this example). The build directory is created for you. This is recommended over building in the source tree to separate source and build artifacts.

    $ cmake -B ../curl-build
    

For the full list of CMake build configuration variables see the corresponding section.

Fallback for CMake before version 3.13

CMake before version 3.13 does not support the -B option. In that case, you must create the build directory yourself, cd to it and run cmake from there:

$ mkdir ../curl-build
$ cd ../curl-build
$ cmake ../curl

If you want to build in the source tree, it is enough to do this:

$ cmake .

Build system generator selection

You can override CMake's default by using -G <generator-name>. For example on Windows with multiple build systems if you have MinGW-w64 then you could use -G "MinGW Makefiles". List of generator names.

Using ccmake

CMake comes with a curses based interface called ccmake. To run ccmake on a curl use the instructions for the command line cmake, but substitute ccmake for cmake.

This brings up a curses interface with instructions on the bottom of the screen. You can press the "c" key to configure the project, and the "g" key to generate the project. After the project is generated, you can run make.

Using cmake-gui

CMake also comes with a Qt based GUI called cmake-gui. To configure with cmake-gui, you run cmake-gui and follow these steps:

  1. Fill in the "Where is the source code" combo box with the path to the curl source tree.
  2. Fill in the "Where to build the binaries" combo box with the path to the directory for your build tree, ideally this should not be the same as the source tree, but a parallel directory called curl-build or something similar.
  3. Once the source and binary directories are specified, press the "Configure" button.
  4. Select the native build tool that you want to use.
  5. At this point you can change any of the options presented in the GUI. Once you have selected all the options you want, click the "Generate" button.

Building

Build (you have to specify the build directory).

$ cmake --build ../curl-build

Static builds

The CMake build setup is primarily done to work with shared/dynamic third party dependencies. When linking with shared libraries, the dependency "chain" is handled automatically by the library loader - on all modern systems.

If you instead link with a static library, you need to provide all the dependency libraries already at the link command line.

Figuring out all the dependency libraries for a given library is hard, as it might involve figuring out the dependencies of the dependencies and they vary between platforms and can change between versions.

When using static dependencies, the build scripts mostly assume that you, the user, provide all the necessary additional dependency libraries as additional arguments in the build.

Building statically is not for the faint of heart.

Fallback for CMake before version 3.13

CMake before version 3.13 does not support the --build option. In that case, you have to cd to the build directory and use the building tool that corresponds to the build files that CMake generated for you. This example assumes that CMake generates Makefile:

$ cd ../curl-build
$ make

Testing

(The test suite does not yet work with the cmake build)

Installing

Install to default location (you have to specify the build directory).

$ cmake --install ../curl-build

Do not use --prefix to change the installation prefix as the output produced by the curl-config script is determined at CMake configure time. If you want to set a custom install prefix for curl, set CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX when configuring the CMake build.

Fallback for CMake before version 3.15

CMake before version 3.15 does not support the --install option. In that case, you have to cd to the build directory and use the building tool that corresponds to the build files that CMake generated for you. This example assumes that CMake generates Makefile:

$ cd ../curl-build
$ make install

CMake usage

Just as curl can be built and installed using CMake, it can also be used from CMake.

Using find_package

To locate libcurl from CMake, one can use the standard find_package command in the typical fashion:

find_package(CURL 8.12.0 REQUIRED)  # FATAL_ERROR if CURL is not found

This invokes the CMake-provided FindCURL find module, which first performs a search using the find_package config mode. This is supported by the CURLConfig.cmake CMake config script which is available if the given CURL was built and installed using CMake.

Detecting CURL features/protocols

Since version 8.12.0, CURLConfig.cmake publishes the supported CURL features and protocols (see release notes). These can be specified using the find_package keywords COMPONENTS and OPTIONAL_COMPONENTS, with protocols in all caps, e.g. HTTPS, LDAP, while features should be in their original sentence case, e.g. AsynchDNS, UnixSockets. If any of the COMPONENTS are missing, then CURL is considered as not found.

Here is an example of using COMPONENTS and OPTIONAL_COMPONENTS in find_package with CURL:

# CURL_FOUND is FALSE if no HTTPS but brotli and zstd can be missing
find_package(CURL 8.12.0 COMPONENTS HTTPS OPTIONAL_COMPONENTS brotli zstd)

One can also check the defined CURL_SUPPORTS_<feature-or-protocol> variables if a particular feature/protocol is supported. For example:

# check HTTPS
if(CURL_SUPPORTS_HTTPS)
  message(STATUS "CURL supports HTTPS")
else()
  message(STATUS "CURL does NOT support HTTPS")
endif()

Linking against libcurl

To link a CMake target against libcurl one can use target_link_libraries as usual:

target_link_libraries(my_target PRIVATE CURL::libcurl)

CMake build options

  • BUILD_CURL_EXE: Build curl executable. Default: ON
  • BUILD_EXAMPLES: Build libcurl examples. Default: ON
  • BUILD_LIBCURL_DOCS: Build libcurl man pages. Default: ON
  • BUILD_MISC_DOCS: Build misc man pages (e.g. curl-config and mk-ca-bundle). Default: ON
  • BUILD_SHARED_LIBS: Build shared libraries. Default: ON
  • BUILD_STATIC_CURL: Build curl executable with static libcurl. Default: OFF
  • BUILD_STATIC_LIBS: Build static libraries. Default: OFF
  • BUILD_TESTING: Build tests. Default: ON
  • CURL_CLANG_TIDY: Run the build through clang-tidy. Default: OFF
  • CURL_CLANG_TIDYFLAGS: Custom options to pass to clang-tidy. Default: (empty)
  • CURL_CODE_COVERAGE: Enable code coverage build options. Default: OFF
  • CURL_COMPLETION_FISH: Install fish completions. Default: OFF
  • CURL_COMPLETION_FISH_DIR: Custom fish completion install directory.
  • CURL_COMPLETION_ZSH: Install zsh completions. Default: OFF
  • CURL_COMPLETION_ZSH_DIR: Custom zsh completion install directory.
  • CURL_DEFAULT_SSL_BACKEND: Override default TLS backend in MultiSSL builds. Accepted values in order of default priority: wolfssl, gnutls, mbedtls, openssl, schannel, rustls
  • CURL_ENABLE_EXPORT_TARGET: Enable CMake export target. Default: ON
  • CURL_HIDDEN_SYMBOLS: Hide libcurl internal symbols (=hide all symbols that are not officially external). Default: ON
  • CURL_LIBCURL_SOVERSION: Enable libcurl SOVERSION. Default: ON for supported platforms
  • CURL_LIBCURL_VERSIONED_SYMBOLS: Enable libcurl versioned symbols. Default: OFF
  • CURL_LIBCURL_VERSIONED_SYMBOLS_PREFIX: Override default versioned symbol prefix. Default: <TLS-BACKEND>_ or MULTISSL_
  • CURL_LTO: Enable compiler Link Time Optimizations. Default: OFF
  • CURL_STATIC_CRT: Build libcurl with static CRT with MSVC (/MT) (requires UCRT, static libcurl or no curl executable). Default: OFF
  • CURL_TARGET_WINDOWS_VERSION: Minimum target Windows version as hex string.
  • CURL_WERROR: Turn compiler warnings into errors. Default: OFF
  • ENABLE_CURLDEBUG: Enable TrackMemory debug feature. Default: =ENABLE_DEBUG
  • ENABLE_CURL_MANUAL: Build the man page for curl and enable its -M/--manual option. Default: ON
  • ENABLE_DEBUG: Enable curl debug features (for developing curl itself). Default: OFF
  • IMPORT_LIB_SUFFIX: Import library suffix. Default: _imp for MSVC-like toolchains, otherwise empty.
  • LIBCURL_OUTPUT_NAME: Basename of the curl library. Default: libcurl
  • PICKY_COMPILER: Enable picky compiler options. Default: ON
  • SHARE_LIB_OBJECT: Build shared and static libcurl in a single pass (requires CMake 3.12 or newer). Default: ON for Windows
  • STATIC_LIB_SUFFIX: Static library suffix. Default: (empty)

CA bundle options

  • CURL_CA_BUNDLE: Absolute path to the CA bundle. Set none to disable or auto for auto-detection. Default: auto
  • CURL_CA_EMBED: Absolute path to the CA bundle to embed in the curl tool. Default: (disabled)
  • CURL_CA_FALLBACK: Use built-in CA store of OpenSSL. Default: OFF
  • CURL_CA_PATH: Absolute path to a directory containing CA certificates stored individually. Set none to disable or auto for auto-detection. Default: auto
  • CURL_CA_SEARCH_SAFE: Enable safe CA bundle search (within the curl tool directory) on Windows. Default: OFF

Enabling features

  • CURL_ENABLE_SSL: Enable SSL support. Default: ON
  • CURL_WINDOWS_SSPI: Enable SSPI on Windows. Default: =CURL_USE_SCHANNEL
  • ENABLE_IPV6: Enable IPv6 support. Default: ON if target supports IPv6.
  • ENABLE_THREADED_RESOLVER: Enable threaded DNS lookup. Default: ON if c-ares is not enabled and target supports threading.
  • ENABLE_UNICODE: Use the Unicode version of the Windows API functions. Default: OFF
  • ENABLE_UNIX_SOCKETS: Enable Unix domain sockets support. Default: ON
  • USE_ECH: Enable ECH support. Default: OFF
  • USE_HTTPSRR: Enable HTTPS RR support. Default: OFF
  • USE_OPENSSL_QUIC: Use OpenSSL and nghttp3 libraries for HTTP/3 support. Default: OFF
  • USE_SSLS_EXPORT: Enable experimental SSL session import/export. Default: OFF

Disabling features

  • CURL_DISABLE_ALTSVC: Disable alt-svc support. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_AWS: Disable aws-sigv4. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_BASIC_AUTH: Disable Basic authentication. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_BEARER_AUTH: Disable Bearer authentication. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_BINDLOCAL: Disable local binding support. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_CA_SEARCH: Disable unsafe CA bundle search in PATH on Windows. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_COOKIES: Disable cookies support. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_DICT: Disable DICT. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_DIGEST_AUTH: Disable Digest authentication. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_DOH: Disable DNS-over-HTTPS. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_FILE: Disable FILE. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_FORM_API: Disable form-api. Default: =CURL_DISABLE_MIME
  • CURL_DISABLE_FTP: Disable FTP. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_GETOPTIONS: Disable curl_easy_options API for existing options to curl_easy_setopt. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_GOPHER: Disable Gopher. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_HEADERS_API: Disable headers-api support. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_HSTS: Disable HSTS support. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_HTTP: Disable HTTP. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_HTTP_AUTH: Disable all HTTP authentication methods. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_IMAP: Disable IMAP. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_INSTALL: Disable installation targets. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_IPFS: Disable IPFS. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_KERBEROS_AUTH: Disable Kerberos authentication. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_LDAP: Disable LDAP. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_LDAPS: Disable LDAPS. Default: =CURL_DISABLE_LDAP
  • CURL_DISABLE_LIBCURL_OPTION: Disable --libcurl option from the curl tool. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_MIME: Disable MIME support. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_MQTT: Disable MQTT. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_NEGOTIATE_AUTH: Disable negotiate authentication. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_NETRC: Disable netrc parser. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_NTLM: Disable NTLM support. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_OPENSSL_AUTO_LOAD_CONFIG: Disable automatic loading of OpenSSL configuration. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_PARSEDATE: Disable date parsing. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_POP3: Disable POP3. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_PROGRESS_METER: Disable built-in progress meter. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_PROXY: Disable proxy support. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_RTSP: Disable RTSP. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_SHA512_256: Disable SHA-512/256 hash algorithm. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_SHUFFLE_DNS: Disable shuffle DNS feature. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_SMB: Disable SMB. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_SMTP: Disable SMTP. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_SOCKETPAIR: Disable use of socketpair for curl_multi_poll. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_SRP: Disable TLS-SRP support. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_TELNET: Disable Telnet. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_TFTP: Disable TFTP. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_VERBOSE_STRINGS: Disable verbose strings. Default: OFF
  • CURL_DISABLE_WEBSOCKETS: Disable WebSocket. Default: OFF
  • HTTP_ONLY: Disable all protocols except HTTP (This overrides all CURL_DISABLE_* options). Default: OFF

Environment

  • CI: Assume running under CI if set.
  • CURL_BUILDINFO: Print buildinfo.txt if set.
  • CURL_CI: Assume running under CI if set.

CMake options

  • CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE: (see CMake)
  • CMAKE_DEBUG_POSTFIX: Default: -d
  • CMAKE_IMPORT_LIBRARY_SUFFIX (see CMake)
  • CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR (see CMake)
  • CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR (see CMake)
  • CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR (see CMake)
  • CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX (see CMake)
  • CMAKE_STATIC_LIBRARY_SUFFIX (see CMake)
  • CMAKE_UNITY_BUILD_BATCH_SIZE: Set the number of sources in a "unity" unit. Default: 0 (all)
  • CMAKE_UNITY_BUILD: Enable "unity" (aka jumbo) builds. Default: OFF

Details via CMake variables and install directories.

Dependencies

  • CURL_BROTLI: Use brotli (ON, OFF or AUTO). Default: AUTO
  • CURL_USE_GNUTLS: Enable GnuTLS for SSL/TLS. Default: OFF
  • CURL_USE_GSASL: Use libgsasl. Default: OFF
  • CURL_USE_GSSAPI: Use GSSAPI implementation. Default: OFF
  • CURL_USE_LIBPSL: Use libpsl. Default: ON
  • CURL_USE_LIBSSH2: Use libssh2. Default: ON
  • CURL_USE_LIBSSH: Use libssh. Default: OFF
  • CURL_USE_LIBUV: Use libuv for event-based tests. Default: OFF
  • CURL_USE_MBEDTLS: Enable mbedTLS for SSL/TLS. Default: OFF
  • CURL_USE_OPENSSL: Enable OpenSSL for SSL/TLS. Default: ON if no other TLS backend was enabled.
  • CURL_USE_PKGCONFIG: Enable pkg-config to detect dependencies. Default: ON for Unix (except Android, Apple devices), vcpkg, MinGW if not cross-compiling.
  • CURL_USE_RUSTLS: Enable Rustls for SSL/TLS. Default: OFF
  • CURL_USE_SCHANNEL: Enable Windows native SSL/TLS (Schannel). Default: OFF
  • CURL_USE_WOLFSSL: Enable wolfSSL for SSL/TLS. Default: OFF
  • CURL_ZLIB: Use zlib (ON, OFF or AUTO). Default: AUTO
  • CURL_ZSTD: Use zstd (ON, OFF or AUTO). Default: AUTO
  • ENABLE_ARES: Enable c-ares support. Default: OFF
  • USE_APPLE_IDN: Use Apple built-in IDN support. Default: OFF
  • USE_APPLE_SECTRUST: Use Apple OS-native certificate verification. Default: OFF
  • USE_LIBIDN2: Use libidn2 for IDN support. Default: ON
  • USE_LIBRTMP: Enable librtmp from rtmpdump. Default: OFF
  • USE_NGHTTP2: Use nghttp2 library. Default: ON
  • USE_NGTCP2: Use ngtcp2 and nghttp3 libraries for HTTP/3 support. Default: OFF
  • USE_QUICHE: Use quiche library for HTTP/3 support. Default: OFF
  • USE_WIN32_IDN: Use WinIDN for IDN support. Default: OFF
  • USE_WIN32_LDAP: Use Windows LDAP implementation. Default: ON

Dependency options (via CMake)

  • OPENSSL_ROOT_DIR: Absolute path to the root installation of OpenSSL (and forks).
  • OPENSSL_INCLUDE_DIR: Absolute path to OpenSSL include directory.
  • OPENSSL_SSL_LIBRARY: Absolute path to ssl library. With MSVC, CMake uses variables SSL_EAY_DEBUG/SSL_EAY_RELEASE instead.
  • OPENSSL_CRYPTO_LIBRARY: Absolute path to crypto library. With MSVC, CMake uses variables LIB_EAY_DEBUG/LIB_EAY_RELEASE instead.
  • OPENSSL_USE_STATIC_LIBS: Look for static OpenSSL libraries.
  • ZLIB_INCLUDE_DIR: Absolute path to zlib include directory.
  • ZLIB_LIBRARY: Absolute path to zlib library.
  • ZLIB_USE_STATIC_LIBS: Look for static ZLIB library (requires CMake v3.24).

Dependency options (tools)

  • CLANG_TIDY: clang-tidy tool used with CURL_CLANG_TIDY=ON. Default: clang-tidy
  • PERL_EXECUTABLE: Perl binary used throughout the build and tests.

Dependency options (libraries)

  • AMISSL_INCLUDE_DIR: Absolute path to AmiSSL include directory.
  • AMISSL_STUBS_LIBRARY: Absolute path to amisslstubs library.
  • AMISSL_AUTO_LIBRARY: Absolute path to amisslauto library.
  • BROTLI_INCLUDE_DIR: Absolute path to brotli include directory.
  • BROTLICOMMON_LIBRARY: Absolute path to brotlicommon library.
  • BROTLIDEC_LIBRARY: Absolute path to brotlidec library.
  • CARES_INCLUDE_DIR: Absolute path to c-ares include directory.
  • CARES_LIBRARY: Absolute path to cares library.
  • DL_LIBRARY: Absolute path to dl library. (for Rustls)
  • GNUTLS_INCLUDE_DIR: Absolute path to GnuTLS include directory.
  • GNUTLS_LIBRARY: Absolute path to gnutls library.
  • GSS_ROOT_DIR: Absolute path to the root installation of GSS. (also supported as environment)
  • LDAP_INCLUDE_DIR: Absolute path to LDAP include directory.
  • LDAP_LIBRARY: Absolute path to ldap library.
  • LDAP_LBER_LIBRARY: Absolute path to lber library.
  • LIBGSASL_INCLUDE_DIR: Absolute path to libgsasl include directory.
  • LIBGSASL_LIBRARY: Absolute path to libgsasl library.
  • LIBIDN2_INCLUDE_DIR: Absolute path to libidn2 include directory.
  • LIBIDN2_LIBRARY: Absolute path to libidn2 library.
  • LIBPSL_INCLUDE_DIR: Absolute path to libpsl include directory.
  • LIBPSL_LIBRARY: Absolute path to libpsl library.
  • LIBRTMP_INCLUDE_DIR: Absolute path to librtmp include directory.
  • LIBRTMP_LIBRARY: Absolute path to librtmp library.
  • LIBSSH_INCLUDE_DIR: Absolute path to libssh include directory.
  • LIBSSH_LIBRARY: Absolute path to libssh library.
  • LIBSSH2_INCLUDE_DIR: Absolute path to libssh2 include directory.
  • LIBSSH2_LIBRARY: Absolute path to libssh2 library.
  • LIBUV_INCLUDE_DIR: Absolute path to libuv include directory.
  • LIBUV_LIBRARY: Absolute path to libuv library.
  • MATH_LIBRARY: Absolute path to m library. (for Rustls, wolfSSL)
  • MBEDTLS_INCLUDE_DIR: Absolute path to mbedTLS include directory.
  • MBEDTLS_LIBRARY: Absolute path to mbedtls library.
  • MBEDX509_LIBRARY: Absolute path to mbedx509 library.
  • MBEDCRYPTO_LIBRARY: Absolute path to mbedcrypto library.
  • NGHTTP2_INCLUDE_DIR: Absolute path to nghttp2 include directory.
  • NGHTTP2_LIBRARY: Absolute path to nghttp2 library.
  • NGHTTP3_INCLUDE_DIR: Absolute path to nghttp3 include directory.
  • NGHTTP3_LIBRARY: Absolute path to nghttp3 library.
  • NGTCP2_INCLUDE_DIR: Absolute path to ngtcp2 include directory.
  • NGTCP2_LIBRARY: Absolute path to ngtcp2 library.
  • NGTCP2_CRYPTO_BORINGSSL_LIBRARY: Absolute path to ngtcp2_crypto_boringssl library. (also for AWS-LC)
  • NGTCP2_CRYPTO_GNUTLS_LIBRARY: Absolute path to ngtcp2_crypto_gnutls library.
  • NGTCP2_CRYPTO_LIBRESSL_LIBRARY: Absolute path to ngtcp2_crypto_libressl library. (requires ngtcp2 1.15.0+)
  • NGTCP2_CRYPTO_OSSL_LIBRARY: Absolute path to ngtcp2_crypto_ossl library.
  • NGTCP2_CRYPTO_QUICTLS_LIBRARY: Absolute path to ngtcp2_crypto_quictls library. (also for LibreSSL with ngtcp2 <1.15.0)
  • NGTCP2_CRYPTO_WOLFSSL_LIBRARY: Absolute path to ngtcp2_crypto_wolfssl library.
  • NETTLE_INCLUDE_DIR: Absolute path to nettle include directory.
  • NETTLE_LIBRARY: Absolute path to nettle library.
  • PTHREAD_LIBRARY: Absolute path to pthread library. (for Rustls)
  • QUICHE_INCLUDE_DIR: Absolute path to quiche include directory.
  • QUICHE_LIBRARY: Absolute path to quiche library.
  • RUSTLS_INCLUDE_DIR: Absolute path to Rustls include directory.
  • RUSTLS_LIBRARY: Absolute path to rustls library.
  • WATT_ROOT: Absolute path to the root installation of Watt-32.
  • WOLFSSL_INCLUDE_DIR: Absolute path to wolfSSL include directory.
  • WOLFSSL_LIBRARY: Absolute path to wolfssl library.
  • ZSTD_INCLUDE_DIR: Absolute path to zstd include directory.
  • ZSTD_LIBRARY: Absolute path to zstd library.

Examples:

  • -DLIBPSL_INCLUDE_DIR=/path/to/libpl/include, which directory contains libpsl.h. No ending slash or backslash is necessary.

  • -DNGHTTP3_INCLUDE_DIR=/path/to/libnghttp3/include, which directory contains an nghttp3 subdirectory with .h files in it.

  • -DLIBPSL_LIBRARY=/path/to/libpsl/lib/libpsl.a Always a single library, with its complete filename, as-is on the file system.

  • -DOPENSSL_ROOT_DIR=/path/to/openssl, which directory (typically) contains include and lib subdirectories. No ending slash or backslash is necessary.

Test tools

  • APXS: Default: apxs
  • CADDY: Default: caddy
  • HTTPD_NGHTTPX: Default: nghttpx
  • HTTPD: Default: apache2
  • DANTED: Default: danted
  • TEST_NGHTTPX: Default: nghttpx
  • VSFTPD: Default: vsftps

Feature detection variables

By default this CMake build script detects the version of some dependencies using check_symbol_exists. Those checks do not work in the case that both CURL and its dependency are included as sub-projects in a larger build using FetchContent. To support that case, additional variables may be defined by the parent project, ideally in the "extra" find package redirect file: https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/module/FetchContent.html#integrating-with-find-package

Available variables:

  • HAVE_DES_ECB_ENCRYPT: DES_ecb_encrypt present in OpenSSL (or fork).
  • HAVE_GNUTLS_SRP: gnutls_srp_verifier present in GnuTLS.
  • HAVE_LDAP_INIT_FD: ldap_init_fd present in LDAP library.
  • HAVE_LDAP_URL_PARSE: ldap_url_parse present in LDAP library.
  • HAVE_MBEDTLS_DES_CRYPT_ECB: mbedtls_des_crypt_ecb present in mbedTLS <4.
  • HAVE_OPENSSL_SRP: SSL_CTX_set_srp_username present in OpenSSL (or fork).
  • HAVE_QUICHE_CONN_SET_QLOG_FD: quiche_conn_set_qlog_fd present in quiche.
  • HAVE_RUSTLS_SUPPORTED_HPKE: rustls_supported_hpke present in Rustls (unused if Rustls is detected via pkg-config).
  • HAVE_SSL_SET0_WBIO: SSL_set0_wbio present in OpenSSL (or fork).
  • HAVE_SSL_SET1_ECH_CONFIG_LIST: SSL_set1_ech_config_list present in OpenSSL (or fork).
  • HAVE_SSL_SET_QUIC_TLS_CBS: SSL_set_quic_tls_cbs in OpenSSL.
  • HAVE_SSL_SET_QUIC_USE_LEGACY_CODEPOINT: SSL_set_quic_use_legacy_codepoint in OpenSSL fork.
  • HAVE_WOLFSSL_BIO_NEW: wolfSSL_BIO_new present in wolfSSL.
  • HAVE_WOLFSSL_BIO_SET_SHUTDOWN: wolfSSL_BIO_set_shutdown present in wolfSSL.
  • HAVE_WOLFSSL_CTX_GENERATEECHCONFIG: wolfSSL_CTX_GenerateEchConfig present in wolfSSL.
  • HAVE_WOLFSSL_DES_ECB_ENCRYPT: wolfSSL_DES_ecb_encrypt present in wolfSSL.
  • HAVE_WOLFSSL_GET_PEER_CERTIFICATE: wolfSSL_get_peer_certificate present in wolfSSL.
  • HAVE_WOLFSSL_SET_QUIC_USE_LEGACY_CODEPOINT: wolfSSL_set_quic_use_legacy_codepoint present in wolfSSL.
  • HAVE_WOLFSSL_USEALPN: wolfSSL_UseALPN present in wolfSSL.

For each of the above variables, if the variable is defined (either to ON or OFF), the symbol detection is skipped. If the variable is not defined, the feature detection is performed.

Note: These variables are internal and subject to change.

Useful build targets

  • testdeps: Build test dependencies (servers, tools, test certificates). Individual targets: curlinfo, libtests, servers, tunits, units Test certificates: build-certs, clean-certs
  • tests: Run tests (runtests.pl). Customize via the TFLAGS environment variable, e.g. TFLAGS=1621. Other flavors: test-am, test-ci, test-event, test-full, test-nonflaky, test-quiet, test-torture
  • curl-pytest: Run tests (pytest). Other flavor: curl-test-ci
  • curl-examples: Build examples Individual targets: curl-example-<name>, where is the .c filename without extension.
  • curl-examples-build: Build examples quickly but without the ability to run them (for build tests)
  • curl-man: Build man pages (built by default unless disabled)
  • curl_uninstall: Uninstall curl
  • curl-completion-fish: Build shell completions for fish (built by default if enabled)
  • curl-completion-zsh: Build shell completions for zsh (built by default if enabled)
  • curl-ca-bundle: Build the CA bundle via scripts/mk-ca-bundle.pl
  • curl-ca-firefox: Build the CA bundle via scripts/firefox-db2pem.sh

Migrating from Visual Studio IDE Project Files

We recommend using CMake to build curl with MSVC.

The project build files reside in project/Windows/VC* for VS2010, VS2012 and VS2013.

These CMake Visual Studio generators require CMake v3.24 or older. You can download them from https://cmake.org/files/v3.24/.

You can also use -G "NMake Makefiles", which is supported by all CMake versions.

Configuration element Equivalent CMake options
VC10 -G "Visual Studio 10 2010"
VC11 -G "Visual Studio 11 2012"
VC12 -G "Visual Studio 12 2013"
x64 -A x64
Win32 -A Win32
DLL BUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON, BUILD_STATIC_LIBS=OFF, (default)
LIB BUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF, BUILD_STATIC_LIBS=ON
Debug CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug (-G "NMake Makefiles" only)
Release CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release (-G "NMake Makefiles" only)
DLL Windows SSPI CURL_USE_SCHANNEL=ON (with SSPI enabled by default)
DLL OpenSSL CURL_USE_OPENSSL=ON, optional: OPENSSL_ROOT_DIR, OPENSSL_USE_STATIC_LIBS=ON
DLL libssh2 CURL_USE_LIBSSH2=ON, optional: LIBSSH2_INCLUDE_DIR, LIBSSH2_LIBRARY
DLL WinIDN USE_WIN32_IDN=ON

For example these commands:

> cd projects
> ./generate.bat VC12
> msbuild "-property:Configuration=DLL Debug - DLL Windows SSPI - DLL WinIDN" Windows/VC12/curl-all.sln

translate to:

> cmake . -G "Visual Studio 12 2013" -A x64 -DCURL_USE_SCHANNEL=ON -DUSE_WIN32_IDN=ON -DCURL_USE_LIBPSL=OFF
> cmake --build . --config Debug --parallel

We do not specify -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug here as we might do for the "NMake Makefiles" generator because the Visual Studio generators are multi-config generators and therefore ignore the value of CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE.