Files
jak-project/third-party/curl/docs/libcurl/opts/CURLOPT_ERRORBUFFER.md
Alexander J. Semenuk 5d5e35fb9b fix: Windows toolchain compatibility (curl 8.21 re-vendor, endless reconfigure loop) (#4355)
## Problem

Windows builds break with a current local toolchain (Scoop LLVM 22.1.8,
CMake 4.4.0, VS 2026), in two independent ways:

1. The build stops at curl's deliberate guard: `#error "no non-blocking
method was found/used/set"` in `third-party/curl/lib/nonblock.c`.
2. From the second configure onward, `cmake --build` re-runs CMake in an
endless loop (observed 42 consecutive reconfigure cycles in a single
build). Likely the same mechanism behind the "endlessly building" VS
2026 note in `docs/setup/dev/vs.md`.

## Root cause

1. `third-party/curl/CMake/CurlTests.c` passes `int *` to
`ioctlsocket()`, whose third parameter is `u_long *`. Clang 22 promotes
`-Wincompatible-pointer-types` to a hard error in C, so the
`HAVE_IOCTLSOCKET_FIONBIO` try_compile silently fails and
`curl_config.h` never defines it. Upstream CI does not see this because
the windows-2022 runner image ships an older LLVM. GCC 14 promotes the
same warning to a hard error, which is very likely the `CurlTests.c.obj`
failure reported from MSYS2 in open-goal/jak-project#3551. Upstream curl
hit the identical problem with GCC 14 and fixed the probe in curl 8.8.0
(curl/curl#13578).
2. The root CMakeLists copies the build tree's `compile_commands.json`
into `<src>/build/` for clangd using `configure_file()`, which registers
its input as a configure dependency. CMake rewrites
`compile_commands.json` late in every generation, after
`CTestTestfile.cmake` and `cmake_install.cmake` (outputs of the same
Ninja regen rule), so once the dependency is registered the rule is
deterministically dirty and every `ninja` invocation re-runs CMake. A
pristine first configure is safe (the file does not exist yet, so the
`if(EXISTS ...)` guard skips the copy), which is why the loop looks
machine- or IDE-specific.

## Fix

1. Per review, re-vendor `third-party/curl` at the `curl-8_21_0` tag
(previously `curl-8_3_0`), which carries the upstream probe fix plus two
years of upstream development; `vendor.yaml` updated to match.
Adjustments the version jump forced:
- curl 8.15 removed the native macOS Secure Transport backend
(`CURL_USE_SECTRANSP`), so macOS now builds curl against OpenSSL like
Linux. The two macOS workflows install Homebrew `openssl@3` and export
`OPENSSL_ROOT_DIR` (keg-only), and the macOS setup docs gained the same
two lines.
- `CURL_BROTLI` / `CURL_ZSTD` switched to AUTO-detection in curl 8.10;
pinned OFF to keep the previous no-compression behavior and avoid
silently linking whatever the CI images happen to have.
- curl's new top-level `BUILD_EXAMPLES` cache option (default ON) leaked
into discord-rpc's identically named option and broke configure at a
nonexistent `examples/send-presence` directory; pinned OFF ahead of the
third-party subdirectories.

The diff is dominated by the mechanical tag-tree swap under
`third-party/curl` (linguist-vendored, collapsed in review). The
hand-written changes are `CMakeLists.txt`, the two macOS workflows,
`docs/setup/system/macos.md`, and `vendor.yaml`.
2. Swap `configure_file()` for `file(COPY ...)`: the same clangd copy
with no configure dependency registered. (`file(COPY_FILE ...
ONLY_IF_DIFFERENT)` would be cleaner still but requires CMake 3.21,
above the declared `cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)`.)

## Test plan

- [x] Fresh `cmake --preset Release-windows-clang` (LLVM 22, no cache
seeding) completes and logs `Enabled SSL backends: Schannel`; the
FIONBIO probe passes without the previous `#error`
- [x] Full Windows Release build from scratch in the branch worktree
(all 1422 targets)
- [x] goalc-test suite: 1509 passed, 0 failed
- [x] Second consecutive configure with `compile_commands.json` present:
the regen rule in `build.ninja` has no `compile_commands.json` input;
`<src>/build/compile_commands.json` is still refreshed for clangd
- [x] Repeated `ninja` invocations after a full build no longer re-run
CMake
- [x] macOS Intel and ARM CI green (first exercise of the OpenSSL
backend switch)

---

I work off a self-hosted forge, so this GitHub account is quiet; the
configure logs and ninja dirty-node traces from the investigation are
available if anyone wants the raw data.

(AI-assisted)
2026-07-27 19:19:18 -04:00

2.9 KiB
Vendored
Generated

c, SPDX-License-Identifier, Title, Section, Source, See-also, Protocol, Added-in
c SPDX-License-Identifier Title Section Source See-also Protocol Added-in
Copyright (C) Daniel Stenberg, <daniel@haxx.se>, et al. curl CURLOPT_ERRORBUFFER 3 libcurl
CURLOPT_DEBUGFUNCTION (3)
CURLOPT_VERBOSE (3)
curl_easy_strerror (3)
curl_multi_strerror (3)
curl_share_strerror (3)
curl_url_strerror (3)
All
7.1

NAME

CURLOPT_ERRORBUFFER - error buffer for error messages

SYNOPSIS

#include <curl/curl.h>

CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_ERRORBUFFER, char *buf);

DESCRIPTION

Pass a char pointer to a buffer that libcurl may use to store human readable error messages on failures or problems. This may be more helpful than the single return code from curl_easy_perform(3) and related functions. The buffer must be at least CURL_ERROR_SIZE bytes big.

You must keep the associated buffer available until libcurl no longer needs it. Failing to do so might cause odd behavior or even crashes. libcurl might need it until you call curl_easy_cleanup(3) or you set the same option again to use a different pointer.

libcurl initializes the contents of the error buffer to an empty string before performing a transfer.

Do not attempt to set the contents of the buffer yourself, including in any callbacks you write that may be called by libcurl. The library may overwrite the buffer after your callback returns.

Consider CURLOPT_VERBOSE(3) and CURLOPT_DEBUGFUNCTION(3) to better debug and trace why errors happen.

Using this option multiple times makes the last set pointer override the previous ones. Set it to NULL to disable its use again.

DEFAULT

NULL

%PROTOCOLS%

EXAMPLE

#include <string.h> /* for strlen() */
int main(void)
{
  CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
  if(curl) {
    CURLcode result;
    char errbuf[CURL_ERROR_SIZE];

    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://example.com");

    /* provide a buffer to store errors in */
    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_ERRORBUFFER, errbuf);

    /* set the error buffer as empty before performing a request */
    errbuf[0] = 0;

    /* perform the request */
    result = curl_easy_perform(curl);

    /* if the request did not complete correctly, show the error
    information. if no detailed error information was written to errbuf
    show the more generic information from curl_easy_strerror instead.
    */
    if(result != CURLE_OK) {
      size_t len = strlen(errbuf);
      fprintf(stderr, "\nlibcurl: (%d) ", result);
      if(len)
        fprintf(stderr, "%s%s", errbuf,
                ((errbuf[len - 1] != '\n') ? "\n" : ""));
      else
        fprintf(stderr, "%s\n", curl_easy_strerror(result));
    }
  }
}

HISTORY

Before curl 7.60.0, if an error code was returned but there was no error detail the buffer was untouched: not initialized.

%AVAILABILITY%

RETURN VALUE

curl_easy_setopt(3) returns a CURLcode indicating success or error.

CURLE_OK (0) means everything was OK, non-zero means an error occurred, see libcurl-errors(3).