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jak-project/third-party/curl/docs/libcurl/curl_multi_fdset.md
T
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

3.9 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 curl_multi_fdset 3 libcurl
curl_multi_cleanup (3)
curl_multi_init (3)
curl_multi_perform (3)
curl_multi_timeout (3)
curl_multi_wait (3)
curl_multi_waitfds (3)
select (2)
All
7.9.6

NAME

curl_multi_fdset - extract file descriptor information from a multi handle

SYNOPSIS

#include <curl/curl.h>

CURLMcode curl_multi_fdset(CURLM *multi_handle,
                           fd_set *read_fd_set,
                           fd_set *write_fd_set,
                           fd_set *exc_fd_set,
                           int *max_fd);

DESCRIPTION

This function extracts file descriptor information from a given multi_handle. libcurl returns its fd_set sets. The application can use these to select() on, but be sure to FD_ZERO them before calling this function as curl_multi_fdset(3) only adds its own descriptors, it does not zero or otherwise remove any others. The curl_multi_perform(3) function should be called as soon as one of them is ready to be read from or written to.

The read_fd_set argument should point to an object of type fd_set that on returns specifies the file descriptors to be checked for being ready to read.

The write_fd_set argument should point to an object of type fd_set that on return specifies the file descriptors to be checked for being ready to write.

The exc_fd_set argument should point to an object of type fd_set that on return specifies the file descriptors to be checked for error conditions.

If no file descriptors are set by libcurl, max_fd contain -1 when this function returns. Otherwise it contains the highest descriptor number libcurl set. When libcurl returns -1 in max_fd, it is because libcurl currently does something that is not possible for your application to monitor with a socket and unfortunately you can then not know exactly when the current action is completed using select(). You then need to wait a while before you proceed and call curl_multi_perform(3) anyway. How long to wait? Unless curl_multi_timeout(3) gives you a lower number, we suggest 100 milliseconds or so, but you may want to test it out in your own particular conditions to find a suitable value.

When doing select(), you should use curl_multi_timeout(3) to figure out how long to wait for action. Call curl_multi_perform(3) even if no activity has been seen on the fd_sets after the timeout expires as otherwise internal retries and timeouts may not work as you would think and want.

If one of the sockets used by libcurl happens to be larger than what can be set in an fd_set, which on POSIX systems means that the file descriptor is larger than FD_SETSIZE, then libcurl tries to not set it. Setting a too large file descriptor in an fd_set implies an out of bounds write which can cause crashes, or worse. The effect of NOT storing it might possibly save you from the crash, but makes your program NOT wait for sockets it should wait for...

%PROTOCOLS%

EXAMPLE

int main(void)
{
  fd_set fdread;
  fd_set fdwrite;
  fd_set fdexcep;
  int maxfd;
  int rc;
  CURLMcode mresult;
  struct timeval timeout = { 1, 0 };

  CURLM *multi = curl_multi_init();

  do {

    /* call curl_multi_perform() */

    FD_ZERO(&fdread);
    FD_ZERO(&fdwrite);
    FD_ZERO(&fdexcep);

    /* get file descriptors from the transfers */
    mresult = curl_multi_fdset(multi, &fdread, &fdwrite, &fdexcep, &maxfd);

    if(mresult != CURLM_OK) {
      fprintf(stderr, "curl_multi_fdset() failed, code %d.\n", mresult);
      break;
    }

    /* wait for activity on one of the sockets */
    rc = select(maxfd + 1, &fdread, &fdwrite, &fdexcep, &timeout);

  } while(!mresult);
}

%AVAILABILITY%

RETURN VALUE

This function returns a CURLMcode indicating success or error.

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