Files
jak-project/third-party/curl/docs/libcurl/opts/CURLOPT_CONNECT_TO.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

3.8 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_CONNECT_TO 3 libcurl
CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION (3)
CURLOPT_HTTPPROXYTUNNEL (3)
CURLOPT_RESOLVE (3)
CURLOPT_URL (3)
All
7.49.0

NAME

CURLOPT_CONNECT_TO - connect to another host and port instead

SYNOPSIS

#include <curl/curl.h>

CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_CONNECT_TO,
                          struct curl_slist *connect_to);

DESCRIPTION

Pass a pointer to a linked list of strings with "connect to" information to use for establishing network connections with this handle. The linked list should be a fully valid list of struct curl_slist structs properly filled in. Use curl_slist_append(3) to create the list and curl_slist_free_all(3) to clean up an entire list.

Each single string should be written using the format HOST:PORT:CONNECT-TO-HOST:CONNECT-TO-PORT where HOST is the host of the request, PORT is the port of the request, CONNECT-TO-HOST is the hostname to connect to, and CONNECT-TO-PORT is the port to connect to.

The first string that matches the request's host and port is used.

Dotted numerical IP addresses are supported for HOST and CONNECT-TO-HOST. A numerical IPv6 address must be written within [brackets].

Any of the four values may be empty. When the HOST or PORT is empty, the host or port always match (the request's host or port is ignored). When CONNECT-TO-HOST or CONNECT-TO-PORT is empty, the "connect to" feature is disabled for the host or port, and the request's host or port are used to establish the network connection.

This option is suitable to direct the request at a specific server, e.g. at a specific cluster node in a cluster of servers.

The "connect to" host and port are only used to establish the network connection. They do NOT affect the host and port that are used for TLS/SSL (e.g. SNI, certificate verification) or for the application protocols.

In contrast to CURLOPT_RESOLVE(3), the option CURLOPT_CONNECT_TO(3) does not pre-populate the DNS cache and therefore it does not affect future transfers of other easy handles that have been added to the same multi handle.

The "connect to" host and port are ignored if they are equal to the host and the port in the request URL, because connecting to the host and the port in the request URL is the default behavior.

If an HTTP proxy is used for a request having a special "connect to" host or port, and the "connect to" host or port differs from the request's host and port, the HTTP proxy is automatically switched to tunnel mode for this specific request. This is necessary because it is not possible to connect to a specific host or port in normal (non-tunnel) mode.

When this option is passed to curl_easy_setopt(3), libcurl does not copy the list so you must keep it around until you no longer use this handle for a transfer before you call curl_slist_free_all(3) on the list.

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

DEFAULT

NULL

%PROTOCOLS%

EXAMPLE

int main(void)
{
  CURL *curl;
  struct curl_slist *connect_to = NULL;
  connect_to = curl_slist_append(NULL, "example.com::server1.example.com:");

  curl = curl_easy_init();
  if(curl) {
    CURLcode result;
    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_CONNECT_TO, connect_to);
    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "https://example.com");

    result = curl_easy_perform(curl);

    /* always cleanup */
    curl_easy_cleanup(curl);
  }

  curl_slist_free_all(connect_to);
}

%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).