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

5.0 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_NETRC 3 libcurl
CURLOPT_NETRC_FILE (3)
CURLOPT_USERNAME (3)
CURLOPT_USERPWD (3)
All
7.1

NAME

CURLOPT_NETRC - enable use of .netrc

SYNOPSIS

#include <curl/curl.h>

CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *handle, CURLOPT_NETRC, long level);

DESCRIPTION

This parameter controls the preference level of libcurl between using usernames and passwords from your ~/.netrc file, relative to usernames and passwords in the URL supplied with CURLOPT_URL(3). If the NETRC environment variable is set, that filename is used as the netrc file. (Added in 8.16.0)

On Windows, libcurl primarily checks for .netrc in %HOME%. If %HOME% is not set on Windows, libcurl falls back to %USERPROFILE%. If the file does not exist, it falls back to check if there is instead a file named _netrc - using an underscore instead of period.

You can also tell libcurl a different filename to use with CURLOPT_NETRC_FILE(3).

libcurl uses a username (and supplied or prompted password) supplied with CURLOPT_USERPWD(3) or CURLOPT_USERNAME(3) in preference to any of the options controlled by this parameter.

Only machine name, username and password are taken into account (init macros and similar things are not supported).

The netrc file provides credentials for a hostname independent of which protocol and port number that are used.

When providing a username in the URL and a .netrc file, libcurl looks for and uses the password for that specific user for the given host if such an entry appears in the file before a "generic" machine entry without login specified.

libcurl does not verify that the file has the correct properties set (as the standard Unix ftp client does). It should only be readable by user.

level is a long that should be set to one of the values described below.

CURL_NETRC_IGNORED (0)

libcurl ignores the .netrc file. This is the default.

CURL_NETRC_OPTIONAL (1)

The use of the .netrc file is optional, and information in the URL is to be preferred. The file is scanned for the host and username (to find the password only) or for the host only, to find the first username and password after that machine, which ever information is not specified.

CURL_NETRC_REQUIRED (2)

The use of the .netrc file is required, and any credential information present in the URL is ignored. The file is scanned for the host and username (to find the password only) or for the host only, to find the first username and password after that machine, which ever information is not specified.

FILE FORMAT

The .netrc file format is simple: you specify lines with a machine name and follow the login and password that are associated with that machine.

Each field is provided as a sequence of letters that ends with a space or newline. Starting in 7.84.0, libcurl also supports quoted strings. They start and end with double quotes and support the escaped special letters ", n, r, and t. Quoted strings are the only way a space character can be used in a username or password.

machine <name>

Provides credentials for a host called name. libcurl searches the .netrc file for a machine token that matches the hostname specified in the URL. Once a match is made, the subsequent tokens are processed, stopping when the end of file is reached or another "machine" is encountered.

default

This is the same as machine name except that default matches any name. There can be only one default token, and it must be after all machine tokens. To provide a default anonymous login for hosts that are not otherwise matched, add a line similar to this in the end:

default login anonymous password user@domain

login <name>

The username string for the remote machine.

password <secret>

Supply a password. If this token is present, curl supplies the specified string if the remote server requires a password as part of the login process. Note that if this token is present in the .netrc file you really should make sure the file is not readable by anyone besides the user.

macdef <name>

Define a macro. This feature is not supported by libcurl. In order for the rest of the .netrc to still work fine, libcurl properly skips every definition done with "macdef" that it finds.

DEFAULT

CURL_NETRC_IGNORED

%PROTOCOLS%

EXAMPLE

int main(void)
{
  CURL *curl = curl_easy_init();
  if(curl) {
    CURLcode result;
    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "ftp://example.com/");
    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_NETRC, CURL_NETRC_OPTIONAL);
    result = curl_easy_perform(curl);
  }
}

HISTORY

CURL_NETRC_* enums became long types in 8.13.0, prior to this version a long cast was necessary when passed to curl_easy_setopt(3).

%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).