random updates

Updated: December 22, 2003 (http://curl.haxx.se/docs/faq.html)

Updated: March 16, 2004 (http://curl.haxx.se/docs/faq.html)

                                  _   _ ____  _

                              ___| | | |  _ \| |

                             / __| | | | |_) | |

  with URL spelled in uppercase to make it obvious it deals with URLs. The

  fact it can also be pronounced 'see URL' also helped, it works as an

  abbrivation for "Client URL Request Library" or why not the recursive

  version: "Curl is a URL Request Library".

  version: "Curl URL Request Library".

  Curl supports a range of common Internet protocols, currently including

  HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, FTPS, GOPHER, LDAP, DICT, TELNET and FILE.

  NOTE: there are numerous sub-projects and related projects that also use the

  word curl in the project names in various combinations, but you should take

  notice that this FAQ is directed at the command-line tool named curl (and

  libcurl the library), and may therefore not be valid for other curl

  libcurl the library), and may therefore not be valid for other curl-related

  projects.

  1.2 What is libcurl?

  libcurl is a reliable and portable library which provides you with an easy

  interface to a range of common Internet protocols.

  You can use libcurl for free in your application even if it is commercial

  or closed-source.

  You can use libcurl for free in your application, be it open source,

  commercial or closed-source.

  1.3 What is cURL not?

  Curl is *not* a wget clone even though that is a very common misconception.

  Never, during curl's development, have we intended curl to replace wget or

  compete on its market. Curl is targeted at single-shot file transfers.

  Curl is *not* a wget clone. That is a common misconception.  Never, during

  curl's development, have we intended curl to replace wget or compete on its

  market. Curl is targeted at single-shot file transfers.

  Curl is not a web site mirroring program. If you wanna use curl to mirror

  Curl is not a web site mirroring program. If you want to use curl to mirror

  something: fine, go ahead and write a script that wraps around curl to make

  it reality (like curlmirror.pl does).

  curl. We do this voluntarily on our spare time.

  We get some help from companies. Contactor Data hosts the curl web site,

  Haxx owns the curl web site's domain and sourceforge.net hosts several

  project services we take advantage from, like the bug tracker, mailing lists

  and more.

  Haxx owns the curl web site's domain and sourceforge.net hosts project

  services we take advantage from, like the bug tracker.

  If you want to support our project with a donation or similar, one way of

  doing that would be to buy "gift certificates" at useful online shopping

  2.4. Does cURL support Socks (RFC 1928) ?

  There is limited support for SOCKS5 for curl built with IPv6 support

  disabled.

  Yes, SOCKS5 is supported when curl is built with IPv6 support disabled.

3. Usage problems

  requests properly. To correct this problem, tell curl to select SSLv2 from

  the command line (-2/--sslv2).

  There has also been examples where the remote server didn't like the SSLv2

  There have also been examples where the remote server didn't like the SSLv2

  request and instead you had to force curl to use SSLv3 with -3/--sslv3.

  4.2. Why do I get problems when I use & or % in the URL?

  The first part is to avoid having clear-text passwords in the command line

  so that they don't appear in 'ps' outputs and similar. That is easily

  avoided by using the "-K" option to tell curl to read parameters from a

  file or stdin to which you can pass the secret info.

  avoided by using the "-K" option to tell curl to read parameters from a file

  or stdin to which you can pass the secret info. curl itself will also

  attempt to "hide" the given password by blanking out the option - this

  doesn't work on all platforms.

  To keep the passwords in your account secret from the rest of the world is

  not a task that curl addresses. You could of course encrypt them somehow to

  at least hide them from being read by human eyes, but that is not what

  anyone would call security.

  Also note that regular HTTP and FTP passwords are sent in clear across the

  network. All it takes for anyone to fetch them is to listen on the network.

  Eavesdropping is very easy.

  Also note that regular HTTP (using Basic authentication) and FTP passwords

  are sent in clear across the network. All it takes for anyone to fetch them

  is to listen on the network.  Eavesdropping is very easy. Use more secure

  authentication methods (like Digest, Negotiate or even NTLM) or consider the

  SSL-based alternatives HTTPS and FTPS.

  4.8 I found a bug!

  It is not a bug if the behavior is documented. Read the docs first.

  Especially check out the KNOWN_BUGS file, it may be a documented bug!

  If it is a problem with a binary you've downloaded or a package for your

  particular platform, try contacting the person who built the package/archive