Re: Recommended way of using a custom build of libcurl in a Node.js addon

From: Darshan Sen via curl-library <curl-library_at_lists.haxx.se>
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2023 20:06:12 +0530

The primary reason why I thought that the deps should be bundled with the
addon is that the application that would be using the addon needs libcurl
with HTTP3 support through OpenSSL. The only option I found is to use the
first one from https://curl.se/docs/http3.html - the ngtcp2 version which
uses the quictls fork of OpenSSL. I tried but I wasn't able to find a way
in which libcurl with HTTP3 support from quictls can be used on macOS,
Windows and Linux without building curl from source and my users lack the
technical skills required to build curl from source. That's why, I created
this thread to learn about solutions for this problem that I'm trying to
solve and find out which one is the most reasonable to use here.

On Tue, Mar 21, 2023 at 5:18 PM Timothe Litt via curl-library <
curl-library_at_lists.haxx.se> wrote:

>
> On 21-Mar-23 04:34, Darshan Sen via curl-library wrote:
>
> Hi! I'd like to incorporate a custom build of libcurl (with HTTP3 support)
> into a Node.js C++ addon <https://nodejs.org/api/addons.html> that is
> going to be shipped to some systems that don't have curl or its
> dependencies installed.
> From what I can tell, the possible ways in which this can be done are -
>
> - build a fully relocatable version of libcurl and the dependency
> libraries
> - statically compile libcurl into my application
>
> I'm not sure if there are any better solutions to this. What is the
> recommended way of doing this?
>
> It depends. So you'll probably get several answers.
>
> If you take either of the choices you suggest, you also take on the
> maintenance task for libcurl and the libraries it depends on. That means
> you'll have to update your addon whenever they have an issue that affects
> your addon - including security issues.
>
> The more components you ship, the greater the work you take on. And a
> normal build of libcurl has quite a few dependencies. I only build a
> subset, but a quick ldd on libcurl.so lists 26. (Of course, some will be
> installed on most any system.) There is no unified schedule for their
> releases, so across all the libraries, you may see an issue every week.
> But the advantage is that your customers have a simple install, and only
> one vendor (you) to deal with.
>
> The alternative is to simply state that libcurl (and thus its
> dependencies) is a dependency of your addon, and require that it's
> installed. If you are distributing your addon via a package manager, this
> is pretty simple - you specify libcurl and it's minimum version, and the
> rest is handled automatically. The distributions enforce a release
> schedule for the other libraries that consolidates the library updates.
> The downside is you don't control the exact configuration of libcurl, and
> your addon will probably encounter more versions of libcurl than if you
> packaged it. libcurl has a stable API, but if you accidentally (or
> intentionally) rely on undocumented behaviors, this could be an issue.
>
> Unless you have the resources to devote to supporting a private
> distribution of libcurl et. al. for your customers, I'd simply make libcurl
> a dependency. It's less work for you, and consistent with the way most
> distributions work.
>
> I'd have to see a very compelling use case to invest resources in a
> private distribution. While it may seem simpler now, the long-term costs
> tend to become large.
>
> You'll have to decide what's best for you and your customers.
>
> Timothe Litt
> ACM Distinguished Engineer
> --------------------------
> This communication may not represent the ACM or my employer's views,
> if any, on the matters discussed.
>
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Received on 2023-03-21