Hello there! Can I confirm something about multip...

# ktor

[Mez Pahlan]

Hello there!

Can I confirm something about multiplatform from this link please: https://ktor.io/docs/client-engines.html#curl

On Linux, you have to install the gnutls version of libcurl. To install this version on Ubuntu you can run:

sudo apt-get install libcurl4-gnutls-dev

I'm building a simple app that runs on Linux and needs to make network requests. If I do this on Android / JVM I simply depend on my favourite HTTP library (OkHttp for example) and write code. Why do I need to download / install something else in addition to depending on implementation("io.ktor:ktor-client-curl:$ktor_version")?

Why can't the requirement of installing libcurl4-gnutls-dev be satisfied simply by pulling in ktor-client-curl into my project?

Thanks in advance.

[Aleksei Tirman [JB]]

Because the libcurl, which does the actual HTTP communication, is dynamically linked. It's possible to statically link libcurl but this will affect the executable size.

[Mez Pahlan]

Thanks Aleksei, that helps my understanding.

Does that mean then when I create a .kexe via the multiplatform build process that my binary for Linux doesn't have the ability to make HTTP requests and I need to ensure that where ever I run the binary I first also need to install libcurl? Or is this only relevant for allowing me to compile the binary and once distributed it can run happily without further dependency installations?

[Aleksei Tirman [JB]]

I need to ensure that where ever I run the binary I first also need to install libcurl ?

Yes.

[Mez Pahlan]

Perfect, thank you 🙏 .

One last question: If I wanted to include libcurl into my final binary (static linking??) would that be possible or would that not be advised?

[Aleksei Tirman [JB]]

Starting with Ktor 3.1.0 (the next upcoming release), libcurl will be linked statically. See https://github.com/ktorio/ktor/pull/4445.

[Mez Pahlan]

Oooooooooo......... I didn't know that. Very interesting. Many thanks Aleksei thank you color .