The end of curl (in phobos)

[Steven Schveighoffer via Digitalmars-d]

On 5/8/16 10:33 AM, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
> On 5/8/16 11:05 AM, Jonathan M Davis via Digitalmars-d wrote:
>> On Sunday, May 08, 2016 02:44:48 Adam D. Ruppe via Digitalmars-d wrote:
>>> On Saturday, 7 May 2016 at 20:50:53 UTC, Jonas Drewsen wrote:
>>>> But std.net.curl supports not just HTTP but also FTP etc. so i
>>>> guess that won't suffice.
>>>
>>> We can always implement ftp too, it isn't that complicated of a
>>> protocol.
>>>
>>> Though, I suspect its users are a tiny minority and they might
>>> not mind depending on a separate curl package.
>>
>> An alternative would be to move std.net.curl into a dub package.
>
> That would still be a breaking change, is that correct?
>
> I'm unclear on what the reasons are for removing libcurl so I'd love to
> see them stated clearly. Walter's argumentation was vague - code that we
> don't control etc. There have been past reports of issues with libcurl
> on windows, have those not been permanently solved?

My understanding is that libcurl isn't default installed on some 
platforms (e.g. windows). So we have a dependency on an external library 
that may not be present. If in "first five minutes" user wants to 
execute downloads from http server and is told "oh, to use Phobos, you 
must download another library, sorry", I don't think that helps.

Ironically, zlib is statically compiled by the build, always included, 
it's not changing anytime soon (Latest release is April 2013), and so 
requires zero maintenance. Since it's statically in phobos, it is zero 
pain to the end user. Yet that is the one you want to remove over 
libcurl? I agree the D wrapper needs re-implementing, but the C library 
part of it is rock-solid.

-Steve