I am thrilled to announce:
Rock-Solid curl: long term supported curl releases
Basics
We make long term support releases of curl that we call Rock-solid curl.
We support each release branch for at least five years.
We only merge security fixes and important stability bugfixes into these branches for updates. No new features. No surprises.
We offer Rock-solid curl downloads to existing support customers. It means that there is no free and open access to these releases. To get access, become a customer!
Rock-solid curl is released under the same license as normal curl. No funny business.
Rock-solid curl is meant to greatly reduce the risk of regressions and yet be a safe and secure solution with full support. For the companies who want this extra level of attention. An even smoother ride.
We plan to make new Rock-solid curl release branches roughly every 18-24 months.
The first Rock-solid curl release
Rock-solid curl 8.9.2 is the first long-term support curl version. As the version number implies, it is based on the curl 8.9.1 release that we shipped back in July, with two security fixes and a small number of stability patches applied.
Once you have a contract with us, you can get it.
Who is doing this?
I, Daniel Stenberg, will be the primary support person for Rock-solid curl and I will do the releases, and most of the patching and the back-porting of what is deemed necessary.
Customers sign contracts with wolfSSL for this. wolfSSL pays my salary. I have worked for and with wolfSSL with this business setup since 2019.
What about “the normal” curl?
Nothing changes with or happens to the curl project and the regular curl releases because of this. No one is going anywhere. The curl license remains the same. The curl releases and the release cadence remain intact.
Support customers help fund the project by allowing us to pay developers.
How do I become a customer?
Head over to rock-solid.curl.dev and contact us via the provided links.
Downloads and all Rock-solid curl information is hosted on the dedicated rock-solid.curl.dev site, separate from the open source project on curl.se.
On curl
Born in the late 1990s, curl is a client-side Internet transfer engine. Installed in over twenty billion instances it serves virtually everything that is internet connected: phones, tablets, cars, television sets, printers, medical devices, game consoles, helicopters on other planets, etc and it is an embedded component in a significant share of our most used and beloved apps, tools, games and services.
curl is the fruit and outcome from hard work by thousands of volunteers and is completely free and Open Source. The curl project is independent. It is not part of any umbrella organization or foundation and it is not owned nor controlled by any company.
curl is secure, fast and feature-rich. It is a defacto standard and key infrastructure.