alternative extension: php-sm-curl
Michael via curl-and-php <[email protected]> Tue, 28 Jul 2026 14:55:16 +0500
| Newsgroups | gmane.comp.web.curl.php |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <CAMVeLLKisCgPrcPJ3hzeSPyw63PuEmhdjrfiDN7yj6n=ievsww@mail.gmail.com> |
Greetings. I am currently in the process of re-implementing the cURL extension for PHP using an alternative methodology: the PHP-SM ABI layer. While this may sound unnecessarily complex, it represents a significantly more elegant and streamlined architecture for extension design. The project is designated as php-sm-curl. It is highly opinionated, built upon a few core principles: Targeted Execution: Execution is strictly limited to Non-Thread Safe (NTS) environments and the CLI SAPI. Realistically, this represents the primary valid use case for cURL within PHP, as modern request/response web cycles leave little room for synchronous network transfers. Streamlined Dependencies: The dependency chain has been minimized exclusively to nghttp2 and LibreSSL. Enhanced Autonomy: The standard PHP binding relies on OpenSSL and pre-compiled binary blobs. My approach incorporates the raw source files directly, compiling them alongside the extension as lightweight units. Reduction of Excess: Support for external compression libraries has been omitted, as compression adds unnecessary bloat. Similarly, c-ares is intentionally omitted from the design; its threaded asynchronous model introduces needless complexity without tangible benefit over the native system resolver in an NTS architecture. This project is already well under development, and I am roughly halfway to a functional build. I will provide further technical specifications as progress allows. Should you have any requests, insights, or observations regarding this proof of concept, your feedback is welcome. -- curl-and-php mailing list [email protected] https://lists.haxx.se/mailman/listinfo/curl-and-php