On July 16, 2025, the curl development team announced the release of curl 8.15.0, marking the 269th iteration of the widely-used command-line tool and libcurl library. This update underscores the project’s commitment to stability and reliability, introducing 233 documented bugfixes and incorporating 334 commits from the development community.
Development Cycle and Focus
The release follows a concise 42-day development cycle, bringing the project’s total lifespan to 9,980 days. Unlike previous versions that introduced new features, curl 8.15.0 concentrates on refining existing functionalities. The development team prioritized code quality and reliability, achieving an impressive rate of approximately 5.5 bugfixes per day during this period.
Key Changes and Enhancements
A significant technical change in this release is the removal of support for Secure Transport and BearSSL backends. This decision aligns with the project’s strategic focus on maintaining the most widely-used and actively-supported TLS implementations. Developers relying on these backends are advised to migrate to alternative TLS libraries such as OpenSSL or wolfSSL to ensure continued support and security.
Notably, curl 8.15.0 does not include any security fixes, indicating that previous versions have maintained a strong security posture. The project’s total security fix count remains at 167, reflecting the team’s commitment to proactive security maintenance. This clean security record suggests that existing curl deployments can upgrade primarily for stability improvements rather than urgent security patches.
Community Engagement and Contributions
The release highlights robust community engagement, with 57 contributors participating in the development cycle, including 29 newcomers. This influx of fresh talent brings the total contributor count to 3,460 individuals. Additionally, 37 authors contributed code changes, with 16 making their first contributions to the project, expanding the author base to 1,392 total contributors.
Technical Details and Compatibility
The release maintains backward compatibility with existing libcurl implementations, preserving all 96 public libcurl functions and 308 curl_easy_setopt() options. This approach ensures that developers can upgrade without breaking existing applications that rely on curl’s extensive API surface.
Conclusion
curl 8.15.0 exemplifies the project’s dedication to enhancing stability and reliability. By focusing on extensive bugfixes and removing support for less commonly used TLS backends, the release ensures that curl remains a robust and secure tool for developers worldwide. Users are encouraged to upgrade to this latest version to benefit from the improvements and maintain optimal performance in their applications.
