QUICK-START

FAST START INSTRUCTIONS

Building curl-loader.

Build it using general C development environment with bash, 
gcc (3 or 4 series), make, etc on a linux machine.
        
Building pre-requirements are:
1. openssl binaries;
2. openssl development package with include files (on debian package libssl-dev);
         
Adjust Makefile variables to point to the openssl headers and libraries. 
If you want to specify an openssl development directory with include 
files (e.g. crypto.h), export environment variable OPENSSLDIR with 
the value of that directory.
For example: $export OPENSSLDIR=the-full-path-to-the-directory

We are building libcurl with --without-libidn option. Users, that would like 
to resolve IDNA domain names with "international" letters can edit our 
Makefile and use instead --with-libidn=full-path-dir. 

Another known issue is libidn.so, which means, that some linux distributions 
do have some libidn.so.11, but not libidn.so. Resolve it by creating a softlink 
or in some cases exclude -lidn from the linking string, which requires 
commenting a string in Makefile and uncommenting another.  
        
Run the following commands from your bash linux shell:
$tar zxfv curl-loader-<version>.tar.gz
$cd curl-loader-<version>
$make
         
By default, we are building both libcurl and curl-loader without optimization and with
debugging -g option. To build with optimization and without debugging, please, run:
$make cleanall
$make optimize=1 debug=0
Optionally, run as a root:
#make install
If still any building issues, please, fill you free to contact us for assistance.

       


Loading Configuration.

To run the load, you need to create your configuration file to be passed to
curl-loader by the -f commmand line option, e.g.
#curl-loader -f ./conf-user/bulk.conf
        
For more examples, please, look at the files in "conf-examples" directory. You may 
copy an example file and edit it.
        
      

Environment and System.

Running hundreds and thousands of clients, please, do not forget:
- to increase limit of descriptors (sockets) by running e.g. 
   #ulimit -n 10000;
- optionally, to set reuse of sockets in time-wait state: by setting 
   #echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_tw_recycle and/or 
   #echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_tw_reuse;
       
In some cases you may need to increase the system limits for open
descriptors (sockets).
       
With curl-loader using libcurl, it honors the way libcurl handles proxy settings
through .curlrc and by expanding the proxy environment variables $http_proxy,
$ftp_proxy and $all_proxy. By using the curl-loader option -x, curl-loader can be
forced to set or unset a proxy independend of .curlrc and environment, making the
proxy usage more transparent.

Usage: 

run as a root user:
#./curl-loader -f <configuration filename> [other options]
For the details about [other options] - see FAQs in README.
        
If curl-loader reports any problems with validation of your configuration,
"don't panic" - just fix it.


For more details, please, look into the FAQs in README file.