first time using libcurl
I'm trying to use it for a function that downloads a page's source code
like this getHTML(string URL);
but I do not understand the set up
There are many different ways to build C programs. This chapter will assume a UNIX-style build process. If you use a different build system, you can still read this to get general information that may apply to your environment as well.
Compiling the Program
Your compiler needs to know where the libcurl headers are located. Therefore you must set your compiler's include path to point to the directory where you installed them. The 'curl-config'[3] tool can be used to get this information:
$ curl-config --cflags
Linking the Program with libcurl
When having compiled the program, you need to link your object files to create a single executable. For that to succeed, you need to link with libcurl and possibly also with other libraries that libcurl itself depends on. Like the OpenSSL libraries, but even some standard OS libraries may be needed on the command line. To figure out which flags to use, once again the 'curl-config' tool comes to the rescue:
$ curl-config --libs
SSL or Not
libcurl can be built and customized in many ways. One of the things that varies from different libraries and builds is the support for SSL-based transfers, like HTTPS and FTPS. If a supported SSL library was detected properly at build-time, libcurl will be built with SSL support. To figure out if an installed libcurl has been built with SSL support enabled, use 'curl-config' like this:
$ curl-config --feature
And if SSL is supported, the keyword 'SSL' will be written to stdout, possibly together with a few other features that could be either on or off on for different libcurls.
See also the "Features libcurl Provides" further down.
autoconf macro
When you write your configure script to detect libcurl and setup variables accordingly, we offer a prewritten macro that probably does everything you need in this area. See docs/libcurl/libcurl.m4 file - it includes docs on how to use it.
can anyone explain how to do the set up?
I'm using dev c++ 4.9.9.2
a short version of the function code will be even better