httr::set_config(config(ssl_verifypeer = 0L, ssl_verifyhost = 0L)) is empty for older curl version

[ZheFrench]

The problem is in the title. I believe it's related to the curl version.
The code works on other machines with more recent curl version.

library(httr)
default_user_agent <- function() {
  versions <- c(
    httr = as.character(utils::packageVersion("httr")),
    `r-curl` = as.character(utils::packageVersion("curl")),
    libcurl = curl_system_version()
  )
  print(paste0(names(versions), "/", versions, collapse = " "))
}

curl_system_version <- function() curl::curl_version()$version

default_user_agent()
#> [1] "httr/1.4.7 r-curl/6.2.2 libcurl/7.81.0"
req <- httr::set_config(config(ssl_verifypeer = 0L, ssl_verifyhost = 0L))
str(req)
#> List of 7
#>  $ method    : NULL
#>  $ url       : NULL
#>  $ headers   : NULL
#>  $ fields    : NULL
#>  $ options   : list()
#>  $ auth_token: NULL
#>  $ output    : NULL
#>  - attr(*, "class")= chr "request"
system("openssl version")
#>  OpenSSL 3.0.2 15 Mar 2022 (Library: OpenSSL 3.0.2 15 Mar 2022)

sessionInfo()
#> R version 4.5.0 (2025-04-11)
#> Platform: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
#> Running under: Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS
#> 
#> Matrix products: default
#> BLAS:   /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/blas/libblas.so.3.10.0 
#> LAPACK: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/lapack/liblapack.so.3.10.0  LAPACK version 3.10.0
#> 
#> locale:
#>  [1] LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8       LC_NUMERIC=C              
#>  [3] LC_TIME=fr_FR.UTF-8        LC_COLLATE=en_US.UTF-8    
#>  [5] LC_MONETARY=fr_FR.UTF-8    LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8   
#>  [7] LC_PAPER=fr_FR.UTF-8       LC_NAME=C                 
#>  [9] LC_ADDRESS=C               LC_TELEPHONE=C            
#> [11] LC_MEASUREMENT=fr_FR.UTF-8 LC_IDENTIFICATION=C       
#> 
#> time zone: Europe/Paris
#> tzcode source: system (glibc)
#> 
#> attached base packages:
#> [1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base     
#> 
#> other attached packages:
#> [1] httr_1.4.7
#> 
#> loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
#>  [1] digest_0.6.37     R6_2.6.1          fastmap_1.2.0     xfun_0.52        
#>  [5] glue_1.8.0        knitr_1.50        htmltools_0.5.8.1 rmarkdown_2.29   
#>  [9] lifecycle_1.0.4   cli_3.6.5         reprex_2.1.1      withr_3.0.2      
#> [13] compiler_4.5.0    rstudioapi_0.17.1 tools_4.5.0       curl_6.2.2       
#> [17] evaluate_1.0.3    yaml_2.3.10       rlang_1.1.6       fs_1.6.6

[ZheFrench]

Did anyone could reproduce the problem ?
This happens on Ubuntu 20 and 22 due to specific openssl release not upgradable to my knowledge.
UPDATE : More due to Curl version in fact...

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
   openssl                         3.0.13-0ubuntu3.5
   cURL 8.5.0	 

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
   openssl                         3.0.2-0ubuntu1.19
   cURL 7.81.0	

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
   openssl                         1.1.1f-1ubuntu2.24
   cURL 7.68.0	

[ZheFrench]

Any update on this ? Calling it twice make it work the second time...

library(httr)

test <- set_config(config(verbose = TRUE))
str(test)

test <- set_config(config(verbose = TRUE))
str(test)

List of 7
 $ method    : NULL
 $ url       : NULL
 $ headers   : NULL
 $ fields    : NULL
 $ options   : list()
 $ auth_token: NULL
 $ output    : NULL
 - attr(*, "class")= chr "request"
List of 7
 $ method    : NULL
 $ url       : NULL
 $ headers   : NULL
 $ fields    : NULL
 $ options   :List of 1
  ..$ verbose: logi TRUE
 $ auth_token: NULL
 $ output    : NULL
 - attr(*, "class")= chr "request"