Curl Creator Reaches 20,000 Commit Milestone After 26 Years of Development

Daniel Stenberg, the creator of curl, has reached a significant milestone in open-source software development: 20,000 commits to the curl repository. This achievement spans 26 years of continuous development on the ubiquitous data transfer tool used in billions of devices worldwide.

Stenberg's first commit dates back to December 29, 1999, though this mark represents only part of curl's history. The project's initial three years of development aren't included in this count due to the migration from an earlier version control system. These 20,000 commits occurred across 5,589 separate days - equivalent to 59% of all days since December 1999 - averaging 2.1 commits daily.

The curl project demonstrates remarkable community growth. While Stenberg accounts for 53% of the total 37,604 commits, the contributor base has expanded significantly over time. Currently, 1,431 developers have contributed code, with 941 having made just one commit. Only 16 contributors have exceeded 100 commits, and five have surpassed 1,000. The second-most prolific contributor, Yang Tse, stopped active development in 2013 with 2,587 commits.

Stenberg's share of contributions has gradually decreased as the project matured, which he considers a positive indicator of community health. "My share of the total commits has been shrinking gradually," Stenberg noted, adding that he expects it to drop below 50% in the foreseeable future.

Looking ahead, Stenberg shows no signs of slowing down. Maintaining an average of 800 commits annually over the past 25 years, he projects reaching 30,000 commits by mid-2038 if current contribution patterns continue. This long-term commitment underscores both the stability of curl's development and the enduring relevance of the tool in modern computing infrastructure.

The evolution of curl's development infrastructure mirrors its growth. Early commits used CVS before migrating to Git during the 2010 transition to GitHub. This change preserved the project's history while accommodating its expanding contributor base.

Stenberg's milestone highlights an exceptional open-source journey: a quarter-century of consistent dedication to a tool that powers critical internet operations while gradually decentralizing development responsibility across a growing community.