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Compiler Support

Read this in English or Português (BR).

Horse targets a broad range of Delphi and Free Pascal versions. This page lists what's supported, what's tested, and the per-Provider / per-Application-type considerations.

For the two-axis model (Provider — Indy / fphttpserver / CrossSocket — × Application type — Console / VCL / Daemon / Apache / ISAPI / CGI / FCGI / LCL / HTTPApplication), see Providers & Application types.

Delphi

Version Compiler version Status
Delphi 13 Florence 38.0 Supported
Delphi 12 Athens 36.0 Recommended
Delphi 11 Alexandria 35.0 Supported
Delphi 10.4 Sydney 34.0 Supported
Delphi 10.3 Rio 33.0 Supported
Delphi 10.2 Tokyo 32.0 Supported
Delphi 10.1 Berlin 31.0 Supported
Delphi 10 Seattle 30.0 Supported
Delphi XE8 29.0 Supported
Delphi XE7 28.0 Minimum

CI runs on Delphi 11 and 12 against the official tests/ suite. Anything below 10.4 receives source-compatibility consideration but isn't actively exercised.

Free Pascal / Lazarus

Version Status
FPC 3.2.2 + Lazarus 2.2 Recommended
FPC 3.2.0 + Lazarus 2.0 Supported
FPC 3.3.1 (trunk) Supported with {$MODE DELPHI}{$H+}

Target platforms

The platform set depends on which Provider is selected and which Application type is being built. The two tables below match the two-axis model.

Self-hosted Providers × Platform

The Provider that owns the socket. Indy is Delphi-only; fphttpserver is FPC-only; CrossSocket spans both.

Platform Indy (Delphi default) fphttpserver (FPC default) CrossSocket (HORSE_PROVIDER_CROSSSOCKET; legacy alias HORSE_CROSSSOCKET)
Windows x86 / x64 ✔ ✔ ✔
Linux x64 ✔ ✔ ✔ (primary target)
macOS Intel / ARM64 ✔ ✔ ✔
FreeBSD — ✔ ✔ (via kqueue)
Android / iOS — — —

Host-managed Application types × Platform

These don't use a self-hosted Provider — the host process owns the socket. Coverage depends on what the host runs on.

Platform Apache module ISAPI (IIS) CGI FastCGI
Windows x86 / x64 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Linux x64 ✔ — ✔ ✔
macOS Intel / ARM64 — — ✔ —
FreeBSD — — ✔ —
Android / iOS — — — —

(Server-side targets only — for HTTP client code, Delphi's HTTP libraries support broader mobile platforms.)

Per-Provider notes (self-hosted)

Indy — Delphi default

  • Works on every Delphi version listed above. Not available on FPC — FPC builds use fphttpserver instead.
  • Provider unit: Horse.Provider.Console / Horse.Provider.VCL / Horse.Provider.Daemon. Each uses IdHTTPWebBrokerBridge, IdContext, IdSSLOpenSSL, ….
  • OpenSSL DLLs (libeay32.dll / ssleay32.dll or libssl-1_1-x64.dll / libcrypto-1_1-x64.dll) must accompany the binary for HTTPS.

fphttpserver — FPC default

  • Works on every FPC version listed above. Not available on Delphi — Delphi builds use Indy instead.
  • Provider unit: Horse.Provider.FPC.Daemon / Horse.Provider.FPC.HTTPApplication / Horse.Provider.FPC.LCL. Each uses fphttpserver, fpHTTP, httpdefs.
  • SSL via OpenSSL through FPC's standard HTTP SSL handlers — no Indy dependency.

CrossSocket — optional, cross-compiler

  • Requires Delphi 10.2 Tokyo or later (the Delphi-Cross-Socket library uses inline var and System.Net types not present in earlier versions).
  • Requires FPC 3.2.0 or later for FPC builds.
  • Tested platforms: Windows x64, Linux x64, macOS ARM64.
  • Replaces Indy (Delphi) and fphttpserver (FPC) with a single async transport for both compilers.
  • See horse-provider-crosssocket for the current per-version test matrix.

Host-managed Application types

Apache / ISAPI / CGI / FastCGI do not use a self-hosted Provider — neither Indy, fphttpserver, nor CrossSocket is involved. The host process (Apache httpd, IIS, the web server) owns the socket and hands the request to Horse via Web.HTTPApp (Delphi) or fpFCGI / fpHTTP (FPC) subclasses.

  • Apache module — Delphi (Web.HTTPD24Impl, Web.ApacheApp). Build the .so / .dll matching the Apache architecture.
  • ISAPI extension — Delphi only (Web.Win.ISAPIApp). Windows + IIS. Match the architecture of the IIS application pool (32-bit pool → Win32 build).
  • CGI — Delphi (Web.CGIApp) and FPC. Cross-platform; one process per request.
  • FastCGI — FPC (fpFCGI). Persistent process; talks to the web server via Unix socket or TCP. Delphi FCGI requires a third-party library and is not part of the shipped Horse providers.

Compiler-version guards in the source

Horse uses a few defensive guards. If you're contributing patches:

  • {$IF DEFINED(FPC)} — branch FPC-only code (different RTL, different generics syntax).
  • {$IF CompilerVersion >= 32.0} — Delphi 10.2 Tokyo introduced Int64 return types on TWebRequest.GetIntegerVariable / TWebResponse.SetIntegerVariable. Anything that overrides those needs the guard.
  • {$IF CompilerVersion >= 33.0} — Delphi 10.3 Rio introduced inline var. Horse core avoids inline var so it remains compilable on XE7.

For every change, mentally compile against both dcc32 (Delphi) and fpc (FPC). Anonymous procedures, generics, and Web/HTTPApp types are the most common cross-compiler trip points.

Reporting a version-specific bug

When opening an issue:

  1. Include the exact Delphi / FPC version and the target platform (Win64, Linux64, …).
  2. Include the provider define(s) active in your project.
  3. State whether the bug is reproducible on the matching provider sample under samples/.

The triage is usually quick once the platform and provider are pinned.

See also