diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index c1f446cb1..b62e16558 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ option(ENABLE_CURL "Enable cURL support for fetching media" TRUE)
 set(USE_CURL FALSE)
 
 if(ENABLE_CURL)
-	find_package(CURL)
+	find_package(CURL 7.28.0)
 	if (CURL_FOUND)
 		message(STATUS "cURL support enabled.")
 		set(USE_CURL TRUE)
diff --git a/src/httpfetch.cpp b/src/httpfetch.cpp
index a966d4855..a2ba03ba5 100644
--- a/src/httpfetch.cpp
+++ b/src/httpfetch.cpp
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
 #include <unordered_map>
 #include <cerrno>
 #include <mutex>
-#include "network/socket.h" // for select()
 #include "threading/event.h"
 #include "config.h"
 #include "exceptions.h"
@@ -436,6 +435,12 @@ HTTPFetchOngoing::~HTTPFetchOngoing()
 }
 
 
+#if LIBCURL_VERSION_NUM >= 0x074200
+#define HAVE_CURL_MULTI_POLL
+#else
+#undef HAVE_CURL_MULTI_POLL
+#endif
+
 class CurlFetchThread : public Thread
 {
 protected:
@@ -595,62 +600,40 @@ protected:
 	// Wait until some IO happens, or timeout elapses
 	void waitForIO(long timeout)
 	{
-		fd_set read_fd_set;
-		fd_set write_fd_set;
-		fd_set exc_fd_set;
-		int max_fd;
-		long select_timeout = -1;
-		struct timeval select_tv;
 		CURLMcode mres;
 
-		FD_ZERO(&read_fd_set);
-		FD_ZERO(&write_fd_set);
-		FD_ZERO(&exc_fd_set);
+#ifdef HAVE_CURL_MULTI_POLL
+		mres = curl_multi_poll(m_multi, nullptr, 0, timeout, nullptr);
 
-		mres = curl_multi_fdset(m_multi, &read_fd_set,
-				&write_fd_set, &exc_fd_set, &max_fd);
 		if (mres != CURLM_OK) {
-			errorstream<<"curl_multi_fdset"
-				<<" returned error code "<<mres
-				<<std::endl;
-			select_timeout = 0;
+			errorstream << "curl_multi_poll returned error code "
+				<< mres << std::endl;
+		}
+#else
+		// If there's nothing to do curl_multi_wait() will immediately return
+		// so we have to emulate the sleeping.
+
+		fd_set dummy;
+		int max_fd;
+		mres = curl_multi_fdset(m_multi, &dummy, &dummy, &dummy, &max_fd);
+		if (mres != CURLM_OK) {
+			errorstream << "curl_multi_fdset returned error code "
+				<< mres << std::endl;
+			max_fd = -1;
 		}
 
-		mres = curl_multi_timeout(m_multi, &select_timeout);
-		if (mres != CURLM_OK) {
-			errorstream<<"curl_multi_timeout"
-				<<" returned error code "<<mres
-				<<std::endl;
-			select_timeout = 0;
-		}
+		if (max_fd == -1) { // curl has nothing to wait for
+			if (timeout > 0)
+				sleep_ms(timeout);
+		} else {
+			mres = curl_multi_wait(m_multi, nullptr, 0, timeout, nullptr);
 
-		// Limit timeout so new requests get through
-		if (select_timeout < 0 || select_timeout > timeout)
-			select_timeout = timeout;
-
-		if (select_timeout > 0) {
-			// in Winsock it is forbidden to pass three empty
-			// fd_sets to select(), so in that case use sleep_ms
-			if (max_fd != -1) {
-				select_tv.tv_sec = select_timeout / 1000;
-				select_tv.tv_usec = (select_timeout % 1000) * 1000;
-				int retval = select(max_fd + 1, &read_fd_set,
-						&write_fd_set, &exc_fd_set,
-						&select_tv);
-				if (retval == -1) {
-					#ifdef _WIN32
-					errorstream<<"select returned error code "
-						<<WSAGetLastError()<<std::endl;
-					#else
-					errorstream<<"select returned error code "
-						<<errno<<std::endl;
-					#endif
-				}
-			}
-			else {
-				sleep_ms(select_timeout);
+			if (mres != CURLM_OK) {
+				errorstream << "curl_multi_wait returned error code "
+					<< mres << std::endl;
 			}
 		}
+#endif
 	}
 
 	void *run()