Comment 5 for bug 52711

When building git from source, its configure script checks for the presence of
curl on the system being built and configures git-clone (and other git
commands) to avoid using curl if curl is unavailable. (see, e.g.,
git-clone.sh:359 from the source which reads:

    if test -z "@@NO_CURL@@"
    then
     clone_dumb_http "$repo" "$D"
    else
     die "http transport not supported, rebuild Git with curl support"
    fi

In the current Ubuntu package (1:1.5.4.3-1ubuntu1), that line reads

    if test -z "",

presumably b/c the package was built on a system with curl installed. Run-time
detection seems out (transport.c also has curl-optional components) so perhaps,
like gitk, all the binaries/scripts that require curl support can be split out
into a separate package. git-clone-curl and git-clone-nocurl could be, for
example, selected between via alternatives.