W3C Reference Library

We have set up a new WIT (WWW Interactive Talk) area for discussions on specific topics of the Library and as a self generating FAQ area. Please join and follow the discussions!

Join the www-lib@w3.org mailing list for discussion of ideas, diffs, new features etc. See the Mail Information for details on how to subscribe and the very nifty www-lib mailing list archive.

The HTTPD 3.0 is NOT compatible with the latest version of the library, the right version to use is Library 2.17.

The W3C Reference Library is a general code base that can be used to build clients, servers and many other Web applications. It contains reference code for accessing HTTP, FTP, Gopher, News, WAIS, Telnet servers, and the local file system. Furthermore it provides modules for parsing, managing and presenting hypertext objects to the user and a wide spectra of generic programming utilities. The Library is the basis for many World-Wide Web applications and all the W3C software is build on top of it.

Authors

TBL, Henrik Frystyk, Håkon W. Lie, JFG, and a large group of contributors.

Status

Stable. Bug fixes and evolution from time to time.

Plans

Version 3.1 will be released for Consortium members Mid June, but is currently available for testing as a prerelease now! It contains support for interruptible PUT and POST for HTTP and a solid port to Windows NT

Platforms

The Library is known to compile on the following Platforms. See also the VMS version.

Getting the Source Code

The latest source code is available as a compressed tar file or a zip file together with old versions, and diffs. All this and many other things you can find in our source achive. You can also browse through the latest source files on our server!

A packet contains the following components:

• The code definitions (*.c)
• The interface definitions (*.h)
• The documentation (*.html)
• A Makefile for building the library

You can see how to unpack and compile the software in the README file, and you can find more information on the arthitecture in the Internals and Programmer's Guide and how to use it in the User's Guide.

Copyright

Version 3.1 and newer versions of the Library are put under the MIT Copyright Statement

Patches, Bug fixes, etc..

When you have modifications and want them to go into our code base then please fill out the form for Corrections, Modifications, and Patches and send it to us. Otherwise we can not use the patch!

More information

• Libwww Architecture
• User's Guide
• Internals and Programmer's Guide
• Paper on the Library submitted for the WWW Conference in Chicago
• FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions). See also the new WIT Area for the Library
• Information on new features and changed interfaces
• Change history,
• Known bugs
• Current Workinglist
• How to get Started writing an Application
• Compiling for WAIS access