Annotation of libwww/Library/Overview.html, revision 1.67
1.41 frystyk 1: <HTML>
2: <HEAD>
1.66 frystyk 3: <TITLE>Libwww - the W3C Sample Code Library</TITLE>
1.41 frystyk 4: </HEAD>
1.60 frystyk 5: <BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff">
1.41 frystyk 6: <P>
1.65 frystyk 7: <A HREF="../"><IMG ALT="W3C" SRC="../Icons/WWW/w3c_home" BORDER="0" WIDTH="72"
8: HEIGHT="48"></A> <IMG BORDER="0" ALT="libwww" SRC="../Icons/WWW/Lib48x">
1.41 frystyk 9: <H1>
1.66 frystyk 10: Libwww - the W3C Sample Code Library
1.38 frystyk 11: </H1>
1.41 frystyk 12: <P>
1.66 frystyk 13: The W3C Sample Code Library (libwww) is a general-purpose Web API written
14: in C. It is a highly modular extensible API which can be used as the code
15: base for writing Web clients, servers, proxies etc. The purpose of Libwww
16: is to provide a reference code for HTTP and other Internet protocols and
17: also to serve as a generic Web API. It has a rudimentary HTML parser which
18: can only do the very basics. Please have a look at the
19: <A HREF="../Amaya/">Amaya Web client</A> for a HTML browser/editor application
20: and <A HREF="../Jigsaw/">Jigsaw server</A> for a full-blown server application.
1.56 frystyk 21: <H2>
1.65 frystyk 22: <A HREF="../News/"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="../Icons/WWW/relnotes48x" ALT="News"
23: WIDTH="48" HEIGHT="48" BORDER="0"></A> News and Updates
1.56 frystyk 24: </H2>
25: <H3>
1.67 ! frystyk 26: <B><A HREF="Distribution.html">Libwww Version 5.1</A> has been released to
! 27: W3C members February 18</B>
1.56 frystyk 28: </H3>
29: <P>
1.67 ! frystyk 30: This release is a "second generation" HTTP/1.1 implementation using persistent
! 31: connections, pipelining, smart output buffering, and persistent caching.
! 32: It is the code base that was used in the
! 33: "<A HREF="../Protocols/HTTP/Performance/Pipeline.html">Network Performance
! 34: Effects of HTTP/1.1, CSS1, and PNG</A>" paper. It has been tested against
! 35: <A HREF="../Jigsaw/">Jigsaw</A> writte and
! 36: <A HREF="http://www.apache.org">Apache</A>.
1.41 frystyk 37: <UL>
38: <LI>
1.67 ! frystyk 39: Check out the <A HREF="User/ReleaseNotes.html">list of new features</A>
1.55 frystyk 40: <LI>
1.62 frystyk 41: Complete HTTP/1.1 compliant persistent cache manager
1.55 frystyk 42: <LI>
1.67 ! frystyk 43: Support for zlib based decompression
1.55 frystyk 44: <LI>
1.47 frystyk 45: Check out the new <A HREF="User/Extrnals.html">complete index of public
46: function</A>
1.41 frystyk 47: </UL>
1.56 frystyk 48: <H2>
1.64 jigsaw 49: <A HREF="../Consortium/Prospectus/ActivityList.html"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="../Icons/WWW/activity_48x48"
1.56 frystyk 50: ALT="Activities" BORDER="0"></A> Libwww Position Statement
51: </H2>
52: <P>
53: What is the purpose of libwww? Can I use it as a developer tool for writing
54: Web applications? How is it supported? Read answers to these questions and
55: much more from the <A HREF="Activity.html">W3C position statement on
56: libwww</A>.
57: <H2>
1.58 frystyk 58: <A HREF="../Status.html"><IMG SRC="../Icons/WWW/disk_48x48" BORDER="0" ALT="Software"></A>
59: Getting the Source Code
1.56 frystyk 60: </H2>
61: <P>
1.66 frystyk 62: W3C Sample Code Library is covered by the <A HREF="../COPYRIGHT.html">MIT
63: Copyright Statement</A>, and with <A HREF="../CERN.html">acknowledgment to
64: CERN</A>. We only release libwww and the
65: <A HREF="User/Applications.html">example applications</A> as source code
66: - you must compile it yourself. The latest version is available in the following
67: formats:
1.56 frystyk 68: <UL>
69: <LI>
70: <A HREF="w3c-libwww.tar.Z">compressed tar file (ca. 2.1M)</A>
71: <LI>
72: <A HREF="w3c-libwww.tar.gz">gzip'ed tar file (ca. 1.4M)</A>
73: <LI>
74: <A HREF="w3c-libwww.zip">zip file (ca. 1.8M)</A>
75: </UL>
1.38 frystyk 76: <P>
1.56 frystyk 77: You can find old versions of the source code and diffs together with many
78: other things on our <A HREF="ftp://ftp.w3.org/pub/libwww/">FTP server</A>
79: and you can browse through the <A HREF="src/">latest source files</A> directly
80: on our server. A packet contains the following components:
81: <UL>
82: <LI>
83: Installation guide
84: <LI>
85: Source code
86: <LI>
87: Platform dependent make files
88: <LI>
89: Hypertext documentation
90: <LI>
91: Copyright statements and other legal mumbo jumbo
92: </UL>
1.38 frystyk 93: <P>
1.56 frystyk 94: You can see how to unpack and compile the software in the
95: <A HREF="../README.html">README</A> file, and you can find more information
96: on how the Library is designed in the <A HREF="User/Architecture/">Library
97: Architecture</A> and how to use it in the <A HREF="User/Using/">User's
98: Guide</A>.
1.41 frystyk 99: <H2>
1.64 jigsaw 100: <A HREF="../INSTALL.html"><IMG BORDER="0" ALT="Install" SRC="../Icons/WWW/install48x"
1.58 frystyk 101: BORDER="0"></A> Installation Guide and new Features
1.41 frystyk 102: </H2>
1.56 frystyk 103: <P>
104: How do I get started using libwww? How can I compile it? What has changed
105: in the latest release. Find out by starting here!
1.41 frystyk 106: <UL>
107: <LI>
1.56 frystyk 108: <A HREF="../INSTALL.html">Installation Guide</A> for how to get started
109: <LI>
1.63 frystyk 110: <A HREF="User/Platform/">List of Platforms</A> where libwww can be used
111: <LI>
1.56 frystyk 112: <A HREF="../Library/User/ReleaseNotes.html">Release Notes</A> for the latest
113: release
114: <LI>
115: <A HREF="User/History.html">Change history</A> for older releases
116: <LI>
117: <A HREF="User/ToDo.html">Current Working List</A>. A highly dynamic
1.41 frystyk 118: <LI>
1.56 frystyk 119: <A HREF="User/Patch/">Known Bugs and Patches</A> - well, the world is not
120: perfect and neither is libwww. This is a list of what we already know is
121: wrong.
1.41 frystyk 122: <LI>
1.56 frystyk 123: Patches and Bug fixes - When you have modifications and want them to go into
124: our code base then please fill out the form for
125: <A HREF="../PATCHES.html">Corrections, Modifications, and Patches</A> and
1.62 frystyk 126: -send it to us. Otherwise we can not use the patch!
1.56 frystyk 127: </UL>
128: <H2>
1.59 frystyk 129: <A HREF="User/"><IMG SRC="../Icons/WWW/doc48x" ALT="Documentation" BORDER="0"></A>
1.62 frystyk 130: User Documentation and Design Overview
1.56 frystyk 131: </H2>
132: <P>
133: We have a huge amount of documentation about the design of libwww and
134: how to use it for building applications. Often, however, the easiest is to
135: study the example applications which show in practice how to do tricks with
136: libwww. We try to keep the documentation up to date but it may not always
1.62 frystyk 137: be the case. The best thing is to have a look the list of exported functions.
1.56 frystyk 138: This list is generated automatically and is always up to date.
139: <UL>
1.41 frystyk 140: <LI>
1.56 frystyk 141: <A HREF="User/">Documentation Overview</A>
1.41 frystyk 142: <LI>
1.46 frystyk 143: <A HREF="User/Style/">The libwww Programming Style Guide</A>
144: <LI>
1.51 frystyk 145: <A HREF="User/Start.html">Quick Overview</A> and <A HREF="Examples/">Easy
146: Startup Examples</A>
1.50 frystyk 147: <LI>
1.47 frystyk 148: <A HREF="User/Extrnals.html">Complete list of public functions in libwww</A>
149: <LI>
1.56 frystyk 150: <A HREF="User/Architecture/">Libwww Architecture</A> - the design overview
151: of how libwww is put together
1.41 frystyk 152: <LI>
1.56 frystyk 153: <A HREF="User/Using/">User's Guide</A> - the APIs described from a User's
154: perspective
1.41 frystyk 155: <LI>
1.56 frystyk 156: <A HREF="User/Guide/">Library Interfaces</A>- the APIs described in more
157: details
1.41 frystyk 158: <LI>
1.56 frystyk 159: <A HREF="User/WAIS.html">Compiling for direct WAIS access</A>
160: </UL>
161: <H2>
1.59 frystyk 162: <A HREF="../Mail/"><IMG SRC="../Icons/WWW/mail48x" ALT="Mail" BORDER="0"></A>
1.56 frystyk 163: Mailing lists
164: </H2>
165: <P>
166: Libwww has the following set of mailing lists that you are more than welcome
167: to use! Before you send mail to the lists, please check out the archives
168: - they often contain good information about how to solve problems. Please
169: do not send mail directly to the authors - the mail load is already rather
170: high and you will most probably get a better response time by using
171: one of the following mailing lists.
172: <DL>
173: <DT>
174: <A HREF="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-lib/threads.html"><B>www-lib@w3.org</B></A>
175: <DD>
176: A <STRONG>public</STRONG> mailing list for an open discussion of ideas, diffs,
177: new features etc. This is the most active list. See the
178: <A HREF="../Mail/">information on mailing lists</A> for details on how
179: to subscribe.
180: <DT>
181: <A HREF="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-lib-bugs/threads.html"><B>www-lib-bugs@w3.org</B></A>
182: <DD>
183: A <SAMP><STRONG>public</STRONG></SAMP> mailing mailing list where you can
184: register bugs and ideas that you would like to get into the code base. Register
185: them here, so that we don't forget about them!
186: <DT>
1.61 frystyk 187: <B><A HREF="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Member/w3c-lib/threads.html">w3c-lib@w3.org</A></B>
1.56 frystyk 188: <DD>
189: A <STRONG>W3C member</STRONG> mailing list for announcements of new
190: member releases etc. See the <A HREF="../Member/Mail/">information on W3C
191: member mailing lists </A>for details on how to subscribe
192: </DL>
193: <H2>
1.62 frystyk 194: Authors and Contributors
1.56 frystyk 195: </H2>
196: <P>
197: These people and many more have been involved in turning libwww into the
198: shape it has today.
1.62 frystyk 199: <DL>
200: <DT>
201: <A HREF="../People/#Frystyk Nielsen">Henrik Frystyk Nielsen</A>
202: <DD>
203: Designed and Implemented libwww up until version 5.0a
204: <DT>
205: <A HREF="../People/#BernersLee">Tim Berners-Lee</A> and
206: <A HREF="../People.html#Groff">Jean-Francois Groff</A>
207: <DD>
208: Came up with the initial design and implementation of libwww
209: <DT>
210: Eric Prud'hommeaux
211: <DD>
212: Provided the Windows integration and asynchronous event management along
213: with many other features.
214: <DT>
215: <A HREF="../People/#Baird-Smith">Anselm Baird-Smith</A>
216: <DD>
217: Provided lots of help through many white-board discussions, especially on
218: the HTTP/1.1 client side implementation.
219: <DT>
220: <A HREF="../People/#Kahan">Jose Kahan</A>
221: <DD>
222: Integrated libwww with <A HREF="../Amaya/">Amaya</A> and provided feedback
223: on client side API
224: <DT>
225: <A HREF="../People/howcome/">Håkon W. Lie</A>
226: <DD>
227: Integrated libwww with <A HREF="../Arena/">Arena</A>
228: <DT>
1.56 frystyk 229: and many others for contributions and bug fixes
1.62 frystyk 230: </DL>
1.38 frystyk 231: <P>
1.41 frystyk 232: <HR>
233: <ADDRESS>
1.64 jigsaw 234: <A href="../"><IMG SRC="../Icons/WWW/w3c_home" ALT="W3C" BORDER="0"></A>
1.62 frystyk 235: <BR>
236: Henrik Frystyk Nielsen,
237: <A HREF="mailto:libwww@w3.org">libwww@w3.org</A>,<BR>
1.67 ! frystyk 238: @(#) $Id: Overview.html,v 1.66 1997/02/16 18:41:03 frystyk Exp $
1.41 frystyk 239: </ADDRESS>
240: </BODY></HTML>
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