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Libwww

{{Use dmy dates |date=September 2022}}

{{Infobox software

| name = libwww

| other_names = [CERN] Common [WWW] Library,{{cite mailing list |title=CERN Common World-Wide Web Library Version 2.16pre1 Available |url=https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-lib/1994AprJun/0000.html |date=17 June 1994 |first=Henrik Frystyk |last=Nielsen |author-link=Henrik Frystyk Nielsen |access-date=2022-10-17 |mailing-list=www-lib@www0.cern.ch |publisher=CERN}}
CERN World-Wide Web Library of Common Code,{{cite journal |last1=Nielsen |first1=Henrik Frystyk |author1-link=Henrik Frystyk Nielsen |last2=Lie |first2=Håkon W. |author2-link=Håkon Wium Lie |date=October 1994 |title=Towards a uniform library of common code: A presentation of the CERN World-Wide Web Library |url=https://www.w3.org/Library/User/Paper/LibraryPaper.html |access-date=2022-10-17 |doi=10.1016/0169-7552(95)00104-8 |journal=Computer Networks and ISDN Systems |volume=28 |issue=1–2 |pages=13–23|url-access=subscription }}
W3C Reference Library,{{cite web |title=W3C Reference Library |version=1.8 |url=https://dev.w3.org/cvsweb/~checkout~/libwww/Library/Overview.html?rev=1.8 |date=22 Jun 1995 |editor-last=Nielsen |editor-first=Henrik Frystyk |editor-link=Henrik Frystyk Nielsen |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium}}
W3C Sample Code Library,{{cite web |title=Libwww - the W3C Sample Code Library |url=https://dev.w3.org/cvsweb/~checkout~/libwww/Library/Overview.html?rev=1.67 |version=1.67 |date=18 Feb 1997 |editor-last=Nielsen |editor-first=Henrik Frystyk |editor-link=Henrik Frystyk Nielsen |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium}}
W3C Protocol Library

| logo = Libwww.gif

| author = Tim Berners-Lee,
Jean-François Groff,{{cite web |url=http://1997.webhistory.org/historyday/abstracts.html#jean |title=Web History Day: Pioneering Software and Sites |publisher=The World Wide Web History Project |access-date=28 March 2010}}
Henrik Frystyk Nielsen

| developer = José Kahan

| released = 1.0, {{Start date and age|1992|11}}{{cite web|editor-last=Kahan|editor-first=José |title=Change History of libwww |url=https://dev.w3.org/cvsweb/~checkout~/libwww/Library/User/History.html?rev=1.41 |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |version=1.41 |access-date=2022-10-17 |date=7 June 2002}}

| latest release version = {{wikidata|property|edit|reference|P348}}

| latest release date = {{Start date and age|{{wikidata|qualifier|P348|P577}}}}

| operating system = FreeBSD,{{cite web |title=W3C libwww libraries |url=http://physionet.incor.usp.br/physiotools/libwww/ |work=PhysioNet |publisher=University of São Paulo |access-date=30 May 2010 |location=Cambridge, MA |date=19 March 2008 |archive-date=18 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518083431/http://physionet.incor.usp.br/physiotools/libwww/ |url-status=dead }} Solaris, Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows

| genre = Library for web browsers, servers, and other protocols

| programming language = C

| license = W3C Software Notice and License

| website = {{URL|www.w3.org/Library}}

}}

Libwww is an early World Wide Web software library providing core functions for web browsers, implementing HTML, HTTP, and other technologies. Tim Berners-Lee, at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), released libwww (then also called the Common Library) in late 1992, comprising reusable code from the first browsers (WorldWideWeb and Line Mode Browser).

Libwww was relied upon by the then popular browser Mosaic. By 1997, interest in libwww declined, and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which took over from CERN, reduced its commitment to the project. Later, the purpose of libwww was redefined to be "a testbed for protocol experiments"; in that role it was maintained for the benefit of the W3C's web standards-promoting browser Amaya. Active development of libwww stopped in 2000.

History

In 1991 and 1992, Tim Berners-Lee and a student at CERN named Jean-François Groff rewrote various components of the original WorldWideWeb browser for the NeXTstep operating system in portable C code, in order to demonstrate the potential of the World Wide Web.{{cite journal |last1=Kesan |first1=Jay P. |last2=Shah |first2=Rajiv C. |title=Deconstructing Code |journal=Yale Journal of Law & Technology |date=2004 |volume=6 |pages=277–389 [291–292] |url=https://yjolt.org/sites/default/files/kesan-6-yjolt-277.pdf |url-status=live |access-date=2022-10-17 |ssrn=597543 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100120003906/http://www.yjolt.org/files/kesan-6-YJOLT-277.pdf |archive-date=20 January 2010}} In the beginning, libwww was referred to as the Common Library and was not available as a separate product.{{cite web |first=Tim |last=Berners-Lee |author-link=Tim Berners-Lee |url=http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/Library/Status.html |title=Common Library |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=3 June 2010 |date=3 November 1992}} Before becoming generally available, libwww was integrated in the CERN program library (CERNLIB).{{cite web |title=How the web began |url=http://public.web.cern.ch/public/en/About/WebStory-en.html |publisher=CERN |access-date=25 July 2010|year=2008}} In July 1992 the library was ported to DECnet.{{cite web |last=Crémel |first=Nicole |title=A Little History of the World Wide Web |url=http://ref.web.cern.ch/ref/CERN/CNL/2001/001/www-history/ |publisher=CERN |access-date=2 June 2010 |date=5 April 2001|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071219114722/http://ref.web.cern.ch/ref/CERN/CNL/2001/001/www-history/|archive-date=19 December 2007 |url-status=dead}} In the May 1993 World Wide Web Newsletter Berners-Lee announced that the Common Library was now called libwww and was licensed as public domain to encourage the development of web browsers.{{cite web |title=May World-Wide Web News |url=http://www.w3.org/News/9305.html |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=7 June 2010 |first=Tim |last=Berners-Lee |author-link=Tim Berners-Lee |date=May 1993}} He initially considered releasing the software under the GNU General Public License, rather than into the public domain, but decided against it due to concerns that large corporations such as IBM would be deterred from using it by the restrictions of the GPL.{{cite web |last=Berners-Lee |first=Tim |title=Policy |url=http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/Policy.html |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=1 September 2010 |author-link=Tim Berners-Lee}} The rapid early development of the library caused Robert Cailliau problems when integrating it into his MacWWW browser.{{cite web |last1=Petrie |first1=Charles |first2=Robert |last2=Cailliau |author2-link=Robert Cailliau |date=November 1997 |title=Interview Robert Cailliau on the WWW Proposal: "How It Really Happened." |url=http://www.computer.org/portal/web/computingnow/ic-cailliau |publisher=Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers |access-date=18 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110106041256/http://www.computer.org/portal/web/computingnow/ic-cailliau |archive-date=6 January 2011}}

From February 1994 to July 1999 (versions 2.17 to 5.2.8), Henrik Frystyk Nielsen was responsible for libwww, first as a graduate student at CERN and later at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).{{cite web|editor-last=Kahan|editor-first=José |title=Libwww – the W3C Protocol Library |url=https://www.w3.org/Library/ |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=2022-10-17 |date=2 September 2003}}{{cite thesis |url=https://www.w3.org/People/Frystyk/thesis/thesisA4.ps |page=i |title=The Hypertext Transfer Protocol in the World-Wide Web Library of common code |last=Nielsen |first=Henrik Frystyk |author-link=Henrik Frystyk Nielsen |date=1994-08-10 |degree=Master's |publisher=Aalborg University |access-date=2022-10-17}}{{cite mailing list |title=Change of my status wrt libwww |url=https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-lib/1999JulSep/0957.html |last=Nielsen |first=Henrik Frystyk |author-link=Henrik Frystyk Nielsen |date=1999-08-01 |access-date=2022-10-17 |mailing-list=www-lib |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium}} On 21 March 1995, with the release of version 3.0, CERN transferred responsibility for libwww to the W3C. From 1995 onwards, the Line Mode Browser was no longer released separately, but part of the libwww package.{{cite web |last=Kreutzmann |first=Dr. Helge |title=WWW-Browsers for Linux |url=http://www.helgefjell.de/browser.php |access-date=3 June 2010 |date=6 January 2010}}

On 2 March 1997, Nielsen announced that Libwww 5.1 was expected to be the last release.{{cite mailing list |title=ANNOUNCEMENT: Libwww 5.1a Available |url=https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-lib/1997JanMar/0048.html |last=Nielsen |first=Henrik Frystyk |author-link=Henrik Frystyk Nielsen |date=22 Mar 1997 |access-date=2022-10-17 |mailing-list=www-lib |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium}} Later that year, on 24 Dec 1997, Nielsen put out an unsuccessful call for another party outside W3C to take over maintenance of the library.{{cite web |url=https://www.w3.org/Library/OldEvents.html |title=Libwww News and Event Timeline |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=2022-10-17}}

Nielsen left the W3C in July 1999, and the project was thereafter headed by José Kahan as the only W3C employee involved with the project.{{cite mailing list |url=https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-lib/2000JulSep/0306.html |title=Starting a libwww survey |last=Kahan |first=José |date=22 Sep 2000 |mailing-list=www-lib |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=2022-10-17}}

On 2 September 2003 the W3C (re-)stated that development had stopped, citing a lack of resources.{{cite web |last=Kahan |first=José |title=Future of Libwww Survey |url=https://www.w3.org/Library/Survey2 |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=2022-10-17 |date=2 September 2003}} On 29 January 2004, the W3C once again confirmed that it would not continue development, and was seeking open source community maintainers.

The first (and only) "community supported maintenance release" was made in 2005, after a gap of 3 years.{{cite web |title=Release Notes for Libwww |url=https://www.w3.org/Library/User/ReleaseNotes.html |date=2005-10-21 |last=Kahan |first=José |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium}} After a further lapse of 12 years, a security patch was released in 2017.{{cite web |url=https://github.com/w3c/libwww/releases/tag/5.4.2 |title=libwww 5.4.2 release |website=GitHub |date=Jun 26, 2017 |access-date=2022-10-17}}

Features

In 2003, Kahan claimed that "libwww is the only library that has a full implementation of the HTTP specification, including caching and pipelining."

Libwww supports following protocols:

  • file{{cite web |title=W3C Library Packages and Interfaces |url=http://www.w3.org/Library/User/Guide/#Protocol |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=27 June 2010 |author-link=Henrik Frystyk Nielsen |first=Henrik Frystyk |last=Nielsen |date=12 July 2000}}
  • FTP
  • Gopher
  • HTTP 1.1 with a Persistent Cache Manager, pipelining
  • NNTP
  • Telnet
  • WAIS

Other features include:

  • TLS and SSL can be used through OpenSSL.{{cite web |title=W3C Sample Code Library libwww SSL Transport Wrapper |url=http://www.w3.org/Library/src/SSL/WWWSSL.html |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=28 June 2010 |date=9 June 2000}}
  • gzip compression and decompression through zlib{{cite web |title=W3C Sample Code Library libwww ZLib Streams |url=http://www.w3.org/Library/src/WWWZip.html |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=28 June 2010 |date=24 May 1998}}
  • a HTML,{{cite web |title=Simple HTML Parser With Text Object Converter |url=http://www.w3.org/Library/src/HTML.html |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=28 June 2010 |date=6 January 1999}}{{cite web |title=Declaration of W3C Sample Code HTML MODULE |url=http://www.w3.org/Library/src/WWWHTML.html |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=28 June 2010 |date=22 February 1999}} RDF, SGML{{cite web |title=SGML Parser |url=http://www.w3.org/Library/src/SGML.html |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=28 June 2010 |date=2 April 1999}} and XML{{cite web |title=Declaration of W3C Sample Code XML/RDF Module |url=http://www.w3.org/Library/src/WWWXML.html |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=28 June 2010 |date=18 April 1999}} parser and a style sheet manager{{cite web |title=Stylesheet Manager |url=http://www.w3.org/Library/src/HTStyle.html |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=28 June 2010 |date=6 January 1999}}
  • an integration of a SQL database (using the MySQL server) for e.g. web crawlers{{cite web |title=W3C Sample Code Library libwww SQL Interface |url=http://www.w3.org/Library/src/WWWSQL.html |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=28 June 2010 |date=24 May 1998}}

Libwww supports plug-ins.{{cite web |title=W3C Reference Library [position paper] |url=http://www.w3.org/Library/User/Paper/Position.html |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=27 June 2010 |first=Henrik Frystyk |last=Nielsen |author-link=Henrik Frystyk Nielsen |date=14 May 1998}}

Applications using libwww

It has been used for applications of varying sizes, including web browsers, editors, Internet bots, and batch tools. Pluggable modules provided with libwww add support for HTTP/1.1 with caching, pipelining, POST, Digest Authentication, and deflate.

The W3C created the Arena web browser as a testbed and testing tool for HTML3, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Portable Network Graphics (PNG) and libwww, among other technologies.{{cite web |last=Lie |first=Håkon Wium |author-link=Håkon Wium Lie |title=Arena: Frequently Answered Questions |url=http://www.w3.org/Arena/faq |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=2 June 2010 |date=15 June 1996}} Arena was later replaced in that role by Amaya.{{cite web |title=Welcome to Arena beta-3 |url=http://www.w3.org/Arena/beta-3 |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=2 June 2010 |date=16 September 1996 |first1=Yves |last1=Lafon |last2=Lie |first2=Håkon Wium |author-link2=Håkon Wium Lie}}

According to a survey conducted in September 2003, at least 19 applications used libwww.{{cite mailing list |last=Kahan |first=José |title=Results of the future of libwww survey |url=https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-lib/2004JanMar/0007.html |mailing-list=www-lib |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=2022-10-17 |date=29 January 2004}}

  • Agora{{cite web |last=Secret |first=Arthur |title=Agora |url=http://www.w3.org/Agora/Overview.html |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=20 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970606093552/http://www.w3.org/Agora/Overview.html|archive-date=6 June 1997 |date=12 November 1996}}
  • Arena{{cite web |last=Nielsen |first=Henrik Frystyk |author-link=Henrik Frystyk Nielsen |title=Libwww Hackers |url=http://www.w3.org/Library/Collaborators.html |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=29 May 2010 |date=7 June 2002}}{{cite web |title=Why Libwww? |url=http://www.w3.org/Library/Activity.html |access-date=15 June 2010 |date=5 August 1999 |first=José |last=Kahan}}
  • Amaya{{cite web |last=Quint |first=Vincent |title=Amaya Release history |url=http://www.w3.org/Amaya/User/New.html |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=29 May 2010 |date=10 December 2009}}
  • Cello{{cite web |url=http://www.w3.org/Protocols/HTTP/HTRQ_Headers.html |title=HTTP Request fields |date=3 May 1994|work=Protocols |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=28 March 2010}}
  • CERN httpd server
  • Cygwin{{cite web |title=www-lib |url=https://groups.yahoo.com/group/www-lib/message/626 |publisher=Yahoo! Groups |access-date=15 June 2010 |author-link=Henrik Frystyk Nielsen |first=Henrik Frystyk |last=Nielsen |date=1 December 1998|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010418121819/http://groups.yahoo.com/group/www-lib/message/626|archive-date=18 April 2001}}{{cite web |title=Libwww – the W3C Sample Code Library |url=http://www.w3.org/Library/Status.html |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=15 June 2010 |first=José |last=Kahan |date=5 August 1999}}
  • Distributed Oceanographic Data Systems with the OPeNDAP{{cite web |last=Gallagher |first=James |title=libwww replacement |url=http://mailman.opendap.org/pipermail/opendap-tech/2002-May/000861.html |publisher=OPeNDAP |access-date=1 June 2010 |date=10 May 2002 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727145143/http://mailman.opendap.org/pipermail/opendap-tech/2002-May/000861.html |archive-date=27 July 2011}}{{cite web |last=Gallagher |first=James |title=libwww v versus libcurl |url=http://mailman.opendap.org/pipermail/opendap-tech/2002-June/000920.html |publisher=OPeNDAP |access-date=1 June 2010 |date=19 June 2002 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727145203/http://mailman.opendap.org/pipermail/opendap-tech/2002-June/000920.html |archive-date=27 July 2011}}
  • GRIF Symposia, a HTML editor{{cite report |last=Paoli |first=Jean |date=11–14 December 1995 |title=Rules for extending a WWW client: The Symposia API |url=http://www.w3.org/Conferences/WWW4/Papers/152/ |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=15 August 2010}}{{cite web |last=Luotonen |first=Ari |title=Ari Luotonen |url=http://www.w3.org/People/AriL/CV.html |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=15 August 2010}}
  • Lynx
  • MacWWW{{cite web |last=Berners-Lee |first=Tim |author-link=Tim Berners-Lee |date=3 November 1992 |title=Macintosh Browser |url=http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/Macintosh/Overview.html |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=2 June 2010}}
  • Mosaic
  • Robot Operating System (ROS){{cite web |title=libwww - ROS Wiki |url=http://www.ros.org/wiki/libwww |website=Robot Operating System (ROS) |access-date=2 June 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100625235402/http://www.ros.org/wiki/libwww |archive-date=2010-06-25}}
  • TkWeb{{cite book |last=Ball |first=Steve |date=10–13 July 1996 |title=SurfIt! – A WWW Browser |url=https://www.usenix.org/publications/library/proceedings/tcl96/full_papers/ball/ball.ps |work=Proceedings of the Fourth USENIX Tcl/Tk Workshop |publisher=USENIX |access-date=28 November 2010|location=Monterey, CA |format=PostScript}}
  • tkWWW{{cite web |last=Wang |first=Joseph |date=1 May 1993 |title=tkWWW Version 0.7 alpha |url=http://www.w3.org/History/1993/WWW/TkWWW/Annouce_0.7.html |access-date=16 November 2010}}
  • WorldWideWeb (later Nexus){{cite web |title=WorldWideWeb Source Files |url=http://www.w3.org/History/1991-WWW-NeXT/Implementation/SourceFiles.html |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=21 June 2010}}{{cite web |url=http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/browsers.evolt.org/browsers/worldwideweb/NeXT/README.txt |publisher=evolt.org |access-date=5 July 2010 |title=Readme}}

Integrated applications in libwww are:

  • Command Line Tool, an application which shows how to use libwww to build simple batch mode tools to access the Web.{{cite web |title=WebCon: the Libwww Command Line Tool |url=http://www.w3.org/ComLine/ |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=27 June 2010 |author-link=Henrik Frystyk Nielsen |first=Henrik Frystyk |last=Nielsen |date=4 May 1999}}
  • Line Mode Browser, a Spartan web browser.{{Cite book |last=Krol |first=Ed |author-link=Ed Krol |date=September 1992 |title=The Whole Internet User's Guide and Catalog, 3rd printing (February 1993) |publisher=O'Reilly & Associates |page=227}}
  • Webbot, a simple application showing how to use libwww to build robots.{{cite web |first=Henrik Frystyk |last=Nielsen |author-link=Henrik Frystyk Nielsen |date=4 May 1999 |title=Webbot – the Libwww Robot |url=http://www.w3.org/Robot/ |publisher=World Wide Web Consortium |access-date=27 June 2010}}
  • Mini Server, a small application showing how to implement a server or a proxy using libwww.

Criticism

The developers of libcurl have criticised libwww as being not as portable, not thread-safe and lacking several HTTP authentication types.{{cite web |first=Daniel |last=Stenberg |title=Notes About Libwww compared to libcurl |url=http://curl.haxx.se/libcurl/libwww.html |publisher=Haxx |access-date=1 June 2010 |date=1 May 2010}} Neither libcurl nor libwww are lightweight enough for some projects.{{cite web |last=Smith |first=Timothy B. |title=Simple HTTP Client without 'libcurl' or 'libwww' |url=http://www.ucdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/11/0411252 |publisher=μClinux |access-date=1 June 2010 |date=11 September 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071027095032/http://www.ucdot.org/article.pl?sid=07%2F09%2F11%2F0411252 |archive-date=27 October 2007}}

See also

{{Portal|Free and open-source software}}

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • {{Official website}}
  • [http://www.w3.org/Library/Collaborators.html libwww hackers]
  • [http://www.w3.org/Library/User/Architecture/Overview.html The architecture of libwww]
  • [http://www.w3.org/Library/User/Paper/LibraryPaper.html The historic architecture of libwww] presented on the Mosaic and the Web conference in Chicago

{{Timeline of web browsers}}

{{Web browsers}}

{{Internet suites}}

{{Gopher clients}}

{{W3C standards}}

Category:Application programming interfaces

Category:C (programming language) libraries

Category:Cross-platform free software

Category:Free FTP clients

Category:Free software programmed in C

Category:Free web crawlers

Category:Hypertext Transfer Protocol clients

Category:Software using the W3C Software Notice and License

Category:CERN software