View source for Libwww

{{Use dmy dates |date=September 2022}}
{{Infobox software
| name = libwww
| other_names = [CERN] Common [WWW] Library,<ref name="common library"/><ref name="2.16pre1">{{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]]}}</ref><br/>[[CERN]] [[World-Wide Web]] Library of Common Code,<ref name="librarypaper">{{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 }}</ref><br/>W3C Reference Library,<ref>{{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]]}}</ref><br/>W3C Sample Code Library,<ref>{{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]]}}</ref><br/>W3C Protocol Library<ref name="official"/>
| logo = Libwww.gif
| author = [[Tim Berners-Lee]],<ref name="official"/><br/>[[Jean-François Groff]],<ref name="pioneering">{{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}}</ref><ref name="official"/><br/>[[Henrik Frystyk Nielsen]]<ref name="official"/><ref name="frystyk thesis"/>
| developer = José Kahan
| released = 1.0, {{Start date and age|1992|11}}<ref name="History.html">{{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}}</ref>
| latest release version = {{wikidata|property|edit|reference|P348}}
| latest release date = {{Start date and age|{{wikidata|qualifier|P348|P577}}}}
| operating system = [[FreeBSD]],<ref name="physionet">{{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 }}</ref> [[Oracle Solaris|Solaris]],<ref name="physionet"/> [[Linux]],<ref name="physionet"/> [[Mac OS X]],<ref name="physionet"/> [[Microsoft Windows]]<ref name="physionet"/>
| genre = [[Library (computing)|Library]] for [[web browser]]s, [[web server|server]]s, and other protocols
| programming language = [[C (programming language)|C]]
| license = [[W3C Software Notice and License]]
| website = {{URL|www.w3.org/Library}}
}}
'''Libwww''' is an early [[World Wide Web]] [[Library (computing)|software library]] providing core functions for [[web browser]]s, 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 (web browser)|Mosaic]].<ref name="IEEE"/> By 1997, interest in libwww declined, and the [[World Wide Web Consortium]] (W3C), which took over from CERN, reduced its commitment to the project.<ref name="5.1a"/> Later, the purpose of libwww was redefined to be "a testbed for protocol experiments";<ref name="official"/> in that role it was maintained for the benefit of the W3C's [[web standards]]-promoting browser [[Amaya (web editor)|Amaya]].<ref name="survey 2000 announcement"/> Active development of libwww stopped in 2000.<ref name="History.html"/><ref name="ReleaseNotes.html"/>

==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 [[Software portability|portable]] [[C (programming language)|C]] code, in order to demonstrate the potential of the [[World Wide Web]].<ref name="yjolt">{{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}}</ref> In the beginning, libwww was referred to as the ''Common Library'' and was not available as a separate product.<ref name="common library">{{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}}</ref> Before becoming generally available, libwww was integrated in the [[CERN program library]] (CERNLIB).<ref>{{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}}</ref> In July 1992 the library was ported to [[DECnet]].<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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]].<ref name="www-news-9305">{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref name="yjolt"/><ref>{{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}}</ref> The rapid early development of the library caused [[Robert Cailliau]] problems when integrating it into his [[MacWWW]] browser.<ref name="IEEE">{{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}}</ref>

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).<ref name="official">{{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}}</ref><ref name="frystyk thesis">{{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}}</ref><ref name="frystyk leaving">{{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]]}}</ref> On 21 March 1995, with the release of version 3.0, CERN transferred responsibility for libwww to the W3C.<ref name="History.html"/> From 1995 onwards, the [[Line Mode Browser]] was no longer released separately, but part of the libwww package.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

On 2 March 1997, Nielsen announced that Libwww 5.1 was expected to be the last release.<ref name="5.1a">{{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]]}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

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.<ref name="frystyk leaving"/><ref name="survey 2000 announcement">{{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}}</ref>

On 2 September 2003 the W3C (re-)stated that development had stopped, citing a lack of resources.<ref name="survey2 invitation">{{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}}</ref> On 29 January 2004, the W3C once again confirmed that it would not continue development, and was seeking [[open-source-software movement|open source community]] maintainers.<ref name="survey results announcement"/>

The first (and only) "community supported maintenance release" was made in 2005, after a gap of 3 years.<ref name="ReleaseNotes.html">{{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]]}}</ref> After a further lapse of 12 years, a security patch was released in 2017.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

==Features==
In 2003, Kahan claimed that "libwww is the only library that has a full implementation of the HTTP specification, including caching and pipelining."<ref name="survey2 invitation"/>

Libwww supports following [[communication protocol|protocols]]:
*[[file URI scheme|file]]<ref name="internals">{{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}}</ref>
*[[File Transfer Protocol|FTP]]<ref name="internals"/>
*[[gopher (protocol)|Gopher]]<ref name="internals"/>
*[[Hypertext Transfer Protocol|HTTP]] 1.1 with a Persistent Cache Manager,<ref name="internals"/> [[HTTP pipelining|pipelining]]<ref name="History.html"/>
*[[Network News Transfer Protocol|NNTP]]<ref name="internals"/>
*[[Telnet]]<ref name="internals"/>
*[[Wide area information server|WAIS]]<ref name="internals"/>

Other features include:
*[[Transport Layer Security|TLS and SSL]] can be used through [[OpenSSL]].<ref>{{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}}</ref>
*[[gzip]] compression and decompression through [[zlib]]<ref>{{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}}</ref>
*a [[HTML]],<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref> [[Resource Description Framework|RDF]],<ref name="xml"/> [[Standard Generalized Markup Language|SGML]]<ref>{{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}}</ref> and [[XML]]<ref name="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}}</ref> [[Parsing|parser]] and a [[Style sheet language|style sheet]] manager<ref>{{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}}</ref>
*an integration of a [[SQL]] database (using the [[MySQL]] server) for e.g. [[web crawler]]s<ref>{{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}}</ref>

Libwww supports [[Plug-in (computing)|plug-in]]s.<ref name="position">{{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}}</ref>

==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)|Arena web browser]] as a testbed and testing tool for [[HTML3]], [[Cascading Style Sheets]] (CSS), [[Portable Network Graphics]] (PNG) and libwww, among other technologies.<ref>{{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}}</ref> Arena was later replaced in that role by [[Amaya (web browser)|Amaya]].<ref>{{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}}</ref>

According to a survey conducted in September 2003, at least 19 applications used libwww.<ref name="survey results announcement">{{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}}</ref>
*[[Agora (web browser)|Agora]]<ref>{{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}}</ref>
*Arena<ref name="w3c">{{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}}</ref><ref name="why">{{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}}</ref>
*Amaya<ref name="w3c"/><ref name="why"/><ref>{{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}}</ref>
*[[Cello (web browser)|Cello]]<ref>{{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}}</ref>
*[[CERN httpd]] server<ref name="why"/>
*[[Cygwin]]<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref>
*[[Distributed Oceanographic Data Systems]] with the [[OPeNDAP]]<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref>
*GRIF Symposia, a [[HTML editor]]<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref>
*[[Lynx (web browser)|Lynx]]<ref name="History.html"/><ref name="why"/>
*[[MacWWW]]<ref>{{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}}</ref>
*[[Mosaic (web browser)|Mosaic]]<ref name="History.html"/><ref name="IEEE"/><ref name="why"/>
*[[Robot Operating System]] (ROS)<ref name="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}}</ref>
*TkWeb<ref>{{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}}</ref>
*[[tkWWW]]<ref>{{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}}</ref>
*[[WorldWideWeb]] (later ''Nexus'')<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref>

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.<ref name="position"/><ref>{{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}}</ref>
*[[Line Mode Browser]], a Spartan web browser.<ref>{{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}}</ref>
*Webbot, a simple application showing how to use libwww to build robots.<ref name="position"/><ref>{{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}}</ref>
*Mini Server, a small application showing how to implement a server or a proxy using libwww.<ref name="position"/>

==Criticism==
The developers of [[libcurl]] have criticised libwww as being not as [[Software portability|portable]], not [[Thread safety|thread-safe]] and lacking several [[basic access authentication|HTTP authentication]] types.<ref>{{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}}</ref> Neither [[libcurl]] nor libwww are lightweight enough for some projects.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Free and open-source software}}
*[[Library for WWW in Perl]]
*[[cURL]]

==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}}

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