A curated list of C good stuff. This list contains only free software
for code, and sellers who aren't evil for physical resources.
This is released under a Creative Commons-Attribution-ShareAlike license,
version 4. You can find its text in the LICENSE file.
This project is part of Peers - a community for growing our
freedom. Support us today!
An important note: This project does not index anything C++-related; only
pure C stuff is considered.
Note for contributors: If you want to make a pull request, please read
CONTRIBUTING.md first.
These are tools to automate the building and testing of projects in C.
- aimake - A build tool designed to avoid complex
configurations. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- Autoconf - An extensible package of M4 macros that produce shell
scripts to automatically configure software source code packages. Part of the
Autotools. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- Automake - A tool for automatically generating
Makefile.in
files
compliant with the GNU Coding Standards. Requires the use of Autoconf. Part of
the Autotools. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- fab - A build system that helps build optimally every
time. GNU GPLv3 only.
- GNU Make - A tool which controls the generation of executables and other
non-source files of a program. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- Jam - A build system, designed to be easier than make. Understands C
build rules implicitly. Jam License.
- Libtool - A generic library support script. Part of the
Autotools. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- Meson - An extremely fast, user-friendly build system. Based on Ninja. Apache2.0.
- tup - A very fast, file-based, cross-platform build
system. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
- zproject - A project generator and build system support. MPLv2.0
- Clang - A compiler for LLVM. Supports C11. NCSA.
- GCC - Provides a C compiler as part of its compiler set. Supports
C11. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- PCC - A venerable compiler. Supports C99. Various licenses, all free.
- TCC - Tiny C Compiler; a small, fast compiler. Supports C99 (except
complex types). GNU LGPLv2.1 only.
- cchan - A small library for channel constructs for inter-thread
communication. Public domain.
- ck - Concurrency primitives, safe memory reclamation mechanisms and
non-blocking data structures. FreeBSD.
- libconcurrent - Concurrent programming library, using coroutines, for
C11. zlip.
- mill - Go-style concurrency. X11.
- MPICH - Another implementation of MPI. MPICH licence.
- OpenMP - A set of pragmas designed to allow for easy parallelization of
code. Standard (licensing not applicable).
- OpenMPI - A message passing interface implementation. 3-clause BSD.
- PETSc - A suite of data structures and routines for scalable parallel
solution of scientific applications modelled by partial differential
equations. FreeBSD.
- pth - A portable implementation for non-preemptive priority-based
scheduling for multiple threads of execution. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- pthreads - The POSIX thread library. Standard (no license applicable).
- SLEPc - A software library for the solution of large, sparse eigenvalue
problems on parallel computers. GNU LGPLv3 only.
- TinyCThread - A portable, small implementation of the C11 threads
API. zlib.
This lists databases and data stores with C APIs.
- BerkeleyDB - A library for a high-performance embedded database for
key-value data. GNU AGPLv3 only.
- Hiredis - A minimalistic client library for Redis. 3-clause BSD.
- LMDB - An ultra-fast, ultra-compact key-value embedded data store. newOpenLDAP.
- MariaDB - A robust, scalable and reliable SQL server, designed to be a
drop-in replacement for MySQL. 3-clause BSD.
- mongo-c-driver - A high-performance client library for MongoDB. Apache2.0.
- PostgreSQL - A powerful object-relational database system. PostgreSQL licence.
- recutils - A set of tools and a library for accessing human-editable,
plaintext database files called recfiles. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- Redis - An advanced key-value store. 3-clause BSD.
- sophia - A modern, embeddable key-value database. FreeBSD.
- SQLite - A self-contained, serverless, zero-configuration, transactional
SQL database engine. Public domain.
- UnQLite - A self-contained, serverless, zero-configuration,
transactional NoSQL engine. FreeBSD.
- Cxref - Generates documentation in either LaTeX, HTML, RTF or
SGML. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
- DocOnce - A modestly-tagged markup language that can be used to
generate a range of formats. 3-clause BSD.
- Doxygen - The de-facto standard tool for generating documentation from
annotated sources. Can generate a large range of formats. GNU GPLv2.1
only.
- GTK-Doc - A tool for generating documentation from annotated
sources. Has support for the Autotools. GNU GPLv2.1 only
(code), GNU FDL1.1 only (documentation).
These are specifically fancier, IDE-type editors. If you want a programmer's
text editor, look elsewhere. Besides, whatever choice you make most likely
supports C anyway.
This section has big libraries that provide data structures and other stuff you
expect of a 'modern' standard library.
- APR - Apache Portable Runtime; another library of cross-platform utility
functions. Apache2.0.
- C Algorithms - A collection of common algorithms and data structures. ISC.
- Collections-C - A library of generic data structures. GNU LGPLv3
or later.
- CPL - The Common Pipeline Library; a set of libraries designed to be a
comprehensive, efficient and robust software toolkit. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
- EFL - A large collection of useful data structures and
functions. Various licenses, all free.
- GLib - A library of utility functions and structures, designed to be
portable, efficient and powerful. GNU LGPLv2.1 only.
- GIO - A modern and easy-to-use VFS API. GNU LGPLv2.1 only.
- GObject - An object-oriented system and object model. GNU LGPLv2.1 only.
- libnih - A lightweight library of functions and
structures. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
- libU - A small library of basic utilities, including memory allocation,
string manipulation and logging. 3-clause BSD.
- PBL - A large library of utilities, featuring data structures, among
other things. GNU LGPLv2.1 or later (library), GNU GPLv2.1 or later
(test code).
- qlibc - A simple and powerful library, designed as a replacement for
GLib while focusing on being small and light. qLib license (similar
to FreeBSD).
- stb - A range of single-file libraries. Public domain.
- TBOX - A multi-platform library with a large number of
capabilities. GNU LGPLv2.1 or later.
These are provided as examples of C game programming code.
These are libraries of all sorts that are useful for game programming.
- Allegro - A cross-platform, video game development and multimedia
library. zlib.
- Chipmunk2D - A fast and lightweight 2D game physics library. Expat.
- CSFML - A binding for SFML. zlib.
- Epoxy - A library for handling OpenGL function pointer management. Expat.
- FreeGLUT - An alternative to the OpenGL Utility Toolkit. Allows the
creation and management of windows with OpenGL contexts. X11.
- GLFW - A multi-platform library for creating windows with OpenGL
contexts. zlib.
- libao - A cross-platform audio library with a wide variety of
outputs. GNU GPLv2.1 or later.
- RetroArch - The reference frontend for libretro. GNU GPLv3
only.
- SDL2 - A cross-platform library designed to provide low-level access to
audio, keyboard, mouse, joystick and graphics hardware via OpenGL. zlib.
- SIGIL - Sound, Input and Graphics Integration Library; a simple
alternative to other libraries for doing all those things. Various licenses,
all free.
- klib - Small and lightweight implementations of common algorithms and
data structures. Expat.
- SGLIB - A simple generic library. Any OSI-approved license.
These are specifically widget toolkits, or things meant to be used in a
similar way to them.
- Jansson - A library for encoding, decoding and manipulating JSON. Expat.
- jsmn - A minimalistic JSON parser. Expat.
- json-c - A library for working with JSON. Expat.
- WJElement - Advanced JSON manipulation library, with support for JSON
Schema. LGPL, any version.
- YAJL - A fast streaming JSON parser library. ISC
Learning, Reference and Tutorials
This is a list of resources for learning C programming in general, or something
useful relating to C programming.
Reference resources online
Beginner resources online
Advanced resources online
Online self-study courses
- FFMPEG - A complete, cross-platform solution to record, convert and
stream audio and video. GNU LGPLv2.1 or later, with some parts
under GNU GPLv2.1 or later.
- GStreamer - A framework for audio and visual media. GNU LGPLv2.1
only.
- libmpv - A music-playing library. Compile with
./waf configure
--disable-cplayer --enable-libmpv-shared
to not have the music
player. GNU GPLv2.1 or later.
- libsoundio - A library for cross-platform, real-time audio input and
output. Has a range of back-ends. Expat.
- lodepng - A simple PNG image decoder and encoder, requiring no other
dependencies. 3-clause BSD.
The Security section also contains useful resources for making
stuff relating to networks and the Internet.
- asnlc - A compiler of ASN.1 specifications into C source code. FreeBSD.
- CHL - C Hypertext Library - A library for writing web applications in
C. GNU GPLv3 only.
- czmq - A high-level binding for ZeroMQ. MPLv2.0
- GNU adns - An advanced, easy-to-use, asynch-capable DNS client library
and utilities. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- gumbo-parser - An HTML5 parsing library in C99. Apache2.0.
- http-parser - An HTTP request/response parser. Expat.
- ldns - A library to simplify DNS programming. 3-clause BSD.
- libcurl - A client-side URL transfer library, supporting a wide range of
formats. curl license.
- LibEtPan - A mail library providing an efficient network for IMAP,
SMTP, POP and NNTP. 3-clause BSD.
- libev - Yet another event loop. FreeBSD.
- libevent - An event loop replacement for network servers. 3-clause BSD.
- libhttpd - A library to add basic web server capabilities to an
application or embedded device. GNU GPLv2 only.
- libidn - An implementation of the Stringprep, Punycode and IDNA
specifications. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- libmicrohttpd - A small library that makes it easy to run an HTTP
server as part of another application. GNU LGPLv2.1 or later.
- libonion - HTTP server library, designed to be easy to
use. Apache2.0.
- libquickmail - A library intended to give developers a way to send
email from their applications. Supports multiple To/Cc/Bcc recipients and
attachments without size limits. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- libsoup - A GNOME HTTP client/server library. Uses
GObject. GNU LGPLv2.1 only.
- lwan - An experimental, scalable, high-performance HTTP
server. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
- mongoose - Embedded web server. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
- nanomsg - A C-based implementation of ZeroMQ. Expat.
- oSip - A SIP implementation without additional
dependencies. GNU LGPLv2.1 or later.
- socket99 - A C99 wrapper for the BSD sockets API. ISC.
- Tox - A communication platform, designed to be a
Skype-killer. GNU GPLv3 only.
- twitc - A mini library for interacting with the Twitter OAuth API. Expat.
- zyre - A framework for proximity-based peer-to-peer applications. MPLv2.0.
- balde - A microframework based on GLib. GNU LGPLv2.1 only.
- KLone - A fully-featured, multi-platform, web application development
framework, targeted especially at embedded systems and
appliances. 3-clause BSD.
- Kore - An easy-to-use web application framework for writing scalable
web APIs in C. ISC.
- apophenia - A library for statistical and scientific
computing. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
- ATLAS - Automatically Tuned Linear Algebra Software. 3-clause BSD.
- BLAS - Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms; a set of routines that provide
vector and matrix operations. BLAS license.
- Cuba - A library for multidimensional numerical
integration. GNU LGPLv3 only.
- FFTW - The Fastest Fourier Transform in the West; a highly-optimized
fast Fourier transform routine. GNU GPLv2.1 or later.
- FLINT - Fast Library for Number Theory; a library supporting arithmetic
with numbers, polynomials, power series and matrices, among
others. GNU GPLv2.1 or later.
- GLPK - GNU Linear Programming Kit; a package designed for solving
large-scale linear programming, mixed integer programming and other related
problems. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- GMP - GNU Multple Precision Arithmetic Library; a library for
arbitrary-precision arithmetic. Dual-licensed GNU GPLv2.1 only
and GNU LGPLv3 only.
- GNU MPC - A library for complex number arithmetic. GNU LGPLv3 or later.
- GNU MPFR - A library for arbitrary-precision floating-point
arithmetic. GNU LGPLv3 or later (most recent
versions), GNU LGPLv2.1 or later (until version 2.4.x).
- GNU MPRIA - A portable mathematics library for multi-precision rational
interval arithmetic. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- GSL - The GNU Scientific Library; a sophisticated numerical
library. GNU GPLv3 only.
- KISS FFT - A very simple fast Fourier transform library. 3-clause BSD.
- LAPACKE - An interface to LAPACK. 3-clause BSD.
- PARI/GP - A computer algebra system for number theory; includes a
compiler to C. GNU GPLv2.1 or later.
- PETSc - A suite of data structures and routines for scalable parallel
solution of scientific applications modelled by partial differential
equations. FreeBSD.
- SLEPc - A software library for the solution of large, sparse eigenvalue
problems on parallel computers. GNU LGPLv3 only.
- Yeppp! - Very fast, SIMD-optimized mathematical library. 3-clause BSD.
"Some people, when confronted with a problem, think 'I know, I'll use regular
expressions'. Now they have two problems." - Jamie Zawinski.
- PCRE - An implementation of regexes identical to that of
Perl 5. 3-clause BSD.
- SLRE - Super Light Regular Expression library; a very small
implementation of a subset of Perl regex syntax. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
- TRE - A POSIX-compliant, feature-full regex library. FreeBSD.
This includes various cryptographical and secure communications libraries and
frameworks, as well as various security-related things.
- binn - A binary serialization format, meant to be compact, fast and
easy-to-use. Apache2.0.
- c-capnproto - An implementation of the Cap'n Proto serialization
protocol. Expat.
- cmp - An implementation of the MessagePack serialization
protocol. Expat.
- libavro - An implementation of the Avro data serialization system. Apache2.0.
- mpack - Another implementation of the MessagePack serialization
protocol. Expat.
- protobuf-c - An implementation of Google Protocol Buffer. FreeBSD.
- xdr - External Data Representation; a standard for data
serialization. Standard (no license applicable).
This contains collections of small source code. If you want something big and
integrated, check the Frameworks section.
- CCAN - Modelled after Perl's CPAN, this is a big collection of code
that does stuff. The full list is here. Various licenses, all free.
- clib - Something of a package manager. Comes with
a bunch of libraries of its own. Expat.
- gnulib - A collection of common GNU code. Various licenses, all free.
- libdjb - A collection of libraries doing various things. (Apparently)
public domain.
This contains standard C libraries.
- Bionic - Google's standard library, developed for Android. 3-clause BSD.
- dietlibc - A standard library designed for the smallest possible
binaries. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
- glibc - The GNU C Library; an implementation of the standard
library. GNU LGPLv2.1 only.
- musl - A standard library, compatible with POSIX 2008 and C11. Designed
for static linking. Expat.
While practically any decent programmer's text editor supports C, there are some
extensions that make it more pleasant. This is categorized by editor.
- CEDET - Collection of Emacs Development Environment Tools; designed to
provide IDE-like features to Emacs. Built-in. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- Flycheck - Modern syntax checking. For C, it can use either GCC or
Clang as a back-end. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- YASnippet - A template system, with C templates for common code
snippets. GNU GPLv3 or later.
This is a list of useful programs to help you write and debug C code which are
not editors, libraries or compilers.
- Artistic Style - A fast and small automatic source code formatter that
supports C. GNU LGPLv3 only.
- address-sanitizer - A fast memory error detector. Apache2.0.
- biicode - A modern dependency manager. Expat.
- c - Compile and execute C "scripts" in one go on the command line. Also
has shebang support. Expat.
- C-Reduce - A tool that takes a large C file with a property of interest
and automatically produces a much smaller C file that has the same
property. Intended to help create minimal bug-demonstrating cases in complex
code. 3-clause BSD.
- CScout - A source code analyzer and refactoring browser for C
programs. GNU GPLv3 only.
- c99sh - Run C files using hash-bang. FreeBSD.
- CBMC - C Bounded Model Checker; a tool for verification of array
bounds, pointer safety and user-specified assertions. Original BSD.
- cdecl - An online service to translate C declarations into English and
vice versa. Public domain.
- cflow - Analyzes a collection of source files and prints a graph
charting control flow in the program. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- cinclude2dot - Graphs include dependencies in a project using
Graphviz. Any GNU GPL version (due to underspecification in the file).
- Complexity - A tool for measuring the complexity of source
code. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- DDD - A graphical front-end for a range of command-line
debuggers. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- GDB - The GNU Project debugger. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- Glade - A RAD tool to enable quick development of GTK+
GUIs. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
- GMSL - GNU Make Standard Library; a collection of additional
functionality for GNU Make. 3-clause BSD.
- GNU Global - A source code tagging tool. GNU GPLv3 only.
- GPP - A general-purpose preprocessor. More versatile than the C
preprocessor, but more flexible than m4. GNU LGPLv3 or later.
- gprof - A performance analysis tool. Part of GNU
binutils. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- Highlight - Converts source code to formatted text with nice
highlighting. GNU GPLv3 only.
- include-what-you-use - Helps find unecessary inclusions and make
suggestions for fixing them. Based on LLVM/Clang (and only works with
it). NCSA.
- indent - Formats C source code automatically to make it easier to
read. Also converts from one style of source to another. GNU GPLv3 or
later.
- qo - A build system that works without a separate config file. Expat.
- rr - A debugger that records non-deterministic executions to allow for
deterministic debugging. FreeBSD.
- unifdef - Removes #ifdef and #if directives with their delimited text
without touching any other part of the file. 3-clause BSD
and FreeBSD.
- Valgrind - A range of dynamic analysis tools, including a leak
checker. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
This is a 'catch-all' category for anything that doesn't fit well anywhere else.
- ApeTagLibs - A library for working with APEv2 tags. Expat.
- argparse - A command-line argument parsing library, inspired by
Python's argparse module. Expat.
- attr - Commands for manipulating filesystem extended
attributes. GNU GPLv2.1 or later.
- bfd - A library for manipulating binary object files. Part of GNU
binutils. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- ccv - C-based/Cached/Core Computer Vision library; modern computer
vision. 3-clause BSD.
- cf4ocl - The C Framework for OpenCL; a cross-platform object-oriented
framework for developing and benchmarking OpenCL.
projects. GNU LGPLv3 only (library), GNU GPLv3 or later (other
code).
- CommonMark - An implementation of the CommonMark
spec. Variety of licenses, all free.
- CException - An implementation of exceptions. Expat.
- D-Bus - A simple way for applications to talk to one
another. AFLv2.1 or GPLv2.1 or later.
- dlx - An implementation of Knuth's Algorithm X, with example
solvers. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- docopt.c - An implementation of a command-line option parser. Expat.
- dyncall - Another foreign function interface library. Expat.
- FANN - Fast Artifical Neural Network library; an implementation of
neural networks. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
- Firm - A library that provides a graph-based intermediate
representation, optimizations and assembly code generation suitable for use in
compilers. Comes with an example C front-end under the same
license. GNU LGPLv2.1 only.
- Genann - A simple ANN in C89, without additional dependencies. zlib.
- gjrand - A library of random-number generation
routines. GNU GPLv2.1 only or GNU GPLv3 only (user's choice).
- GNU FreeIPMI - An in-band and out-of-band IPMI
implementation. GNU GPLv3 only.
- GNU gperf - A perfect hash function generator, given a list of
strings. Outputs C code. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- GNU Libffcall - A collection of libraries for building foreign function
interfaces. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- gperftools - A collection of utilities for measuring and improving
performance. 3-clause BSD.
- hammer - Parser combinators for binary formats. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
- Hans Boehm GC - Garbage collection for C? Don't mind if I do! Various
licenses, all free.
- Hoedown - A fully-standards-compliant, extension-supporting, UTF-8
aware, fast Markdown parser. Expat.
- huffandpuff - A minimal Huffman encoder and decoder. Public domain.
- iniparser - A parser for .ini files. Expat.
- jemalloc - A malloc implementation that emphasizes avoidance of
fragmentation and scalable concurrency support. FreeBSD.
- jwHash - A fast hashtable implementation. Apache2.0.
- kdtree - A simple library for working with KD-trees. 3-clause BSD.
- Kitsune - An efficient, general-purpose framework for dynamic software
updating. GNU LGPLv3 or later.
- libavl - A library containing a range of self-balancing binary
trees. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- libbson - A BSON utility library. Apache2.0.
- libCello - A library introducing higher-level programming to
C. 3-clause BSD.
- libcox - A library which permits cross-platform system calls and
standard utilities across different operating systems. FreeBSD.
- libcsv - A simple, streaming CSV parser. GNU LGPLv2.1 or later.
- libffi - A portable foreign-function interface library. Expat.
- libgit2 - Pure C implementation of Git. GNU GPL2 only, with a linking exception.
- liblfds - A portable lock-free data structure library. Public domain
(more exactly, whatever license you want).
- libimobiledevice - A cross-platform protocol library to communicate
with iThings. GNU LGPLv2.1 or later (library), GNU GPLv2.1 or later
(tools).
- libnfc - A platform-independent Near-Field Communication
library. GNU LGPLv3 only.
- libPhenom - An eventing framework for building high-scalability and
high-performance systems. Apache2.0.
- libucl - A universal configuration library parser. FreeBSD.
- libuv - Cross-platform asynchronous I/O. Expat.
- libYAML - A YAML 1.1 parser and emitter. Expat.
- libxo - Allows an application to generate plain text, XML, JSON and
HTML output using a common set of function calls. The application decides at
runtime what output style should be produced. FreeBSD.
- mpc - A parser combinator library. FreeBSD.
- ncurses - Coloured terminal UI library. GNU GPLv3 or later.
- nope.c - An ultra-light software platform for scalable server-side and
networking applications (think node.js for C programmers). GNU GPLv2.1
only.
- pbc - A protocol buffers library. Expat.
- rabbitmq-c - A client library for RabbitMQ. Expat.
- Ragel - A DSL for state machines that compiles to C. GNU GPLv2.1 only.
- sort - A collection of sorting routines, designed to run at
compile-time with a user-defined type. Expat.
- termbox - A library for writing text-based interfaces. Expat.
- tinyexpr - A tiny recursive-descent parser, compiler and evaluation
engine for simple mathematical expressions. 3-clause BSD.
- uthash - A hash table implementation, allowing existing structures to
be stored in a hash table easily. 1-clause BSD.
- vector.h - A header library for typed lists. Expat.
- Viola - A simplification of libCello. Expat.
- XLSX I/O - A cross-platform library for reading and writing .xlsx
files. Expat.
- ZeroMQ - A distributed messaging protocol
implementation. GNU LGPLv3 with static linking exception only.
- zproto - A protocol framework for ZeroMQ. Expat.
This is a list of technologies designed to bring Windows into the 21st century
with respect to support for C.
- Cygwin - Designed to emulate a POSIX-compatible environment extensively
under Windows. Various licenses, all free.
- MinGW-w64 - A minimalist environment for C development on Windows with
64 bit support. Various licenses, all free.
- MSYS2 - Minimal SYStem 2; aims to provide support for a POSIX
environment on Windows, with a package manager based on Arch Linux's
pacman. Packages have individual licenses, otherwise, as MinGW and Cygwin.
"XML is crap. Really. There are no excuses. XML is nasty to parse for humans,
and it's a disaster to parse even for computers. There's just no reason for
that horrible crap to exist." - Linus Torvalds