Open Source C/C++ embedded web server

Question

I am working on a project where I need to embed a web server into my C++ application. I am looking for an open-source library supporting SSL, written in C or C++ and with a licensing scheme that will allow me to link it into my existing closed source code. Any suggestions of specific products or where to look first?

Answer 1

You can take a look on Boost.Asio examples -- there is an http server.

Other option, if you can except embedded server is using thttpd and CGI --- this is standard approach for embedded web applications.

You can also connect your application to the server with SCGI/FCGI.

Answer 2

I use Mongoose - it works well, it's FOSS, supports SSL, it's written in C and is very easy to embed in C or C++ code. The maintainer is very responsive to issues and improvement requests.

Answer 3

Are you sure you need it internally and not as a separate application?

Because if you don't mind setting a 3rd party server, busybox (no https) or lighttpd (very good idea to use it IMHO) are good candidates.

Answer 4

Lighthttpd is embedable. That's what Transmission uses. I'm not sure if it works on windows. Libevent has an http implementation and it works on windows.

Answer 5

You may give a look to libmicrohttpd. It's LGPL, portable and embeddable ;)

However, I agree with Neil Butterworth. You can also use Mongoose ;)

Answer 6

I have written a high performance embedded web server-library called snorkel, which is portable and free. I currently have binaries for both Windows and Linux. I will be posting an article about it on Code Guru in a couple of weeks. It leverages NUMA topology for memory management and performance.

Answer 7

Take a look at Snorkel. Its one of the fastest easiest to use embedded web servers. http://sites.google.com/site/snorkelembedded