I am the author of a large number of single-file C/C++ public domain libraries.
I am not the only person who writes libraries like this, so below are other, similar libraries.
Generally, the following is a list of small, easy-to-integrate, portable libraries
which are usable from C and/or C++, and should be able to be compiled on both
32-bit and 64-bit platforms.
Rules
Libraries must be usable from C or C++, ideally both
Libraries should be usable from more than one platform (ideally, all major desktops and/or all major mobile)
Libraries should compile and work on both 32-bit and 64-bit platforms
Also you might be interested in other related, but different lists:
clib: list of (mostly) small single C functions (licenses not listed)
Library listing
Public domain single-file libraries usable from C and C++ are in bold. Other
libraries are either non-public domain, or two files, or not usable from both C and C++, or
all three. Libraries of more than two files are mostly forbidden.
For the API column, "C" means C only, "C++" means C++ only, and "C/C++" means C/C++ usable
from either; some files may require building as C or C++ but still qualify as "C/C++" as
long as the header file uses extern "C" to make it work. (In some cases, a header-file-only
library may compile as both C or C++, but produce an implementation that can only be called from
one or the other, because of a lack of use of extern "C"; in this case the table still qualifies it
as C/C++, as this is not an obstacle to most users.)
There are also these XML libraries, but if you're using XML, shame on you:
New libraries and corrections
Submissions of new libraries: I accept submissions (as issues or as pull requests). Please
note that every file that must be included in a user's project counts; a header and a source
file is 2 files, but a header file, source file, and LICENSE (if the license isn't in the
source file) is 3 files, and won't be accepted, because it's not 2 files. But actually
'LICENSE' is a problem for just dropping the library in a source tree anyway, since it's
not scoped to just the library, so library authors are encouraged to include the license in the
source file and not require a separate LICENSE.
Corrections: if information for a library above is wrong, please send a correction as an
issue, pull request, or email. Note that if the list indicates a library works from both
C/C++, but it doesn't, this could be an error in the list or it could be a bug in the
library. If you find a library doesn't work in 32-bit or 64-bit, the library should be
removed from this list, unless it's a bug in the library.
Why isn't library XXX which is made of 3 or more files on this list?
I draw the line arbitrarily at 2 files at most. (Note that some libraries that appear to
be two files require a separate LICENSE file, which made me leave them out). Some of these
libraries are still easy to drop into your project and build, so you might still be ok with them.
But since people come to stb for single-file public domain libraries, I feel that starts
to get too far from what we do here.
Why isn't library XXX which is at most two files and has minimal other dependencies on this list?
Probably because I don't know about it, feel free to submit a pull request, issue, email, or tweet it at
me (it can be your own library or somebody else's). But I might not include it for various
other reasons, including subtleties of what is 'minimal other dependencies' and subtleties
about what is 'lightweight'.
Why isn't SQLite's amalgamated build on this list?