stb
===
Single-file public domain (or MIT licensed) libraries for C/C++, by Sean Barrett.
> [!NOTE]
> This project discusses security-relevant bugs in public in Github Issues and Pull Requests, and it may take significant time for security fixes to be implemented or merged. If this poses an unreasonable risk to your project, do not use stb libraries.
Noteworthy:
* Image loader: stb_image.h
* Image writer: stb_image_write.h
* Image resizer: stb_image_resize2.h
* Font text rasterizer: stb_truetype.h
* Typesafe containers: stb_ds.h
Most libraries by stb, except: stb_dxt by Fabian "ryg" Giesen, original stb_image_resize
by Jorge L. "VinoBS" Rodriguez, and stb_image_resize2 and stb_sprintf by Jeff Roberts.
Library | Latest version | Category | LoC | Description
--------------------- | ---- | -------- | --- | --------------------------------
stb_vorbis.c | 1.22 | audio | 5584 | decode ogg vorbis files from file/memory to float/16-bit signed output
stb_hexwave.h | 0.5 | audio | 680 | audio waveform synthesizer
stb_image.h | 2.30 | graphics | 7988 | image loading/decoding from file/memory: JPG, PNG, TGA, BMP, PSD, GIF, HDR, PIC
stb_truetype.h | 1.26 | graphics | 5079 | parse, decode, and rasterize characters from truetype fonts
stb_image_write.h | 1.16 | graphics | 1724 | image writing to disk: PNG, TGA, BMP
stb_image_resize2.h | 2.16 | graphics | 10650 | resize images larger/smaller with good quality
stb_rect_pack.h | 1.01 | graphics | 623 | simple 2D rectangle packer with decent quality
stb_perlin.h | 0.5 | graphics | 428 | perlin's revised simplex noise w/ different seeds
stb_ds.h | 0.67 | utility | 1895 | typesafe dynamic array and hash tables for C, will compile in C++
stb_sprintf.h | 1.10 | utility | 1906 | fast sprintf, snprintf for C/C++
stb_textedit.h | 1.14 | user interface | 1429 | guts of a text editor for games etc implementing them from scratch
stb_voxel_render.h | 0.89 | 3D graphics | 3807 | Minecraft-esque voxel rendering "engine" with many more features
stb_dxt.h | 1.12 | 3D graphics | 719 | Fabian "ryg" Giesen's real-time DXT compressor
stb_easy_font.h | 1.1 | 3D graphics | 305 | quick-and-dirty easy-to-deploy bitmap font for printing frame rate, etc
stb_tilemap_editor.h | 0.42 | game dev | 4187 | embeddable tilemap editor
stb_herringbone_wa... | 0.7 | game dev | 1221 | herringbone Wang tile map generator
stb_c_lexer.h | 0.12 | parsing | 941 | simplify writing parsers for C-like languages
stb_divide.h | 0.94 | math | 433 | more useful 32-bit modulus e.g. "euclidean divide"
stb_connected_comp... | 0.96 | misc | 1049 | incrementally compute reachability on grids
stb_leakcheck.h | 0.6 | misc | 194 | quick-and-dirty malloc/free leak-checking
stb_include.h | 0.02 | misc | 295 | implement recursive #include support, particularly for GLSL
Total libraries: 21
Total lines of C code: 51137
FAQ
---
$3
Run:
``
bash
$ npm i stb.c
`
And then include stb.h
as follows:
`
c
// main.c
#define STB_C_LEXER_IMPLEMENTATION
#define STB_CONNECTED_COMPONENTS_IMPLEMENTATION
#define STB_DIVIDE_IMPLEMENTATION
#define STB_DS_IMPLEMENTATION
#define STB_DXT_IMPLEMENTATION
#define STB_EASY_FONT_IMPLEMENTATION
#define STB_HERRINGBONE_WANG_TILE_IMPLEMENTATION
#define STB_HEXWAVE_IMPLEMENTATION
#define STB_IMAGE_IMPLEMENTATION
#define STB_IMAGE_RESIZE2_IMPLEMENTATION
#define STB_IMAGE_WRITE_IMPLEMENTATION
#define STB_INCLUDE_IMPLEMENTATION
#define STB_LEAKCHECK_IMPLEMENTATION
#define STB_PERLIN_IMPLEMENTATION
#define STB_RECT_PACK_IMPLEMENTATION
#define STB_SPRINTF_IMPLEMENTATION
#define STB_TEXTEDIT_IMPLEMENTATION
#define STB_TILEMAP_EDITOR_IMPLEMENTATION
#define STB_TRUETYPE_IMPLEMENTATION
#define STB_VOXEL_RENDER_IMPLEMENTATION
#include
// Or, selectively include individual headers
// #include
// #include
// #include
// #include
// #include
// #include
// #include
// #include
// #include
// #include
// #include
// #include
// #include
// #include
// #include
// #include
// #include
// #include
// #include
// #include
int main() { / ... / }
`
Finally, compile while adding the path node_modules/stb.c
to your compiler's include paths.
`
bash
$ clang -I./node_modules/stb.c main.c # or, use gcc
$ gcc -I./node_modules/stb.c main.c
`
You may also use a simpler approach with the cpoach tool, which automatically adds the necessary include paths of all the installed dependencies for your project.
`
bash
$ cpoach clang main.c # or, use gcc
$ cpoach gcc main.c
``
$3
These libraries are in the public domain. You can do anything you
want with them. You have no legal obligation
to do anything else, although I appreciate attribution.
They are also licensed under the MIT open source license, if you have lawyers
who are unhappy with public domain. Every source file includes an explicit
dual-license for you to choose from.
$3
The idea behind single-header file libraries is that they're easy to distribute and deploy
because all the code is contained in a single file. By default, the .h files in here act as
their own header files, i.e. they declare the functions contained in the file but don't
actually result in any code getting compiled.
So in addition, you should select _exactly one_ C/C++ source file that actually instantiates
the code, preferably a file you're not editing frequently. This file should define a
specific macro (this is documented per-library) to actually enable the function definitions.
For example, to use stb_image, you should have exactly one C/C++ file that doesn't
include stb_image.h regularly, but instead does
#define STB_IMAGE_IMPLEMENTATION
#include "stb_image.h"
The right macro to define is pointed out right at the top of each of these libraries.
$3
Yes.
$3
No, because it's public domain you can freely relicense it to whatever license your new
library wants to be.
$3
stb_image will either use SSE2 (if you compile with -msse2) or
will not use any SIMD at all, rather than trying to detect the
processor at runtime and handle it correctly. As I understand it,
the approved path in GCC for runtime-detection require
you to use multiple source files, one for each CPU configuration.
Because stb_image is a header-file library that compiles in only
one source file, there's no approved way to build both an
SSE-enabled and a non-SSE-enabled variation.
While we've tried to work around it, we've had multiple issues over
the years due to specific versions of gcc breaking what we're doing,
so we've given up on it. See https://github.com/nothings/stb/issues/280
and https://github.com/nothings/stb/issues/410 for examples.
$3
Generally they're only better in that they're easier to integrate,
easier to use, and easier to release (single file; good API; no
attribution requirement). They may be less featureful, slower,
and/or use more memory. If you're already using an equivalent
library, there's probably no good reason to switch.
$3
You can use
this URL to link directly to that list.
$3
Just to give you some idea of the internal complexity of the library,
to help you manage your expectations, or to let you know what you're
getting into. While not all the libraries are written in the same
style, they're certainly similar styles, and so comparisons between
the libraries are probably still meaningful.
Note though that the lines do include both the implementation, the
part that corresponds to a header file, and the documentation.
$3
Windows doesn't have standard directories where libraries
live. That makes deploying libraries in Windows a lot more
painful than open source developers on Unix-derivates generally
realize. (It also makes library dependencies a lot worse in Windows.)
There's also a common problem in Windows where a library was built
against a different version of the runtime library, which causes
link conflicts and confusion. Shipping the libs as headers means
you normally just compile them straight into your project without
making libraries, thus sidestepping that problem.
Making them a single file makes it very easy to just
drop them into a project that needs them. (Of course you can
still put them in a proper shared library tree if you want.)
Why not two files, one a header and one an implementation?
The difference between 10 files and 9 files is not a big deal,
but the difference between 2 files and 1 file is a big deal.
You don't need to zip or tar the files up, you don't have to
remember to attach
two files, etc.
$3
No, they are just the initials for my name, Sean T. Barrett.
This was not chosen out of egomania, but as a moderately sane
way of namespacing the filenames and source function names.
$3
No. As stb_image use has grown, it has become more important
for us to focus on security of the codebase. Adding new image
formats increases the amount of code we need to secure, so it
is no longer worth adding new formats.
$3
Yes. https://github.com/nothings/stb/blob/master/docs/stb_howto.txt
$3
I prefer it over GPL, LGPL, BSD, zlib, etc. for many reasons.
Some of them are listed here:
https://github.com/nothings/stb/blob/master/docs/why_public_domain.md
$3
Primarily, because I use C, not C++. But it does also make it easier
for other people to use them from other languages.
$3
I still use MSVC 6 (1998) as my IDE because it has better human factors
for me than later versions of MSVC.
