Install ulfius with Homebrew, apt, Nix, pacman, zypper, winget

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• uwsc

Project history

The upstream README describes Ulfius as a REST-oriented HTTP framework in C, based on GNU libmicrohttpd for the backend web server, Jansson for JSON manipulation, and libcurl for HTTP and SMTP client APIs.

Official release metadata shows a stable 1.0 release in August 2016, a 2.0.0 release in May 2017, and continued 2.7.x releases through v2.7.15 in November 2023. The API documentation includes versioned sections describing changes from Ulfius 2.0 through 2.7.

The installation documentation treats Ulfius as part of the Babelouest C library stack with Orcania and Yder, and documents both Makefile and CMake builds, optional dependencies, static archives, embedded-system flags, and the uwsc websocket CLI.

Adoption history

Ulfius adoption is visible in the official README's list of projects using the framework, including Glewlwyd, Le Biniou, Angharad, Hutch, Taliesin, and Taulas Raspberry Pi Serial interface. Those examples cluster around small services, authentication, media, home automation, and embedded or appliance-like applications.

The supplied package data records Ulfius in Homebrew, Nix, Arch/pacman, Debian, Ubuntu, openSUSE, and winget-related packaging for uwsc. The official INSTALL file also states that Ulfius is available as distribution packages and gives Debian examples for libulfius-dev and uwsc.

How it is used

C developers use Ulfius by linking libulfius and registering HTTP endpoints with callbacks. The README's hello-world example initializes an instance, adds a GET endpoint, starts the framework, then stops and cleans the instance.

The framework covers server-side web services, streaming, websockets, client HTTP and SMTP requests, client websockets, JSON request and response handling, cookies, file upload, and memory-management hooks. The uwsc tool provides a packaged command-line websocket client built from the same project.

Why package nerds care

Ulfius is significant to package-manager users because it packages a C-native web framework rather than another scripting-language web stack. That matters for embedded systems, small daemons, and projects that want REST or websocket APIs without leaving a C deployment model.

For maintainers, Ulfius also shows the usual C-library packaging concerns: optional features change dependencies, pkg-config and CMake metadata matter, shared and static builds are both documented, and the small uwsc executable gives users a visible CLI alongside the library.

Timeline

• 2016: Stable 1.0 release published.
• 2017: Stable 2.0.0 release published.
• 2021: 2.7.x release series active.
• 2023: v2.7.15 release published.
• 2026: Official documentation site still presented Ulfius API documentation for REST applications in C.

Related projects

• The README names GNU libmicrohttpd, Jansson, and libcurl as core libraries used by Ulfius.
• The INSTALL file documents Orcania and Yder as companion Babelouest libraries in the manual Makefile install path.
• The README lists Glewlwyd, Angharad, Hutch, Taliesin, and other Babelouest-adjacent applications as projects using Ulfius.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/babelouest/ulfius/releases?per_page=100
• https://babelouest.github.io/ulfius/
• https://github.com/babelouest/ulfius
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/babelouest/ulfius/master/INSTALL.md
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/babelouest/ulfius/master/README.md
• source_facts.executables
• source_facts.package-manager