Restbed ======= --- Restbed is a robust, enterprise-class framework for building server-side applications that demand secure, reliable, and scalable HTTP communication. It provides a flexible foundation for modeling complex business processes and is engineered to support deployment across mobile, tablet, desktop, and embedded environments. > It's akin to embedding NGINX into your companies own product line. -- Solutions Architect, Bellrock Technology Features -------- | Feature | Description | |---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | [WebSockets](https://github.com/Corvusoft/restbed/blob/master/docs/example/WEB_SOCKET.md) | Full-duplex communication channels over a single TCP connection. | | [Server-Sent Events](https://github.com/Corvusoft/restbed/blob/master/docs/example/SERVER_SIDE_EVENTS.md) | Server-Sent Events enables efficient server-to-client streaming of text-based event data—e.g., real-time notifications or updates generated on the server. | | [Comet](https://github.com/Corvusoft/restbed/blob/master/docs/example/HTTP_PERSISTENT_CONNECTION.md) | Long polling model to allow long-held HTTP requests for pushing data from the server to client. | | [SSL/TLS](https://github.com/Corvusoft/restbed/blob/master/docs/example/HTTPS_SERVICE.md) | Secure over the wire communication allowing you to transmit private data online. | | [HTTP Pipelining](https://github.com/Corvusoft/restbed/blob/master/docs/example/HTTP_PIPELINING.md) | A technique allowing multiple HTTP requests to be sent on a single TCP connection without waiting for the corresponding responses. | | [Path Parameters](https://github.com/Corvusoft/restbed/blob/master/docs/example/PATH_PARAMETERS.md) | Annotate URIs with custom path parameters such as resource keys, revisions, etc... | | Query Parameters | Automated query parameter parsing. | | [Logging](https://github.com/Corvusoft/restbed/blob/master/docs/example/LOGGING.md) | Customise how and where log entries are created. | | [Multi-Path Resources](https://github.com/Corvusoft/restbed/blob/master/docs/example/MULTIPATH_RESOURCES.md) | Give a resource multiple paths for improved readability. | | [Customisable Methods](https://github.com/Corvusoft/restbed/blob/master/docs/example/CUSTOM_HTTP_METHOD.md) | Add your own custom HTTP methods. | | [Compression](https://github.com/Corvusoft/restbed/blob/master/docs/example/COMPRESSION.md) | Adaptability to address any form of compression GZip, Deflate, etc... | | Encoding | Adaptability to address any form of encoding UTF-32, ASCII, etc... | | | IPv4/IPv6 | Internet Protocol Version 4/6 Network Support. | | Architecture | Asynchronous [single](https://github.com/Corvusoft/restbed/blob/master/example/publishing_resources/source/example.cpp) or [multi-threaded](https://github.com/Corvusoft/restbed/blob/master/docs/example/MULTITHREADED_SERVICE.md) architecture, capable of addressing the C10K problem. | | Converters | Built-in Path, Query, and Header conversions for primary data-types. | | [Authentication](https://github.com/Corvusoft/restbed/blob/master/docs/example/DIGEST_AUTHENTICATION.md) | Separate Service and/or Resource level authentication. | | [Error Handling](https://github.com/Corvusoft/restbed/blob/master/docs/example/ERROR_HANDLING.md) | Separate Service and/or Resource level error handling. | | [Address Binding](https://github.com/Corvusoft/restbed/blob/master/docs/example/ADDRESS_BINDING.md) | Bind HTTP and/or HTTPS services to separate IP addresses. | | [Signal Handling](https://github.com/Corvusoft/restbed/blob/master/docs/example/SIGNAL_HANDLING.md) | Capture OS generated process signals. | | [Documentation](https://github.com/Corvusoft/restbed/tree/master/documentation) | High-quality documentation covering the architecture and API. | | Compliance | Flexibility to address HTTP 1.0/1.1+ compliance. | | Mature | Secure, Stable, and extensively tested since 2013. | | Community | Active, vibrant and energetic open source community. | | Support | Commercial support is available from [Corvusoft](http://www.corvusoft.com). | Example ------- ```C++ #include #include #include using namespace std; using namespace restbed; void post_method_handler( const shared_ptr< Session > session ) { const auto request = session->get_request( ); int content_length = request->get_header( "Content-Length", 0 ); session->fetch( content_length, [ ]( const shared_ptr< Session > session, const Bytes & body ) { fprintf( stdout, "%.*s\n", ( int ) body.size( ), body.data( ) ); session->close( OK, "Hello, World!", { { "Content-Length", "13" } } ); } ); } int main( const int, const char** ) { auto resource = make_shared< Resource >( ); resource->set_path( "/resource" ); resource->set_method_handler( "POST", post_method_handler ); auto settings = make_shared< Settings >( ); settings->set_port( 1984 ); settings->set_default_header( "Connection", "close" ); Service service; service.publish( resource ); service.start( settings ); return EXIT_SUCCESS; } ``` More in-depth examples can be found in the [documentation](https://github.com/Corvusoft/restbed/tree/master/docs/example). License ------- © 2013-2026 Corvusoft Limited, United Kingdom. All rights reserved. The Restbed framework is dual licensed; See [LICENSE](LICENSE) for full details. Support ------- Please contact sales@corvusoft.com, for support and licensing options including bespoke software development, testing, design consultation, training, mentoring and code review. Please submit all enhancements, proposals, and defects via the [issue](http://github.com/corvusoft/restbed/issues) tracker. Prerequisites ------------- Restbed is built with GNU Autotools and depends on: - A C++23 compiler (GCC >= 13, Clang >= 17, AppleClang >= 15) - [Asio](https://think-async.com/Asio/) (standalone, header-only) - [OpenSSL](https://www.openssl.org/) (optional — required when SSL/TLS support is enabled, on by default) - [Catch2](https://github.com/catchorg/Catch2) >= 3.0 (optional — required when the test suite is enabled, on by default) - `autoconf`, `automake`, `libtool`, `pkg-config`, `make` Install the toolchain and dependencies via your package manager: Debian / Ubuntu: ```bash sudo apt-get install -y \ autoconf automake libtool pkg-config make g++ \ libasio-dev libssl-dev catch2 ``` macOS (Homebrew): ```bash brew install autoconf automake libtool pkg-config asio openssl@3 catch2 export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="$(brew --prefix openssl@3)/lib/pkgconfig" ``` Windows (MSYS2 UCRT64, see [Windows Build Instructions](#windows-build-instructions) below): ```bash pacman -S --needed \ base-devel mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-toolchain \ mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-asio \ mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-openssl \ mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-catch ``` Build ----- ```bash git clone https://github.com/corvusoft/restbed.git cd restbed ./autogen.sh ./configure make sudo make install make check ``` `./autogen.sh` regenerates `configure` and supporting scripts via `autoreconf -fiv`; it only needs to be run from a fresh clone or after editing `configure.ac` / `Makefile.am`. Released tarballs ship with `configure` already generated, so end users can skip straight to `./configure`. Installation honours the standard GNU directory layout — override with `./configure --prefix=...`, `DESTDIR=...`, etc. A `restbed.pc` file is installed for `pkg-config` consumers: ```bash pkg-config --cflags --libs restbed ``` Build Options ------------- Pass these to `./configure`: | Option | Description | Default | | :--------------- | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :------: | | `--disable-ssl` | Disable SSL/TLS support (drops the OpenSSL dependency). | Enabled | | `--enable-ipc` | Enable Unix domain socket support. | Disabled | | `--disable-tests`| Skip building the Catch2 test suite (drops the Catch2 dependency). | Enabled | | `--enable-shared` / `--disable-shared` | libtool: produce a shared library. | Enabled | | `--enable-static` / `--disable-static` | libtool: produce a static library. | Enabled | | `--with-asio-include=DIR` | Path to ASIO headers if not on the default include search path. | — | Run `./configure --help` for the full list, including standard GNU directory variables (`--prefix`, `--libdir`, etc.). Windows Build Instructions -------------------------- The autotools build runs under [MSYS2](https://www.msys2.org/) or Cygwin. Native MSVC support has been removed alongside CMake; dependencies (Asio, OpenSSL, Catch2) are provisioned through the MSYS2 package manager (`pacman`). From an MSYS2 UCRT64 shell: ```bash pacman -S --needed \ base-devel mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-toolchain \ mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-asio \ mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-openssl \ mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-catch git clone https://github.com/corvusoft/restbed.git cd restbed ./autogen.sh ./configure make make check ``` Documentation ------------- This codebase is intended to be as self documenting as possible. We have supplied many [examples](https://github.com/Corvusoft/restbed/tree/master/docs/example) and [test suites](https://github.com/corvusoft/restbed/tree/master/test) to help aid developers. You can locate the latest design and API documentation [here](https://github.com/Corvusoft/restbed/tree/master/documentation). Minimum Requirements -------------------- | Resource | Requirement | |:--------:|:-----------------------------------------------:| | Compiler | C++23 compliant or above | | OS | BSD, Linux, Mac OSX, Windows | Contact ------- | Method | Description | |:--------------------------------------------|:--------------------------------------------| | support@corvusoft.com | Support related queries. | | sales@corvusoft.com | Sale related queries. |