Libuv Explained

libuv
Programming Language:	C
Operating System:	Cross-platform
Platform:	Linux, Android, Windows and OS X/Darwin,^[1] FreeBSD, OpenBSD
Genre:	I/O abstraction library
License:	MIT

libuv is a multi-platform C library that provides support for asynchronous I/O based on event loops. It supports epoll(4), kqueue(2), Windows IOCP, Solaris event ports and Linux io_uring. It is primarily designed for use in Node.js but it is also used by other software projects.^[2] It was originally an abstraction around or Microsoft IOCP, as libev does not support IOCP on Windows. In node-v0.9.0's version of libuv, the dependency on libev was removed.^[3]

Features

From:

• Full-featured event loop backed by epoll, kqueue, IOCP, event ports
• Asynchronous TCP and UDP sockets
• Asynchronous DNS resolution
• Asynchronous file and file system operations
• File system events
• ANSI escape code controlled TTY
• IPC with socket sharing, using Unix domain sockets or named pipes (Windows)
• Child processes
• Thread pool
• Signal handling
• High resolution clock
• Threading and synchronization primitives

Origin of the name

According to libuv developer Ben Noordhuis, the name libuv originally had no specific meaning, but as people kept asking about it, so they made something up. They came up with Unicorn Velociraptor, which became the logo of the library.^[4]

See also

• libevent
• Reactor pattern

External links

• • • An Introduction to libuv
• libuv API documentation
• libuv design overview

Notes and References

1. Web site: The libuv project page and source code. GitHub . 30 June 2016.
2. Web site: Projects that use libuv . libuv GitHub project page. 30 June 2016.
3. https://nikhilm.github.io/uvbook/introduction.html#background An introduction to libuv
4. Web site: What does UV stand for in libuv? . 2022-06-07 . groups.google.com.