`msgpack` for C

Version 6.0.0

It's like JSON but smaller and faster.

Overview

MessagePack is an efficient binary serialization format, which lets you exchange data among multiple languages like JSON, except that it's faster and smaller. Small integers are encoded into a single byte and short strings require only one extra byte in addition to the strings themselves.

Example

#include <msgpack.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int main(void)
{
    /* msgpack::sbuffer is a simple buffer implementation. */
    msgpack_sbuffer sbuf;
    msgpack_sbuffer_init(&sbuf);

    /* serialize values into the buffer using msgpack_sbuffer_write callback function. */
    msgpack_packer pk;
    msgpack_packer_init(&pk, &sbuf, msgpack_sbuffer_write);

    msgpack_pack_array(&pk, 3);
    msgpack_pack_int(&pk, 1);
    msgpack_pack_true(&pk);
    msgpack_pack_str(&pk, 7);
    msgpack_pack_str_body(&pk, "example", 7);

    /* deserialize the buffer into msgpack_object instance. */
    /* deserialized object is valid during the msgpack_zone instance alive. */
    msgpack_zone mempool;
    msgpack_zone_init(&mempool, 2048);

    msgpack_object deserialized;
    msgpack_unpack(sbuf.data, sbuf.size, NULL, &mempool, &deserialized);

    /* print the deserialized object. */
    msgpack_object_print(stdout, deserialized);
    puts("");

    msgpack_zone_destroy(&mempool);
    msgpack_sbuffer_destroy(&sbuf);

    return 0;
}

See QUICKSTART-C.md for more details.

Usage

Building and Installing

Install from git repository

Using the Terminal (CLI)

You will need:

gcc >= 4.1.0
cmake >= 2.8.0

How to build:

$ git clone https://github.com/msgpack/msgpack-c.git
$ cd msgpack-c
$ git checkout c_master
$ cmake .
$ make
$ sudo make install

How to run tests:

In order to run tests you must have the GoogleTest framework installed. If you do not currently have it, install it and re-run cmake. Then:

$ make test

When you use the C part of msgpack-c, you need to build and link the library. By default, both static/shared libraries are built. If you want to build only static library, set BUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF to cmake. If you want to build only shared library, set BUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON.

GUI on Windows

Clone msgpack-c git repository.

$ git clone https://github.com/msgpack/msgpack-c.git

or using GUI git client.

e.g.) tortoise git https://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/

Checkout to c_master branch
Launch cmake GUI client.
Set 'Where is the source code:' text box and 'Where to build the binaries:' text box.
Click 'Configure' button.
Choose your Visual Studio version.
Click 'Generate' button.
Open the created msgpack.sln on Visual Studio.
Build all.

Documentation

You can get additional information including the tutorial on the wiki.

Contributing

msgpack-c is developed on GitHub at msgpack/msgpack-c. To report an issue or send a pull request, use the issue tracker.

Here's the list of great contributors.

License

msgpack-c is licensed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. See the LICENSE_1_0.txt file for details.

msgpack for C