What is libc++ and libstdc++

Question

I have a couple of questions.

1) What is libc++ and libstdc++ ?

2) What is the difference between them ?

3) Are they interchangeable ?

4) Is it something a compiler should implement ?

5) When should I use one or another ?

Related: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14972425/should-i-use-libc-or-libstdc?rq=1 — Thilo, Nov 18 '16 at 11:42

score 8 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 18 '16 at 11:53

8

1) What is libc++ and libstdc++ ?

They are implementations of the C++ standard library.

2) What is the difference between them ?

They are entirely different implementations.

3) Are they interchangeable ?

Yes, you should be able to use them interchangeably. (However you can't easily use both in the same program.)

5) When should I use one or another ?

You shouldn't have to worry about that. Your code should work with any standard library implementation.

answered Nov 18 '16 at 11:53

EricWF

1

While point 5 is theoretically true, I've encountered several instances where one is buggy so you have to use the other. For instance, regex's with libc on Ubuntu 14.04. – Matt Mar 12 '18 at 15:52
Saying entire different in this case, for differences doesn't help a bit :) – AdityaG15 Sep 17 '22 at 15:25

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 06 '22 at 23:36

libstdc++ is the GNU c++ standard library implementation.

libc++ is the LLVM/clang c++ standard library implementation.

Even when compiling with clang, libstdc++ is often used (on Linux).

A main reason libc++ exists is that libstdc++ is GPL and so Apple can't ship it, so you can think of libc++ as the non-GPL libstdc++.

2 Answers2