(bits) of a Libc, Optimized for Wasm
I make a no-CGO Go SQLite driver, by compiling the amalgamation to Wasm, then loading the result with wazero (a CGO-free Wasm runtime). To compile SQLite, I use wasi-sdk, which uses wasi-libc, which is based on musl. It's been said that musl is slow(er than glibc), which is true, to a point. musl uses SWAR on a size_t to implement various functions in string.h. This is fine, except size_t is just 32-bit on Wasm. I found that implementing a few of those functions with Wasm SIMD128 can make them go around 4x faster. Other functions don't even use SWAR; redoing those can make them 16x faster.…
(bits) of a Libc, Optimized for Wasm launched on April 18, 2025 with 78 votes, #549 of 7,818 launches that month and more than 95% of that year's launches. The site was not reachable when checked in September 2026.
In plain words
This is an optimized C standard library for WebAssembly, built on musl and designed to improve performance of Wasm-based applications. It replaces standard string and sorting functions with SIMD128 implementations that are significantly faster on 32-bit Wasm environments. The library is intended for developers building Wasm applications that need better performance from low-level C functions, such as Go programs using SQLite compiled to Wasm without CGO dependencies.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
In the maker’s words, at launch
I make a no-CGO Go SQLite driver, by compiling the amalgamation to Wasm, then loading the result with wazero (a CGO-free Wasm runtime). To compile SQLite, I use wasi-sdk, which uses wasi-libc, which is based on musl. It's been said that musl is slow(er than glibc), which is true, to a point. musl uses SWAR on a…
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