Absl

Absl, short for Abseil, is a collection of open-source libraries maintained by Google to augment the C++ standard library. It provides a set of portable, well-tested utilities designed to improve reliability and consistency across large codebases. While its primary focus is C++, Abseil also extends to other languages through related bindings, most notably Python via the absl-py package.

The project emphasizes stability and forward compatibility. Its APIs are designed to minimize external dependencies and to behave consistently across compilers and platforms, enabling Google and other projects to evolve code without large rewrites. Abseil components are intended to coexist with the standard library, offering alternatives and extensions that address common gaps encountered in real-world systems.

Key components cover a range of domains. absl/strings provides string utilities and formatting helpers; absl/time offers time representations and operations; absl/flags implements a command-line flag system; absl/logging provides configurable logging facilities. Abseil also includes absl/status and absl/statusor for error reporting and propagation, along with absl/types such as optional, variant, and span. Additional modules address memory, containers, synchronization, and other foundational needs.

Build and usage models emphasize integration with modern C++ development workflows. Abseil is designed to be used across various build systems, with Bazel commonly used in its own ecosystem, and is intended to be a long-lived, stable dependency for projects seeking portable, well-supported utilities.

License and availability: Abseil is an open-source project released under a permissive license. The core C++ libraries are developed and maintained on GitHub, with language bindings available for Python and other environments through separate packages.