Question 1

How do I parse an XLS file from a memory buffer in libxls?

Accepted Answer

Use the xls_open_buffer function from the API by passing a pointer to the buffer and its size, along with an encoding string. This allows parsing without disk I/O, as demonstrated in the README code snippet.

Question 2

libxls vs libxlsx: which library should I use for reading Excel files?

Accepted Answer

Choose libxls if you specifically need to read legacy binary XLS files with a security focus, as it's fuzz-tested and handles the old format well. For modern XLSX files, opt for libraries like libxlsx or others designed for Office Open XML.

Question 3

Can libxls handle XLSX files?

Accepted Answer

No, libxls is built only for the older binary XLS format. It cannot parse XLSX or any other modern Excel file formats, so you'll need a different tool for those.

Question 4

What security vulnerabilities were fixed in libxls 1.5?

Accepted Answer

Version 1.5 addressed numerous CVEs and memory leaks from earlier releases through extensive fuzz testing, making it safer for parsing potentially malicious or malformed XLS files. Details are in the release notes on GitHub.

Question 5

How to install libxls on a Windows system?

Accepted Answer

Use MinGW or a similar environment to run the autotools commands: first autogen.sh if cloning from git, then configure, make, and make install. This process can be more involved than using package managers for other platforms.

Question 6

Does libxls support writing Excel files?

Accepted Answer

No, libxls is strictly a read-only library. It can extract data from XLS files via parsing but offers no functionality to create, modify, or write back to Excel formats.

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