[Newbie] SDL on Windows builing issues

kismet · October 4, 2023, 7:14am

Dear All,

I have already used SDL years ago but now I want to use them agani with my student in a School Project (we will design and develop a simple game), but please consider me a newbie.

The school uses Dev-C++ but I am facing issues in building SDL program. I have read:
. Lazy’s tutorial - Lazy Foo' Productions - Setting up SDL 2 on MinGW
. Slater’s tutorial - SDL Setup For Dev C++
but they seems outdated or at least they did not work for me.

I tried latest SDL release (SDL 2.28.4 at the time of writing) but according to the build enviroment (Dev-C++, RedPanda-Dev-C++, and Red Panda C++) I had different error messages…

I wonder if I am using 32/64 bit version of SDL2/MiniGW suite or if there are some specific version that I should use.
It seems that SDL 2.28.4 has reference to build release enviroment because I get reference to /Users/valve/release/ as you can see from the logs ‘C:/Program Files (x86)/Dev-Cpp/MinGW64/bin/…/lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/10.3.0/…/…/…/…/x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: C:\Users\stefy\Desktop\SDL2-2.28.4\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libSDL2.a(SDL_windowsevents.o): in function `WIN_WindowProc’:
/Users/valve/release/SDL2/SDL2-2.28.4-source/foo-x64/…/src/video/windows/SDL_windowsevents.c:1311: ’ is ti correct?

Following the code and the command line used…

Most common issue - RedPanda-Dev-C++ I get

C:/Program Files (x86)/Dev-Cpp/MinGW64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/10.3.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: C:\Users\stefy\Desktop\SDL2-2.28.4\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libSDL2.a(SDL_hidapi.o): in function `PLATFORM_hid_enumerate':
/Users/valve/release/SDL2/SDL2-2.28.4-source/foo-x64/../src/hidapi/windows/hid.c:388: undefined reference to `__imp_SetupDiGetClassDevsA'

the command used was

"C:\xampp\sdl\sdl.cpp" -o "C:\xampp\sdl\sdl.exe" -Wall -Wextra -g3 -finput-charset=windows-1252 -fexec-charset=windows-1252 -I"C:\Program Files (x86)\Dev-Cpp\MinGW64\include\c++\10.3.0" -I"C:\Program Files (x86)\Dev-Cpp\MinGW64\include\c++\10.3.0\x86_64-w64-mingw32" -I"C:\Program Files (x86)\Dev-Cpp\MinGW64\include\c++\10.3.0\backward" -I"C:\Program Files (x86)\Dev-Cpp\MinGW64\lib\gcc\x86_64-w64-mingw32\10.3.0\include" -I"C:\Program Files (x86)\Dev-Cpp\MinGW64\include" -I"C:\Program Files (x86)\Dev-Cpp\MinGW64\lib\gcc\x86_64-w64-mingw32\10.3.0\include-fixed" -I"C:\Program Files (x86)\Dev-Cpp\MinGW64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\include" -I"C:\Users\stefy\Desktop\SDL2-2.28.4\x86_64-w64-mingw32\include\SDL2" -L"C:\Program Files (x86)\Dev-Cpp\MinGW64\lib" -L"C:\Program Files (x86)\Dev-Cpp\MinGW64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib" -L"C:\Users\stefy\Desktop\SDL2-2.28.4\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib" -g3 -w -Wl,-subsystem,windows -lmingw32 -lSDL2 -lSDL2main -static

Here is the code that I used for hello world:

#include "SDL.h"

int main( int argc, char* args[] )
{
	//Start SDL
	SDL_Init( SDL_INIT_EVERYTHING );
	
	//Quit SDL
	SDL_Quit();
	
	return 0;    
}

P.S.: I would upload the full build log but I cannot because I am new user of the forum

Mik · October 4, 2023, 9:38am

Hi,

I got it run with a “fresh installed” Dev-C++ 4.9.9.2 and mingw64 12.2.0.

Tools->Compiler Options->Directories
Binaries: Set a path to the bin directory of mingw64
Libraries: Set a path to the lib directory of mingw64
Set a second path to …/SDL2-2.28.4/x86_64-w64-mingw32/lib
C includes: Set a path to mingw64/include
Set a second path to …/SDL2-2.28.4\x86_64-w64-mingw32\include

Tools->Compiler Options-> “Add these commands to the linker command line”
Activate the checkbox and set the following commands:
-lSDL2main -lSDL2

copy SDL2.dll to your output directory

I use the following test source:

#define SDL_MAIN_HANDLED // avoid  "undefined reference to 'WinMain'"
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include "SDL2/sdl.h"

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    printf("Hello world\n");
    if (SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_VIDEO | SDL_INIT_AUDIO | SDL_INIT_JOYSTICK | SDL_INIT_GAMECONTROLLER) == 0) {
        printf("SDL INIT OK\n");    
    } else {
        printf("SDL INIT ERROR\n");   
    }
    SDL_Quit();
    
    while(1);
}

Best regards
Mik

yataro · October 4, 2023, 10:05am

If you define SDL_MAIN_HANDLED you should call SDL_SetMainReady.

yataro · October 4, 2023, 10:09am

kismet:

Most common issue - RedPanda-Dev-C++ I get

C:/Program Files (x86)/Dev-Cpp/MinGW64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/10.3.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: C:\Users\stefy\Desktop\SDL2-2.28.4\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libSDL2.a(SDL_hidapi.o): in function `PLATFORM_hid_enumerate':
/Users/valve/release/SDL2/SDL2-2.28.4-source/foo-x64/../src/hidapi/windows/hid.c:388: undefined reference to `__imp_SetupDiGetClassDevsA'

You got __imp_SetupDiGetClassDevsA undefined reference, because you missing link to Windows’ SetupAPI library. Pass -lSetupAPI to your linker.

You can use pastebin if you still unable to upload it here.

kismet · October 9, 2023, 10:20am

Thank you adding -lSetupAPI worked but it seems that I am missing other libraries beacuse I get this

- Command: g++.exe "C:\xampp\sdl\sdl.cpp" -o "C:\xampp\sdl\sdl.exe" -Wall -Wextra -g3 -finput-charset=windows-1252 -fexec-charset=windows-1252 -I"C:\Program Files (x86)\Dev-Cpp\MinGW64\include\c++\10.3.0" -I"C:\Program Files (x86)\Dev-Cpp\MinGW64\include\c++\10.3.0\x86_64-w64-mingw32" -I"C:\Program Files (x86)\Dev-Cpp\MinGW64\include\c++\10.3.0\backward" -I"C:\Program Files (x86)\Dev-Cpp\MinGW64\lib\gcc\x86_64-w64-mingw32\10.3.0\include" -I"C:\Program Files (x86)\Dev-Cpp\MinGW64\include" -I"C:\Program Files (x86)\Dev-Cpp\MinGW64\lib\gcc\x86_64-w64-mingw32\10.3.0\include-fixed" -I"C:\Program Files (x86)\Dev-Cpp\MinGW64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\include" -I"C:\Users\stefy\Desktop\SDL2-2.28.4\x86_64-w64-mingw32\include\SDL2" -L"C:\Program Files (x86)\Dev-Cpp\MinGW64\lib" -L"C:\Program Files (x86)\Dev-Cpp\MinGW64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib" -L"C:\Users\stefy\Desktop\SDL2-2.28.4\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib" -g3 -w -lSDL2 -lSDL2main -lSetupAPI -static
C:/Program Files (x86)/Dev-Cpp/MinGW64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/10.3.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: C:\Users\stefy\Desktop\SDL2-2.28.4\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libSDL2.a(SDL_windows.o): in function `WIN_CoInitialize':
/Users/valve/release/SDL2/SDL2-2.28.4-source/foo-x64/../src/core/windows/SDL_windows.c:102: undefined reference to `__imp_CoInitializeEx'

Any clue?

yataro · October 9, 2023, 11:21am

That’s CoInitializeEx from Ole32 (-lOle32). You can find corresponding libraries from your error messages:
undefined reference to __imp_CoInitializeEx ==> CoInitializeEx ==> Search | Microsoft Learn ==> Library Ole32.lib
Anyways, it’s strange that your gcc miss link to default libs, the gcc from MSYS2 does not have such problem, maybe you got tweaked/outdated compiler?

kismet · October 9, 2023, 1:52pm

It seems that the issue is that I’m using a “static-version” (see: SDL2 linking issue ) of SDL2 thus I have to provides ALL the libraries to the linker. At the moment i can compile by using the following linker options

-w -lSDL2 -lSDL2main -lSetupAPI -lole32 -lgdi32 -limagehlp -ldinput8 -ldxguid -ldxerr8 -luser32 -lwinmm -limm32 -loleaut32 -lshell32 -lversion -luuid

BTW, if you think that the problem is the toolchain hereafter I am sharing the output of g++ -v

Using built-in specs.
COLLECT_GCC=C:\Program Files (x86)\Dev-Cpp\MinGW64\bin\g++.exe
COLLECT_LTO_WRAPPER=C:/Program\ Files\ (x86)/Dev-Cpp/MinGW64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/10.3.0/lto-wrapper.exe
Target: x86_64-w64-mingw32
Configured with: ../gcc-10.3.0/configure --prefix=/mingw64 --with-local-prefix=/mingw64/local --build=x86_64-w64-mingw32 --host=x86_64-w64-mingw32 --target=x86_64-w64-mingw32 --with-native-system-header-dir=/mingw64/x86_64-w64-mingw32/include --libexecdir=/mingw64/lib --enable-bootstrap --enable-checking=release --with-arch=x86-64 --with-tune=generic --enable-languages=c,lto,c++,fortran,ada,objc,obj-c++,jit --enable-shared --enable-static --enable-libatomic --enable-threads=posix --enable-graphite --enable-fully-dynamic-string --enable-libstdcxx-filesystem-ts=yes --enable-libstdcxx-time=yes --disable-libstdcxx-pch --disable-libstdcxx-debug --enable-lto --enable-libgomp --disable-multilib --disable-rpath --disable-win32-registry --disable-nls --disable-werror --disable-symvers --with-libiconv --with-system-zlib --with-gmp=/mingw64 --with-mpfr=/mingw64 --with-mpc=/mingw64 --with-isl=/mingw64 --with-pkgversion='Rev5, Built by MSYS2 project' --with-bugurl=https://github.com/msys2/MINGW-packages/issues --with-gnu-as --with-gnu-ld --with-boot-ldflags='-pipe -Wl,--dynamicbase,--high-entropy-va,--nxcompat,--default-image-base-high -Wl,--disable-dynamicbase -static-libstdc++ -static-libgcc' 'LDFLAGS_FOR_TARGET=-pipe -Wl,--dynamicbase,--high-entropy-va,--nxcompat,--default-image-base-high' --enable-linker-plugin-flags='LDFLAGS=-static-libstdc++\ -static-libgcc\ -pipe\ -Wl,--dynamicbase,--high-entropy-va,--nxcompat,--default-image-base-high\ -Wl,--stack,12582912'
Thread model: posix
Supported LTO compression algorithms: zlib zstd
gcc version 10.3.0 (Rev5, Built by MSYS2 project)

yataro · October 9, 2023, 2:17pm

Yep, I’m aware of this, and I realized I used sdl2-config --static-libs to get all the libs SDL need. So, my assumption on the toolchain issue was wrong, but your gcc 10.3.0 is fairly old tho .

kismet · October 9, 2023, 3:15pm

Does it mean that if I compile SDL2 on my own with --static-libs I won’t need all the “flags” on my linker configuration?

yataro · October 9, 2023, 4:12pm

No, the sdl2-config is not a configure, it’s a script used to get installed SDL2’s cflags and/or libs.
You can avoid manual dependency management by using this script in your Makefile. Also the target SDL2::SDL2-static from CMake SDL package will work too.

kismet · October 13, 2023, 9:00pm

I am not going to use the script at moment, thank you

BTW, I managed to configure SDL with CLlion by manually configuring CMake… (and it is working)

Nevemlaci · June 19, 2024, 3:29pm

For anyone wondering of an alternative solution instead of linking everything manually:

Linking against libSDL2.dll.a instead would not require all the extra linking flags.

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.25)
project(CMake_Test C)

set(CMAKE_C_STANDARD 99)

include_directories(${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/include)
add_executable(CMake_Test WIN32 main.c)

#target_link_libraries(CMake_Test ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/lib/libSDL2main.a ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/lib/libSDL2.a SetupAPI ole32 gdi32 imagehlp dinput8 dxguid dxerr8 user32 winmm imm32 oleaut32 shell32 version uuid)
target_link_libraries(CMake_Test ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/lib/libSDL2.dll.a)

This is how my demo CMakeList.txt looks(commented out the static linking line for reference)

yataro · June 19, 2024, 9:27pm

With dynamic libraries, you don’t need to manually link their dependencies because they are handled by the dll itself. The original poster’s intention was to use a static library.
Anyway, what you’re doing is kinda weird - with CMake you should use the SDL2 package, not link everything by hand…

kismet · May 6, 2025, 4:06pm

Hi All

I share my result because I think it may help other people in the future, this is my set-up for using SDL2 on Win32 with CMake (actually it uses the file named CMakeLists.txt for project configuration)

this configuration build the project without using the sdl2-config script but it configure the enviroments by setting the SDL2_DIR, SDL2_image_DIR, and SDL2_ttf_DIR variables.

The projct is structured as follow:

libs that contains the unzip content from the SDL2, SDL2_image and SDL2_ttf releases
src that contains the sources of my project
include that contains the includes of my project

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)
project(tetris)
set(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS OFF)
set(SDL2_DIR libs/lib/cmake/SDL2)
set(SDL2_image_DIR libs/lib/cmake/SDL2_image)
set(SDL2_ttf_DIR libs/lib/cmake/SDL2_ttf)
set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)

# Link statico per runtime GCC
set(CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS "${CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS} -static-libgcc -static-libstdc++ -static")

# Trova le librerie SDL2
find_package(SDL2 REQUIRED)
find_package(SDL2_image REQUIRED)
find_package(SDL2_ttf REQUIRED)

add_executable(tetris
        main.cpp
        src/game_engine.cpp
        src/easy_sdl.cpp
)

target_link_libraries(tetris
        SDL2::SDL2-static
        SDL2_image::SDL2_image-static
        SDL2_ttf::SDL2_ttf-static
)

Best regards,
Stefano