GLFW 3.0 source distribution

  1. Introduction
  2. Compiling GLFW and the example programs
  3. Installing GLFW
  4. Using GLFW
  5. Version history
  6. Directory structure of the GLFW distribution
  7. Contacting the project
  8. Acknowledgements

1. Introduction

Welcome to version 3.0 of the GLFW library. GLFW is a free, open source, portable library for OpenGL application development. It provides a powerful API for handling operating system specific tasks, such as opening an OpenGL window, reading keyboard, mouse, joystick and time input, and more.

This is an experimental series intended to allow the new API to settle.

Note that the threading and image loading APIs from the 2.x series have been removed.

2. Compiling GLFW and the example programs

To compile GLFW and the accompanying example programs, you will need the CMake build system.

3. Installing GLFW

A rudimentary installation target is provided for all supported platforms via the CMake build system.

4. Using GLFW

There are two aspects to using GLFW:

  1. How does the GLFW API work
  2. How to compile programs that use GLFW

The first point is covered in the GLFW Users Guide and the GLFW Reference Manual, and we suggest that you read at least the Users Guide, since it's a good introduction to the GLFW API.

Designing and compiling programs that use GLFW is not very difficult. A few rules for successfully designing GLFW-based programs are presented in the following sections.

4.1 Include the GLFW header file

In the files of your program where you use OpenGL or GLFW, you should include the GL/glfw3.h header file, i.e.:

#include <GL/glfw3.h>

This defines all the constants, types and function prototypes of the GLFW API. It also includes the gl.h and GL/glu.h header files, and - this is very important - it defines all the necessary constants and types that are necessary for the OpenGL headers to work on different platforms.

For example, under Microsoft Windows you are normally required to include windows.h before you include GL/gl.h. This would however make your code dependent on the Windows platform, or at least require your program to check which platform it is being compiled on. The GLFW header file takes care of this for you, not by including windows.h, but rather by itself duplicating the necessary parts of it. This way, the namespace won't be cluttered by the entire Windows API.

In other words:

Also note that if you are using an OpenGL extension loading library such as GLEW, you should include the GLEW header before the GLFW one. The GLEW header defines macros that disable any gl.h that the GLFW header includes and GLEW will work as expected.

4.2 Link with the right libraries

4.2.1 Windows static library

If you link with the static version of GLFW, it is also necessary to link with some system libraries that GLFW uses.

When linking a program under Windows that uses the static version of GLFW, you must also link with the following libraries: opengl32, user32 and kernel32. Some of these libraries may be linked with by default by your compiler. In the table below you can see the minimum required link options for each supported Windows compiler (you may want to add other libraries as well, such as glu32):

Compiler Link options
Borland C++ Builder glfw.lib opengl32.lib
Cygwin See Unix static library below
LCC-Win32 glfw.lib opengl32.lib
Microsoft Visual C++ glfw.lib opengl32.lib user32.lib
MinGW32 -lglfw -lopengl32
OpenWatcom glfw.lib opengl32.lib user32.lib

4.2.2 Windows DLL

To compile a program that uses the DLL version of GLFW, you need to define the GLFW_DLL constant. This can either be done with a compiler switch, typically by adding -DGLFW_DLL to the list of compiler options. You can also do it by adding the following line to all your source files before including the GLFW header file:

#define GLFW_DLL

When linking a program under Windows that uses the DLL version of GLFW, the only library you need to link with for GLFW to work is glfwdll. In the table below you can see the minimum required link options for each supported Windows compiler (you may want to add other libraries as well, such as opengl32 and glu32):

Compiler Link options
Borland C++ Builder glfwdll.lib
Cygwin -lglfwdll
LCC-Win32 glfwdll.lib
Microsoft Visual C++ glfwdll.lib
MinGW32 -lglfwdll
OpenWatcom glfwdll.lib

4.2.3 Unix static library

GLFW supports pkg-config, and a libglfw.pc file is generated and installed when you install the library. For systems that do not provide pkg-config, you should look in this file for the proper compile and link flags for your system, as determined by compile.sh at compile time.

A typical compile and link command-line may look like this:

cc `pkg-config --cflags libglfw` -o myprog myprog.c `pkg-config --libs libglfw`

If you use GLU functions in your program you should also add -lGLU to your link flags.

4.2.5 Mac OS X static library

When compiling and linking a program under Mac OS X that uses GLFW, you must also link with Cocoa and OpenGL frameworks.

If you are using Xcode, you simply add the GLFW library libglfw.a and these frameworks to your project. If, however, you are building your program from the command-line, there are two methods for correctly linking your GLFW program.

GLFW supports pkg-config, and a libglfw.pc file is generated and installed when you install the library. You can find pkg-config in most packaging systems, such as Fink and MacPorts, so if you have one of them installed, simply install pkg-config. Once you have pkg-config available, the command-line for compiling and linking your program is:

cc `pkg-config --cflags libglfw` -o myprog myprog.c `pkg-config --libs libglfw`

If you do not wish to use pkg-config, you will need to add the required frameworks and libraries to your command-line using the -l and -framework switches, i.e.:

cc -o myprog myprog.c -lglfw -framework Cocoa -framework OpenGL

Note that you do not add the .framework extension to a framework when adding it from the command-line.

These frameworks contain all OpenGL and GLU functions, so there is no need to add additional libraries or frameworks when using GLU functionality. Also note that even though your machine may have Unix-style OpenGL libraries, they are for use with the X Window System, and will not work with the Mac OS X native version of GLFW.

5. Version history

v3.0

v2.7

v2.6

v2.5

v2.4.2

v2.4.1

v2.4

v2.3.2

v2.3.1

v2.3

v2.2.3

v2.2.2

v2.2.1

v2.2

v2.1

v2.0.3

v2.0.2

v2.0.1

v2.0

v1.0.2

v1.0.1

v1.0.0

6. Directory structure of the GLFW distribution

Here is an overview of the directory structure of the GLFW distribution:

docs GLFW manuals in PDF format
examples Several example programs in C
include  
   GL Here is the GLFW C/C++ include file
lib The source code for GLFW
   cocoa Mac OS X/Cocoa specific implementation
   win32 Windows specific implementation
   x11 Unix/X11 specific implementation
support  
   d D support
   msvc90 Project files for Visual C++ 9.0
   pascal Pascal support
tests Several test programs in C

7. Contacting the project

The official website for GLFW is glfw.org. It contains the latest version of GLFW, news and other information that is useful for OpenGL development.

If you have questions related to the use of GLFW, we have a user's web forum, and a user's mailing list on SF.net, and the registered IRC channel #glfw on Freenode.

If you have a bug to report, a patch to submit or a feature you'd like to request, please file it in one of the GLFW trackers on SF.net.

Finally, if you're interested in helping out with the development of GLFW or porting it to your favorite platform, we have a developer's mailing list, or you could join us on #glfw.

8. Acknowledgements

GLFW exists because people around the world donated their time and lent their skills. Special thanks go out to: