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CMake
The CMake build system is supported on the following platforms:
- FreeBSD
- Linux
- Microsoft Visual C
- MinGW and Msys
- macOS, iOS, tvOS, and visionOS with support for XCode
- Android
- Emscripten
- NetBSD
- Haiku
- Nintendo 3DS
- PlayStation 2
- PlayStation Portable
- PlayStation Vita
- QNX 7.x/8.x
- RiscOS
Building SDL
Assuming the source tree of SDL is located at ~/sdl
,
this will configure and build SDL in the ~/build
directory:
cmake -S ~/sdl -B ~/build
cmake --build ~/build
Installation can be done using:
cmake --install ~/build --prefix /usr/local # '--install' requires CMake 3.15, or newer
This will install SDL to /usr/local.
Building SDL tests
You can build the SDL test programs by adding -DSDL_TESTS=ON
to the first cmake command above:
cmake -S ~/sdl -B ~/build -DSDL_TEST_LIBRARY=ON -DSDL_TESTS=ON
and then building normally. In this example, the test programs will be built and can be run from ~/build/tests/
.
Building SDL examples
You can build the SDL example programs by adding -DSDL_EXAMPLES=ON
to the first cmake command above:
cmake -S ~/sdl -B ~/build -DSDL_EXAMPLES=ON
and then building normally. In this example, the example programs will be built and can be run from ~/build/examples/
.
Including SDL in your project
SDL can be included in your project in 2 major ways:
- using a system SDL library, provided by your (*nix) distribution or a package manager
- using a vendored SDL library: this is SDL copied or symlinked in a subfolder.
The following CMake script supports both, depending on the value of MYGAME_VENDORED
.
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.5)
project(mygame)
# Create an option to switch between a system sdl library and a vendored SDL library
option(MYGAME_VENDORED "Use vendored libraries" OFF)
if(MYGAME_VENDORED)
# This assumes you have added SDL as a submodule in vendored/SDL
add_subdirectory(vendored/SDL EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)
else()
# 1. Look for a SDL3 package,
# 2. look for the SDL3-shared component, and
# 3. fail if the shared component cannot be found.
find_package(SDL3 REQUIRED CONFIG REQUIRED COMPONENTS SDL3-shared)
endif()
# Create your game executable target as usual
add_executable(mygame WIN32 mygame.c)
# Link to the actual SDL3 library.
target_link_libraries(mygame PRIVATE SDL3::SDL3)
A system SDL library
For CMake to find SDL, it must be installed in a default location CMake is looking for.
The following components are available, to be used as an argument of find_package
.
Component name | Description |
---|---|
SDL3-shared | The SDL3 shared library, available through the SDL3::SDL3-shared target |
SDL3-static | The SDL3 static library, available through the SDL3::SDL3-static target |
SDL3_test | The SDL3_test static library, available through the SDL3::SDL3_test target |
SDL3 | The SDL3 library, available through the SDL3::SDL3 target. This is an alias of SDL3::SDL3-shared or SDL3::SDL3-static . This component is always available. |
Headers | The SDL3 headers, available through the SDL3::Headers target. This component is always available. |
SDL's CMake support guarantees a SDL3::SDL3
target.
Neither SDL3::SDL3-shared
nor SDL3::SDL3-static
are guaranteed to exist.
Using a vendored SDL
This only requires a copy of SDL in a subdirectory + add_subdirectory
.
Alternatively, use FetchContent.
Depending on the configuration, the same targets as a system SDL package are available.
CMake configuration options
Build optimized library
By default, CMake provides 4 build types: Debug
, Release
, RelWithDebInfo
and MinSizeRel
.
The main difference(s) between these are the optimization options and the generation of debug info.
To configure SDL as an optimized Release
library, configure SDL with:
cmake ~/SDL -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
To build it, run:
cmake --build . --config Release
Shared or static
By default, only a dynamic (=shared) SDL library is built and installed.
The options -DSDL_SHARED=
and -DSDL_STATIC=
accept boolean values to change this.
Exceptions exist:
- some platforms don't support dynamic libraries, so only
-DSDL_STATIC=ON
makes sense. - a static Apple framework is not supported
Pass custom compile options to the compiler
- Use
CMAKE_<LANG>_FLAGS
to pass extra flags to the compiler. - Use
CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS
to pass extra option to the linker for executables. - Use
CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS
to pass extra options to the linker for shared libraries.
Examples
-
build a SDL library optimized for (more) modern x64 microprocessor architectures.
With gcc or clang:
cmake ~/sdl -DCMAKE_C_FLAGS="-march=x86-64-v3" -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS="-march=x86-64-v3"
With Visual C:
cmake .. -DCMAKE_C_FLAGS="/ARCH:AVX2" -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS="/ARCH:AVX2"
Apple
CMake documentation for cross building for Apple: link
iOS/tvOS/visionOS
CMake 3.14+ natively includes support for iOS, tvOS and watchOS. visionOS requires CMake 3.28+. SDL binaries may be built using Xcode or Make, possibly among other build-systems.
When using a compatible version of CMake, it should be possible to:
- build SDL dylibs, both static and dynamic dylibs
- build SDL frameworks, only shared
- build SDL test apps
Frameworks
Configure with -DSDL_FRAMEWORK=ON
to build a SDL framework instead of a dylib shared library.
Only shared frameworks are supported, no static ones.
Platforms
Use -DCMAKE_PLATFORM_NAME=<value>
to configure the platform. CMake can target only one platform at a time.
Apple platform | CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME value |
---|---|
macOS (MacOS X) | Darwin |
iOS | iOS |
tvOS | tvOS |
visionOS | visionOS |
watchOS | watchOS |
Universal binaries
A universal binaries, can be built by configuring CMake with
-DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES=<semicolon-separated list of CPU architectures>
.
For example -DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES="arm64;x86_64"
will build binaries that run on both Intel cpus and Apple silicon.
SDL supports following Apple architectures:
Platform | CMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES value |
---|---|
64-bit ARM (Apple Silicon) | arm64 |
x86_64 | x86_64 |
32-bit ARM | armv7s |
CMake documentation: link
Simulators and/or non-default maxOS platform SDK
Use -DCMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT=<value>
to configure a different platform SDK.
The value can be either the name of the SDK, or a full path to the sdk (e.g. /full/path/to/iPhoneOS.sdk
).
SDK | CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT value |
---|---|
iphone | iphoneos |
iphonesimulator | iphonesimulator |
appleTV | appletvos |
appleTV simulator | appletvsimulator |
visionOS | xr |
visionOS simulator | xrsimulator |
watchOS | watchos |
watchOS simulator | watchsimulator |
Append with a version number to target a specific SDK revision: e.g. iphoneos12.4
, appletvos12.4
.
CMake documentation: link
Examples
-
for macOS, building a dylib and/or static library for x86_64 and arm64:
cmake ~/sdl -DCMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=Darwin -DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES="x86_64;arm64"
-
for macOS, building an universal framework for x86_64 and arm64:
cmake ~/sdl -DSDL_FRAMEWORK=ON -DCMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=Darwin -DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES="x86_64;arm64"
-
for iOS-Simulator, using the latest, installed SDK:
cmake ~/sdl -DCMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=iOS -DCMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT=iphonesimulator -DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES=x86_64
-
for iOS-Device, using the latest, installed SDK, 64-bit only
cmake ~/sdl -DCMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=iOS -DCMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT=iphoneos -DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES=arm64
-
for iOS-Device, using the latest, installed SDK, mixed 32/64 bit
cmake ~/sdl -DCMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=iOS -DCMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT=iphoneos -DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES="arm64;armv7s"
-
for iOS-Device, using a specific SDK revision (iOS 12.4, in this example):
cmake ~/sdl -DCMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=iOS -DCMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT=iphoneos12.4 -DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES=arm64
-
for iOS-Simulator, using the latest, installed SDK, and building SDL test apps (as .app bundles):
cmake ~/sdl -DSDL_TESTS=1 -DCMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=iOS -DCMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT=iphonesimulator -DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES=x86_64
-
for tvOS-Simulator, using the latest, installed SDK:
cmake ~/sdl -DCMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=tvOS -DCMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT=appletvsimulator -DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES=x86_64
-
for tvOS-Device, using the latest, installed SDK:
cmake ~/sdl -DCMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=tvOS -DCMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT=appletvos -DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES=arm64`
-
for QNX/aarch64, using the latest, installed SDK:
cmake ~/sdl -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=~/sdl/build-scripts/cmake-toolchain-qnx-aarch64le.cmake -DSDL_X11=0
SDL-specific CMake options
SDL can be customized through (platform-specific) CMake options. The following table shows generic options that are available for most platforms. At the end of SDL CMake configuration, a table shows all CMake options along with its detected value.
CMake option | Valid values | Description |
---|---|---|
-DSDL_SHARED= |
ON /OFF |
Build SDL shared library (not all platforms support this) (libSDL3.so /libSDL3.dylib /SDL3.dll ) |
-DSDL_STATIC= |
ON /OFF |
Build SDL static library (libSDL3.a /SDL3-static.lib ) |
-DSDL_TEST_LIBRARY= |
ON /OFF |
Build SDL test library (libSDL3_test.a /SDL3_test.lib ) |
-DSDL_TESTS= |
ON /OFF |
Build SDL test programs (requires -DSDL_TEST_LIBRARY=ON ) |
-DSDL_DISABLE_INSTALL= |
ON /OFF |
Don't create a SDL install target |
-DSDL_DISABLE_INSTALL_DOCS= |
ON /OFF |
Don't install the SDL documentation |
-DSDL_INSTALL_TESTS= |
ON /OFF |
Install the SDL test programs |
Incompatibilities
SDL_LIBC=OFF
and sanitizers
Building with -DSDL_LIBC=OFF
will make it impossible to use the sanitizer, such as the address sanitizer.
Configure your project with -DSDL_LIBC=ON
to make use of sanitizers.
CMake FAQ
How do I copy a SDL3 dynamic library to another location?
Use CMake generator expressions. Generator expressions support multiple configurations, and are evaluated during build system generation time.
On Windows, the following example copies SDL3.dll
to the directory where mygame.exe
is built.
if(WIN32)
add_custom_command(
TARGET mygame POST_BUILD
COMMAND "${CMAKE_COMMAND}" -E copy $<TARGET_FILE:SDL3::SDL3-shared> $<TARGET_FILE_DIR:mygame>
VERBATIM
)
endif()
On Unix systems, $<TARGET_FILE:...>
will refer to the dynamic library (or framework),
and you might need to use $<TARGET_SONAME_FILE:tgt>
instead.
Most often, you can avoid copying libraries by configuring your project with absolute CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY
and CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY
paths.
When using a multi-config generator (such as Visual Studio or Ninja Multi-Config), eventually add /$<CONFIG>
to both paths.
Linking against a static SDL library fails due to relocation errors
On unix platforms, all code that ends up in shared libraries needs to be built as relocatable (=position independent) code.
However, by default CMake builds static libraries as non-relocatable.
Configuring SDL with -DCMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE=ON
will result in a static libSDL3.a
library
which you can link against to create a shared library.
Help, it doesn't work!
Below, a SDL3 CMake project can be found that builds 99.9% of time (assuming you have internet connectivity). When you have a problem with building or using SDL, please modify it until it reproduces your issue.
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
project(sdl_issue)
# !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
# !!!!!! !!!!!!
# !!!!!! This CMake script is not using "CMake best practices". !!!!!!
# !!!!!! Don't use it in your project. !!!!!!
# !!!!!! !!!!!!
# !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
# 1. Try system SDL3 package first
find_package(SDL3 QUIET)
if(SDL3_FOUND)
message(STATUS "Using SDL3 via find_package")
endif()
# 2. Try using a vendored SDL library
if(NOT SDL3_FOUND AND EXISTS "${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/SDL/CMakeLists.txt")
add_subdirectory(SDL EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)
message(STATUS "Using SDL3 via add_subdirectory")
set(SDL3_FOUND TRUE)
endif()
# 3. Download SDL, and use that.
if(NOT SDL3_FOUND)
include(FetchContent)
set(SDL_SHARED TRUE CACHE BOOL "Build a SDL shared library (if available)")
set(SDL_STATIC TRUE CACHE BOOL "Build a SDL static library (if available)")
FetchContent_Declare(
SDL
GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL.git
GIT_TAG main # Replace this with a particular git tag or git hash
GIT_SHALLOW TRUE
GIT_PROGRESS TRUE
)
message(STATUS "Using SDL3 via FetchContent")
FetchContent_MakeAvailable(SDL)
set_property(DIRECTORY "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/_deps/sdl-src" PROPERTY EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL TRUE)
endif()
file(WRITE main.c [===========================================[
/**
* Modify this source such that it reproduces your problem.
*/
/* START of source modifications */
#include <SDL3/SDL.h>
/*
* SDL3/SDL_main.h is explicitly not included such that a terminal window would appear on Windows.
*/
int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
(void)argc;
(void)argv;
if (!SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_VIDEO)) {
SDL_Log("SDL_Init failed (%s)", SDL_GetError());
return 1;
}
SDL_Window *window = NULL;
SDL_Renderer *renderer = NULL;
if (!SDL_CreateWindowAndRenderer("SDL issue", 640, 480, 0, &window, &renderer)) {
SDL_Log("SDL_CreateWindowAndRenderer failed (%s)", SDL_GetError());
SDL_Quit();
return 1;
}
while (1) {
int finished = 0;
SDL_Event event;
while (SDL_PollEvent(&event)) {
if (event.type == SDL_EVENT_QUIT) {
finished = 1;
break;
}
}
if (finished) {
break;
}
SDL_SetRenderDrawColor(renderer, 80, 80, 80, SDL_ALPHA_OPAQUE);
SDL_RenderClear(renderer);
SDL_RenderPresent(renderer);
}
SDL_DestroyRenderer(renderer);
SDL_DestroyWindow(window);
SDL_Quit();
return 0;
}
/* END of source modifications */
]===========================================])
add_executable(sdl_issue main.c)
target_link_libraries(sdl_issue PRIVATE SDL3::SDL3)
# target_link_libraries(sdl_issue PRIVATE SDL3::SDL3-shared)
# target_link_libraries(sdl_issue PRIVATE SDL3::SDL3-static)