# CMake | |
(www.cmake.org) | |
SDL's build system was traditionally based on autotools. Over time, this | |
approach has suffered from several issues across the different supported | |
platforms. | |
To solve these problems, a new build system based on CMake was introduced. | |
It is developed in parallel to the legacy autotools build system, so users | |
can experiment with it without complication. | |
The CMake build system is supported on the following platforms: | |
* FreeBSD | |
* Linux | |
* Microsoft Visual C | |
* MinGW and Msys | |
* macOS, iOS, and tvOS, with support for XCode | |
* Android | |
* Emscripten | |
* RiscOS | |
* Playstation Vita | |
## Building SDL | |
Assuming the source for SDL is located at `~/sdl` | |
```sh | |
cd ~ | |
mkdir build | |
cd build | |
cmake ~/sdl | |
cmake --build . | |
``` | |
This will build the static and dynamic versions of SDL in the `~/build` directory. | |
Installation can be done using: | |
```sh | |
cmake --install . # '--install' requires CMake 3.15, or newer | |
``` | |
## 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 | |
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.0) | |
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) | |
add_subdirectory(vendored/sdl EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL) | |
else() | |
# 1. Look for a SDL2 package, 2. look for the SDL2 component and 3. fail if none can be found | |
find_package(SDL2 REQUIRED CONFIG REQUIRED COMPONENTS SDL2) | |
# 1. Look for a SDL2 package, 2. Look for the SDL2maincomponent and 3. DO NOT fail when SDL2main is not available | |
find_package(SDL2 REQUIRED CONFIG COMPONENTS SDL2main) | |
endif() | |
# Create your game executable target as usual | |
add_executable(mygame WIN32 mygame.c) | |
# SDL2::SDL2main may or may not be available. It is e.g. required by Windows GUI applications | |
if(TARGET SDL2::SDL2main) | |
# It has an implicit dependency on SDL2 functions, so it MUST be added before SDL2::SDL2 (or SDL2::SDL2-static) | |
target_link_libraries(mygame PRIVATE SDL2::SDL2main) | |
endif() | |
# Link to the actual SDL2 library. SDL2::SDL2 is the shared SDL library, SDL2::SDL2-static is the static SDL libarary. | |
target_link_libraries(mygame PRIVATE SDL2::SDL2) | |
``` | |
### A system SDL library | |
For CMake to find SDL, it must be installed in [a default location CMake is looking for](https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/command/find_package.html#config-mode-search-procedure). | |
The following components are available, to be used as an argument of `find_package`. | |
| Component name | Description | | |
|----------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | |
| SDL2 | The SDL2 shared library, available through the `SDL2::SDL2` target [^SDL_TARGET_EXCEPTION] | | |
| SDL2-static | The SDL2 static library, available through the `SDL2::SDL2-static` target | | |
| SDL2main | The SDL2main static library, available through the `SDL2::SDL2main` target | | |
| SDL2test | The SDL2test static library, available through the `SDL2::SDL2test` target | | |
### Using a vendored SDL | |
This only requires a copy of SDL in a subdirectory. | |
## CMake configuration options for platforms | |
### iOS/tvOS | |
CMake 3.14+ natively includes support for iOS and tvOS. SDL binaries may be built | |
using Xcode or Make, possibly among other build-systems. | |
When using a recent version of CMake (3.14+), it should be possible to: | |
- build SDL for iOS, both static and dynamic | |
- build SDL test apps (as iOS/tvOS .app bundles) | |
- generate a working SDL_config.h for iOS (using SDL_config.h.cmake as a basis) | |
To use, set the following CMake variables when running CMake's configuration stage: | |
- `CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=<OS>` (either `iOS` or `tvOS`) | |
- `CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT=<SDK>` (examples: `iphoneos`, `iphonesimulator`, `iphoneos12.4`, `/full/path/to/iPhoneOS.sdk`, | |
`appletvos`, `appletvsimulator`, `appletvos12.4`, `/full/path/to/AppleTVOS.sdk`, etc.) | |
- `CMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES=<semicolon-separated list of CPU architectures>` (example: "arm64;armv7s;x86_64") | |
#### Examples | |
- for iOS-Simulator, using the latest, installed SDK: | |
```bash | |
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 | |
```bash | |
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 | |
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 | |
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 | |
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 | |
cmake ~/sdl -DCMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=tvOS -DCMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT=appletvsimulator -DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES=x86_64 | |
``` | |
- for tvOS-Device, using the latest, installed SDK: | |
```cmake | |
cmake ~/sdl -DCMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=tvOS -DCMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT=appletvos -DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES=arm64` | |
``` | |
[^SDL_TARGET_EXCEPTION]: `SDL2::SDL2` can be an ALIAS to a static `SDL2::SDL2-static` target for multiple reasons. |