How to Fix Common SDL2 Compilation and Linking Errors in MinGW?

How to Use SDL2 in Your Programs Correctly

Setting up SDL2 can be tricky, especially for beginners. This article aims to provide a comprehensive solution to common problems encountered when working with SDL2 in Windows using MinGW.

Common Errors

• SDL.h: No such file or directory (during compiling)
• Undefined reference to SDL_main (during compiling or linking)
• Undefined reference to other functions (during linking)
• DLL issues (during runtime)

Steps to Solve Common Errors

1. SDL.h: No such file or directory

• Add -Ipath to your compiler flags, where 'path' is the directory containing SDL.h.
• For example: -IC:/Users/YourUsername/Downloads/SDL2-devel-2.0.x-mingw.tar.gz/x86_64-w64-mingw32/include/SDL2

2. Undefined reference to SDL_main

• Ensure your main function is declared as int main(int, char **), NOT int main() or void main().
• Remove #define SDL_MAIN_HANDLED or #undef main.

3. Undefined reference to other functions

• Add the following linker flags:

  • -lmingw32
  • -lSDL2main
  • -lSDL2
  • -Lpath (where 'path' is the directory containing libSDL2.dll.a and libSDL2main.a)
• Ensure you are using the correct architecture (32-bit or 64-bit) for the SDL2 files.

4. DLL issues

• See the section "DLL issues" in the answer provided for detailed debugging instructions.

Bonus Tips

Hide the console window

• Add -mwindows to the linker flags.

Use a custom window icon

• Create a .ico file for your icon.
• Create a .rc file (e.g., icon.rc) with the following contents: MyIconName ICON "icon.ico".
• Convert the .rc file to an .o file using windres.
• Specify the .o file when linking (e.g., g foo.cpp icon.o -o foo.exe).

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