Short memo - how to build SDL2 on Raspberry Pi OS Raspbian GNU/Linux 8.0 (jessie) since there are some troubles to get it work properly on this system.
Note that I will use the way where we don't need the X11 for the sake of performance. And I'll not install the SDL libs and includes to the system directories so main environment will not be affected. This is just my own decision, you can make it your own way there is nothing special in it.
I'll skip the installation of build-essentials and other stuff. Just SDL2.
SDL2 source download link: https://www.libsdl.org/download-2.0.php
Unpack the sources and enter the root project directory. For example, I've put the source to the directory
Where
Path where SDL2 headers/libraries and other stuff will be installed after make install command. Don't use it if you want to install to the default path (usually it's the /usr/local dir)
We need to disable unneeded drivers and components to run GL application directly in the display avoiding X11 usage
Add path to the RPI graphics driver headers
Override host name reported by the system. If we don't - the RPI video driver will not be used and no SDL will report that there are no graphic devices found.
For unknown reason the resulting script will not know the paths to the RPI display driver headers and libs so you'll need to add it manually to the makefile. So open the makefile and add the paths.
Add
My vars looks like this
Then just run make command and wait for the build process. Not all tests will be built properly. This is OK since we have no OpenGL (not ES) and X11 support and some tests require it.
Here is the result I've got on my TV connected to the RPi via HDMI. I've run the ./testscale application. Most other tests like testgamecontroller (with my Logitech Rumblepad attached) and testmultiaudio are OK too.
I'll skip the installation of build-essentials and other stuff. Just SDL2.
SDL2 source download link: https://www.libsdl.org/download-2.0.php
Unpack the sources and enter the root project directory. For example, I've put the source to the directory
/home/pi/src/SDL2-2.0.5
Configuring the build script
In the root project directory run the following command to create makefile:
./configure --prefix=$PWD/rpi-sdl2-installed --disable-pulseaudio --disable-esd --disable-video-mir --disable-video-wayland --disable-video-x11 --disable-video-opengl CPPFLAGS=-I/opt/vc/include --host=armv6l-raspberry-linux-gnueabihf
Where
--prefix=$PWD/rpi-sdl2-installed
Path where SDL2 headers/libraries and other stuff will be installed after make install command. Don't use it if you want to install to the default path (usually it's the /usr/local dir)
--disable-pulseaudio --disable-esd --disable-video-mir --disable-video-wayland --disable-video-x11 --disable-video-opengl
We need to disable unneeded drivers and components to run GL application directly in the display avoiding X11 usage
CPPFLAGS=-I/opt/vc/include
Add path to the RPI graphics driver headers
--host=armv6l-raspberry-linux-gnueabihf
Override host name reported by the system. If we don't - the RPI video driver will not be used and no SDL will report that there are no graphic devices found.
Build and install
Just run
make && make installand wait while the libraries will be built and installed. Resulting
Test applications
SDL2 package contains a bunch of test applications you may build and run just to get sure that all running properly. They are contained in the directory called test. You'll need to configure build script for the test apps. You will need to set the path to the installed SDL package first in order to configure script will understand the current SDL configuration.
export SDL_CONFIG=/home/pi/src/SDL2-2.0.5/rpi-sdl2-installed/bin/sdl2-config
./configure --host=armv6l-raspberry-linux-gnueabihf CPPFLAGS=-I/opt/vc/includeThe parameters means the same as I've described above.
For unknown reason the resulting script will not know the paths to the RPI display driver headers and libs so you'll need to add it manually to the makefile. So open the makefile and add the paths.
Add
-I/opt/vc/includeto the var CFLAGS and add
-L/opt/vc/libto the var LIBS
My vars looks like this
CFLAGS = -g -O2 -I/home/pi/src/SDL2-2.0.5/rpi-sdl2-installed/include/SDL2 -I/opt/vc/include -I/opt/vc/include/interface/vcos/pthreads -I/opt/vc/include/interface/vmcs_host/linux -D_REENTRANT -DHAVE_OPENGLES -DHAVE_OPENGLES2 -DHAVE_OPENGL -g
LIBS = -lSDL2_test -L/home/pi/src/SDL2-2.0.5/rpi-sdl2-installed/lib -Wl,-rpath,/home/pi/src/SDL2-2.0.5/rpi-sdl2-installed/lib -Wl,--enable-new-dtags -lSDL2 -L/opt/vc/lib
Here is the result I've got on my TV connected to the RPi via HDMI. I've run the ./testscale application. Most other tests like testgamecontroller (with my Logitech Rumblepad attached) and testmultiaudio are OK too.
Hope this will help somebody some day.
Happy coding!
Happy coding!
