SDL Graphics Extension (SGE)

1. Intro
2. Requirements
3. Compiling
4. Makefile options
4.1 Using pure C with SGE
4.2 FreeType
4.3 The SDL_Img library
4.4 C++ classes
4.5 The QUIET option
5. Cross compiling SGE to W32
6. Compiling SGE under W32 with MS VisC/C++
7. Misc.

1. Intro

SGE is an add-on graphics library for the Simple Direct Media Layer. SGE provides pixel operations, graphics primitives, TrueType rendering, rotation/scaling and much more.

This is free software (LGPL), read LICENSE for details.

SGE has the following parts:

[sge_surface] - Pixel operations, blitting and some pallete stuff.
[sge_primitives] - Drawing primitives such as lines and circles.
[sge_tt_text] - TrueType font support.
[sge_bm_text] - Bitmapfont and SFont support.
[sge_textpp] - Classes for handling and rendering text.
[sge_shape] - Classes for blitting and sprites.
[sge_collision] - Basic collision detection.
[sge_rotation] - Rotation and scaling of surfaces.
[sge_blib] - Filled, gourand shaded and texture mapped triangles.
[sge_misc] - Random number and delay functions.


Read docs/index.html for API documentation.

Always check WhatsNew for important (API) changes!

There is a "Beginners guide to SGE" in this documentation about how to compile and use SGE in your own project, please read it if you're new to Unix/Linux development.

Read INSTALL for quick compile and install instructions.

2. Requirements

First you need SDL and the FreeType (2.x) library (you only need the FreeType library if you want to use SGE's truetype font routines, see below). The FreeType library is included in most Linux distributions (RPM users: install the freetype dev rpm package from the install cd).

After installing SDL and FreeType, don't forget to check that the dynamic linker can find them (check /etc/ld.so.conf and run ldconfig).
You must also have a good C++ compiler (should be able to handle templates). Recent versions of GNU c++ works fine. SGE will use gcc/g++ as default, this can be changed in Makefile.conf.


3. Compiling

Before compiling you might want to change some Makefile.conf options, see below.

Just do 'make install' to compile and install SGE. This will install SGE to the same place as SDL. You can change the install location by editing the PREFIX line in the file "Makefile.conf".

If you just want to test the examples (and not install anything) you can just do 'make'. This will build a static version of SGE (libSGE.a).

If you want a dynamic version of SGE (libSGE.so) but don't want the makefile to install SGE, do 'make shared'.

To build the examples, goto the directory examples/ and do 'make'.

See the file INSTALL for more information. You can also read the "Beginners guide to SGE".


4. Makefile options

Edit Makefile.conf to turn on/off these options.

4.1 Using pure C with SGE

If you plan to use SGE with a pure C project you can try to edit Makefile.conf and uncomment the line 'C_ONLY = y'. This will force the compiler to export all references to the linker as C functions. If you do, you will be able to link SGE to C code, BUT you will not be able to use any of the overloaded functions (only the Uint32 color version of the overloaded functions will be available) or C++ classes.

4.2 FreeType

If you don't need the TT font routines or just don't want do depend on FreeType, uncomment 'NOTTF = y' in Makefile.conf.

4.3 The SDL_Image library

If you have installed the SDL_Image library you can uncomment the 'USE_IMG = y' build option in Makefile.conf. This enables SGE to load png images and to use Karl Bartel's very nice SFont bitmapfonts. If you build a static version (libSGE.a) of SGE you MUST link your code with SDL_Img (-lSDL_image), if you're using the shared version (libSGE.so) this is done by the dynamic linker at runtime.

4.4 C++ classes

SGE have some C++ classes ([sge_shape & sge_textpp]), but if you dislike/hate/don't understand/have problems with classes or the STL you can disable them by setting NO_CLASSES = y in Makefile.conf.

4.5 The QUIET option

Set QUIET = y if you don't want the makefile to output any SGE specific messages.


5. Cross compiling SGE to W32

SGE can be compiled by a win32 crosscompiler. You need a crosscompiled version of SDL and FreeType. Check SDL's documentation (README.Win32) on how to get and setup a cross-compiler.

A crosscompiler and a precompiled version of the FreeType library can be found on SDL's Mingw32 side. This crosscompiler seems to need the flag '-lstdc++' when linking C++ code: edit Makefile.conf and change the SGE_LIBS line to read 'SGE_LIBS =$(shell sdl-config --libs) -lstdc++'. This crosscompiler also uses the new MS C-Run-time library "msvcrt.dll", you can get it from Microsoft (do a keyword search for "libraries update") if you don't already have it.

If you want to build a dll ('cross-make dll' or 'dll-strip') then you might want to do 'ln -s ../../bin/i386-mingw32msvc-dllwrap dllwrap' in /usr/local/cross-tools/i386-mingw32msvc/bin.

6. Compiling SGE under W32 with MS VisC/C++

Should work. Check the download page on SGEs homepage for project files (these are untested by me and are often outdated but may be of some help).


7. Misc.

Read the html documentation and study the examples.



Anders Lindström





Copyright © 1999-2002 Anders Lindström
Last updated 020104