GLFW

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Introduction

GLFW is an Open Source, multi-platform library for OpenGL, OpenGL ES and Vulkan application development. It provides a simple, platform-independent API for creating windows, contexts and surfaces, reading input, handling events, etc.

GLFW natively supports Windows, macOS and Linux and other Unix-like systems. Experimental implementations for the Wayland protocol, the Mir display server and direct rendering via EGLDevice are available but not yet officially supported.

GLFW is licensed under the zlib/libpng license.

The latest stable release is version 3.2.1.

See the downloads page for details and files, or fetch the latest branch, which always points to the latest stable release. Each release starting with 3.0 also has a corresponding annotated tag with source and binary archives. The version history lists all user-visible changes for every release.

This is a development branch for version 3.3, which is not yet described. Pre-release documentation is available here.

The master branch is the stable integration branch and should always compile and run on all supported platforms, although details of newly added features may change until they have been included in a release. New features and many bug fixes live in other branches until they are stable enough to merge.

If you are new to GLFW, you may find the tutorial for GLFW 3 useful. If you have used GLFW 2 in the past, there is a transition guide for moving to the GLFW 3 API.

Compiling GLFW

GLFW itself requires only the headers and libraries for your window system. It does not need the headers for any context creation API (WGL, GLX, EGL, NSGL, OSMesa) or rendering API (OpenGL, OpenGL ES, Vulkan) to enable support for them.

GLFW supports compilation on Windows with Visual C++ 2010 and later, MinGW and MinGW-w64, on macOS with Clang and on Linux and other Unix-like systems with GCC and Clang. It will likely compile in other environments as well, but this is not regularly tested.

There are pre-compiled Windows binaries available for all supported compilers.

See the compilation guide for more information about how to compile GLFW yourself.

Using GLFW

See the documentation for tutorials, guides and the API reference.

Contributing to GLFW

See the contribution guide for more information.

System requirements

GLFW supports Windows XP and later and macOS 10.7 and later. Linux and other Unix-like systems running the X Window System are supported even without a desktop environment or modern extensions, although some features require a running window or clipboard manager. The OSMesa backend requires Mesa 6.3.

See the compatibility guide in the documentation for more information.

Dependencies

GLFW itself depends only on the headers and libraries for your window system.

The (experimental) Wayland backend also depends on the extra-cmake-modules package, which is used to generated Wayland protocol headers.

The (experimental) EGLDevice backend also depends on the libdrm-dev development package.

The examples and test programs depend on a number of tiny libraries. These are located in the deps/ directory.

The Vulkan example additionally requires the Vulkan SDK to be installed, or it will not be included in the build. On macOS you need to provide the path to the MoltenVK SDK manually as it has no standard installation location.

The documentation is generated with Doxygen if CMake can find that tool.

Reporting bugs

Bugs are reported to our issue tracker. Please check the contribution guide for information on what to include when reporting a bug.

Changelog

  • Added glfwGetError function for querying the last error code and its description (#970)
  • Added glfwUpdateGamepadMappings function for importing gamepad mappings in SDL_GameControllerDB format (#900)
  • Added glfwJoystickIsGamepad function for querying whether a joystick has a gamepad mapping (#900)
  • Added glfwGetJoystickGUID function for querying the SDL compatible GUID of a joystick (#900)
  • Added glfwGetGamepadName function for querying the name provided by the gamepad mapping (#900)
  • Added glfwGetGamepadState function, GLFW_GAMEPAD_* and GLFWgamepadstate for retrieving gamepad input state (#900)
  • Added glfwRequestWindowAttention function for requesting attention from the user (#732,#988)
  • Added glfwGetKeyScancode function that allows retrieving platform dependent scancodes for keys (#830)
  • Added glfwSetWindowMaximizeCallback and GLFWwindowmaximizefun for receiving window maximization events (#778)
  • Added glfwSetWindowAttrib function for changing window attributes (#537)
  • Added glfwGetJoystickHats function for querying joystick hats (#889,#906,#934)
  • Added glfwInitHint and glfwInitHintString for setting initialization hints
  • Added glfwGetX11SelectionString and glfwSetX11SelectionString functions for accessing X11 primary selection (#894,#1056)
  • Added headless OSMesa backend (#850)
  • Added definition of GLAPIENTRY to public header
  • Added GLFW_CENTER_CURSOR window hint for controlling cursor centering (#749,#842)
  • Added GLFW_JOYSTICK_HAT_BUTTONS init hint (#889)
  • Added macOS specific GLFW_COCOA_RETINA_FRAMEBUFFER window hint
  • Added macOS specific GLFW_COCOA_FRAME_AUTOSAVE window hint (#195)
  • Added macOS specific GLFW_COCOA_GRAPHICS_SWITCHING window hint (#377,#935)
  • Added macOS specific GLFW_COCOA_CHDIR_RESOURCES init hint
  • Added macOS specific GLFW_COCOA_MENUBAR init hint
  • Added X11 specific GLFW_X11_WM_CLASS_NAME and GLFW_X11_WM_CLASS_CLASS init hints (#893)
  • Added GLFW_INCLUDE_ES32 for including the OpenGL ES 3.2 header
  • Added GLFW_OSMESA_CONTEXT_API for creating OpenGL contexts with OSMesa (#281)
  • Added GenerateMappings.cmake script for updating gamepad mappings
  • Removed GLFW_USE_RETINA compile-time option
  • Removed GLFW_USE_CHDIR compile-time option
  • Removed GLFW_USE_MENUBAR compile-time option
  • Bugfix: Calling glfwMaximizeWindow on a full screen window was not ignored
  • Bugfix: GLFW_INCLUDE_VULKAN could not be combined with the corresponding OpenGL and OpenGL ES header macros
  • Bugfix: glfwGetInstanceProcAddress returned NULL for vkGetInstanceProcAddr when _GLFW_VULKAN_STATIC was enabled
  • Bugfix: Invalid library paths were used in test and example CMake files (#930)
  • Bugfix: The scancode for synthetic key release events was always zero
  • [Win32] Added system error strings to relevant GLFW error descriptions (#733)
  • [Win32] Moved to WM_INPUT for disabled cursor mode motion input (#125)
  • [Win32] Removed XInput circular deadzone from joystick axis data (#1045)
  • [Win32] Bugfix: Undecorated windows could not be iconified by the user (#861)
  • [Win32] Bugfix: Deadzone logic could underflow with some controllers (#910)
  • [Win32] Bugfix: Bitness test in FindVulkan.cmake was VS specific (#928)
  • [Win32] Bugfix: glfwVulkanSupported emitted an error on systems with a loader but no ICD (#916)
  • [Win32] Bugfix: Non-iconified full sreeen windows did not prevent screen blanking or password enabled screensavers (#851)
  • [Win32] Bugfix: Mouse capture logic lost secondary release messages (#954)
  • [Win32] Bugfix: The 32-bit Vulkan loader library static was not searched for
  • [Win32] Bugfix: Vulkan libraries have a new path as of SDK 1.0.42.0 (#956)
  • [Win32] Bugfix: Monitors with no display devices were not enumerated (#960)
  • [Win32] Bugfix: Monitor events were not emitted (#784)
  • [Win32] Bugfix: The Cygwin DLL was installed to the wrong directory (#1035)
  • [Win32] Bugfix: Normalization of axis data via XInput was incorrect (#1045)
  • [Win32] Bugfix: glfw3native.h would undefine a foreign APIENTRY (#1062)
  • [Win32] Bugfix: Disabled cursor mode prevented use of caption buttons (#650,#1071)
  • [Win32] Bugfix: Returned key names did not match other platforms (#943)
  • [X11] Moved to XI2 XI_RawMotion for disable cursor mode motion input (#125)
  • [X11] Replaced _GLFW_HAS_XF86VM compile-time option with dynamic loading
  • [X11] Bugfix: glfwGetVideoMode would segfault on Cygwin/X
  • [X11] Bugfix: Dynamic X11 library loading did not use full sonames (#941)
  • [X11] Bugfix: Window creation on 64-bit would read past top of stack (#951)
  • [X11] Bugfix: XDND support had multiple non-conformance issues (#968)
  • [X11] Bugfix: The RandR monitor path was disabled despite working RandR (#972)
  • [X11] Bugfix: IM-duplicated key events would leak at low polling rates (#747)
  • [X11] Bugfix: Gamma ramp setting via RandR did not validate ramp size
  • [X11] Bugfix: Key name string encoding depended on current locale (#981,#983)
  • [X11] Bugfix: Incremental reading of selections was not supported (#275)
  • [X11] Bugfix: Selection I/O reported but did not support COMPOUND_TEXT
  • [X11] Bugfix: Latin-1 text read from selections was not converted to UTF-8
  • [Linux] Added experimental support for direct rendering via EGLDevice (#786)
  • [Linux] Moved to evdev for joystick input (#906,#1005)
  • [Linux] Bugfix: Event processing did not detect joystick disconnection (#932)
  • [Linux] Bugfix: The joystick device path could be truncated (#1025)
  • [Linux] Bugfix: glfwInit would fail if inotify creation failed (#833)
  • [Linux] Bugfix: strdup was used without any required feature macro (#1055)
  • [Cocoa] Added support for Vulkan window surface creation via MoltenVK (#870)
  • [Cocoa] Added support for loading a MainMenu.nib when available
  • [Cocoa] Bugfix: Disabling window aspect ratio would assert (#852)
  • [Cocoa] Bugfix: Window creation failed to set first responder (#876,#883)
  • [Cocoa] Bugfix: Removed use of deprecated CGDisplayIOServicePort function (#165,#192,#508,#511)
  • [Cocoa] Bugfix: Disabled use of deprecated CGDisplayModeCopyPixelEncoding function on macOS 10.12+
  • [Cocoa] Bugfix: Running in AppSandbox would emit warnings (#816,#882)
  • [Cocoa] Bugfix: Windows created after the first were not cascaded (#195)
  • [Cocoa] Bugfix: Leaving video mode with glfwSetWindowMonitor would set incorrect position and size (#748)
  • [Cocoa] Bugfix: Iconified full screen windows could not be restored (#848)
  • [Cocoa] Bugfix: Value range was ignored for joystick hats and buttons (#888)
  • [Cocoa] Bugfix: Full screen framebuffer was incorrectly sized for some video modes (#682)
  • [Cocoa] Bugfix: A string object for IME was updated non-idiomatically (#1050)
  • [Cocoa] Bugfix: A hidden or disabled cursor would become visible when a user notification was shown (#971,#1028)
  • [Cocoa] Bugfix: Some characters did not repeat due to Press and Hold (#1010)
  • [WGL] Added support for WGL_EXT_colorspace for OpenGL ES contexts
  • [WGL] Added support for WGL_ARB_create_context_no_error
  • [GLX] Added support for GLX_ARB_create_context_no_error
  • [GLX] Bugfix: Context creation could segfault if no GLXFBConfigs were available (#1040)
  • [EGL] Added support for EGL_KHR_get_all_proc_addresses (#871)
  • [EGL] Added support for EGL_KHR_context_flush_control
  • [EGL] Bugfix: The test for EGL_RGB_BUFFER was invalid

Contact

On glfw.org you can find the latest version of GLFW, as well as news, documentation and other information about the project.

If you have questions related to the use of GLFW, we have a forum, and the #glfw IRC channel on Freenode.

If you have a bug to report, a patch to submit or a feature you'd like to request, please file it in the issue tracker on GitHub.

Finally, if you're interested in helping out with the development of GLFW or porting it to your favorite platform, join us on the forum, GitHub or IRC.

Acknowledgements

GLFW exists because people around the world donated their time and lent their skills.

  • Bobyshev Alexander
  • Matt Arsenault
  • David Avedissian
  • Keith Bauer
  • John Bartholomew
  • Niklas Behrens
  • Niklas Bergström
  • Denis Bernard
  • Doug Binks
  • blanco
  • Kyle Brenneman
  • Rok Breulj
  • Martin Capitanio
  • David Carlier
  • Arturo Castro
  • Chi-kwan Chan
  • Kamal Chandra
  • Ian Clarkson
  • Michał Cichoń
  • Lambert Clara
  • Yaron Cohen-Tal
  • Omar Cornut
  • Andrew Corrigan
  • Noel Cower
  • Jason Daly
  • Jarrod Davis
  • Olivier Delannoy
  • Paul R. Deppe
  • Michael Dickens
  • Роман Донченко
  • Mario Dorn
  • Jonathan Dummer
  • Ralph Eastwood
  • Fredrik Ehnbom
  • Robin Eklind
  • Siavash Eliasi
  • Felipe Ferreira
  • Michael Fogleman
  • Gerald Franz
  • Mário Freitas
  • GeO4d
  • Marcus Geelnard
  • Eloi Marín Gratacós
  • Stefan Gustavson
  • Jonathan Hale
  • Sylvain Hellegouarch
  • Matthew Henry
  • heromyth
  • Lucas Hinderberger
  • Paul Holden
  • Warren Hu
  • IntellectualKitty
  • Aaron Jacobs
  • Erik S. V. Jansson
  • Toni Jovanoski
  • Arseny Kapoulkine
  • Osman Keskin
  • Josh Kilmer
  • Cameron King
  • Peter Knut
  • Christoph Kubisch
  • Yuri Kunde Schlesner
  • Konstantin Käfer
  • Eric Larson
  • Robin Leffmann
  • Glenn Lewis
  • Shane Liesegang
  • Eyal Lotem
  • Tristam MacDonald
  • Hans Mackowiak
  • Дмитри Малышев
  • Zbigniew Mandziejewicz
  • Célestin Marot
  • Kyle McDonald
  • David Medlock
  • Bryce Mehring
  • Jonathan Mercier
  • Marcel Metz
  • Liam Middlebrook
  • Jonathan Miller
  • Kenneth Miller
  • Bruce Mitchener
  • Jack Moffitt
  • Jeff Molofee
  • Pierre Morel
  • Jon Morton
  • Pierre Moulon
  • Martins Mozeiko
  • Julian Møller
  • ndogxj
  • Kristian Nielsen
  • Kamil Nowakowski
  • Denis Ovod
  • Ozzy
  • Andri Pálsson
  • Peoro
  • Braden Pellett
  • Arturo J. Pérez
  • Anthony Pesch
  • Orson Peters
  • Emmanuel Gil Peyrot
  • Cyril Pichard
  • Keith Pitt
  • Stanislav Podgorskiy
  • Alexandre Pretyman
  • Philip Rideout
  • Eddie Ringle
  • Jorge Rodriguez
  • Ed Ropple
  • Aleksey Rybalkin
  • Riku Salminen
  • Brandon Schaefer
  • Sebastian Schuberth
  • Christian Sdunek
  • Matt Sealey
  • Steve Sexton
  • Arkady Shapkin
  • Yoshiki Shibukawa
  • Dmitri Shuralyov
  • Daniel Skorupski
  • Bradley Smith
  • Patrick Snape
  • Erlend Sogge Heggen
  • Julian Squires
  • Johannes Stein
  • Pontus Stenetorp
  • Michael Stocker
  • Justin Stoecker
  • Elviss Strazdins
  • Paul Sultana
  • Nathan Sweet
  • TTK-Bandit
  • Sergey Tikhomirov
  • Arthur Tombs
  • Ioannis Tsakpinis
  • Samuli Tuomola
  • Matthew Turner
  • urraka
  • Elias Vanderstuyft
  • Stef Velzel
  • Jari Vetoniemi
  • Ricardo Vieira
  • Nicholas Vitovitch
  • Simon Voordouw
  • Torsten Walluhn
  • Patrick Walton
  • Xo Wang
  • Jay Weisskopf
  • Frank Wille
  • Ryogo Yoshimura
  • Andrey Zholos
  • Santi Zupancic
  • Jonas Ådahl
  • Lasse Öörni
  • All the unmentioned and anonymous contributors in the GLFW community, for bug reports, patches, feedback, testing and encouragement