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For SDL3, please checkhttps://github.com/JupiterRider/purego-sdl3 which doesn't require cgo and uses codegen!

go-sdl2 is SDL2 wrapped for Go users. It enables interoperability between Go and the SDL2 library which is written in C. That means the original SDL2 installation is required for this to work. Note that the first build may take several minutes on machines that are not powerful such as Raspberry Pi.

NOTE: For the latest versions of SDL2, please use themaster branch!

• Documentation
• Examples
• Requirements
• Installation
• Cross-compiling
• FAQ
• License

• GoDoc documentation for go-sdl2
• Original SDL2 wiki

If you haven't created a Go module for your program, you can do it by making a directory called, for example,app and running the following command inside it:

go mod init app

After that you can start writing code that usesgo-sdl2, for example, like the following:

// main.gopackage mainimport ("github.com/veandco/go-sdl2/sdl")funcmain() {sdl.Init(sdl.INIT_EVERYTHING)}

Then to tell Go to fetch dependencies, you can run:

go mod tidy

and then the program can be built using:

go build

After that, you can execute your program:

./app

• Go v1.13+
• SDL2
• SDL2_image (optional)
• SDL2_mixer (optional)
• SDL2_ttf (optional)
• SDL2_gfx (optional)

OnUbuntu 22.04 and above, type:
apt install libsdl2{,-image,-mixer,-ttf,-gfx}-dev

OnFedora 36 and above, type:
dnf install SDL2{,_image,_mixer,_ttf,_gfx}-devel

OnArch Linux, type:
pacman -S sdl2{,_image,_mixer,_ttf,_gfx}

OnGentoo, type:
emerge -av libsdl2 sdl2-{image,mixer,ttf,gfx}

OnmacOS, install SDL2 viaHomebrew like so:
brew install sdl2{,_image,_mixer,_ttf,_gfx} pkg-config

OnWindows,

1. Install mingw-w64 fromMingw-builds. A 7z archive extractor software might be needed which can be downloadedhere. In this example, we extract the content, which ismingw64, intoC:\.
2. Download and installSDL2-devel-[version]-mingw.zip files fromhttps://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL/releases.
   • Extract the SDL2 folder from the archive using a tool like7zip
   • Inside the extracted SDL2 folder, copy thei686-w64-mingw32 and/orx86_64-w64-mingw32 into mingw64 folder e.g.C:\mingw64
3. SetupPath environment variable
   • Put mingw-w64 binaries location into systemPath environment variable (e.g.C:\mingw64\bin)
4. Close and open terminal again so the newPath environment variable takes effect. Now we should be able to rungo build inside the project directory.
5. Download and install SDL2 runtime libraries fromhttps://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL/releases. Extract and copy the.dll file into the project directory. After that, the program should become runnable.
6. (Optional) You can repeatStep 2 forSDL_image,SDL_mixer,SDL_ttf

To get the bindings, type:
go get -v github.com/veandco/go-sdl2/sdl
go get -v github.com/veandco/go-sdl2/img
go get -v github.com/veandco/go-sdl2/mix
go get -v github.com/veandco/go-sdl2/ttf
go get -v github.com/veandco/go-sdl2/gfx

or type this if you use Bash terminal:
go get -v github.com/veandco/go-sdl2/{sdl,img,mix,ttf}

Due togo-sdl2 being under active development, a lot of breaking changes are going to happen during v0.x. Withversioning system coming to Go soon, we'll make use of semantic versioning to ensure stability in the future.

Since v0.3.0, it is possible to build statically against included libraries in.go-sdl2-libs. To build statically, run:

CGO_ENABLED=1 CC=gcc GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 go build -tags static -ldflags "-s -w"

You can also cross-compile to another OS. For example, to Windows:

CGO_ENABLED=1 CC=x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc GOOS=windows GOARCH=amd64 go build -tags static -ldflags "-s -w"

On Windows, if you would like to hide the Command Prompt window when running the statically-compiled program, you could append-H windowsgui to the-ldflags value.

For the list of OS and architecture, you can see inside the.go-sdl2-libs directory.

NOTE: If you're using the new Go Module system, you will need to refer to the master branch for now by running:

go get -v github.com/veandco/go-sdl2/sdl@master

Before building the program.

1. Install MinGW toolchain.
   • OnArch Linux, it's simplypacman -S mingw-w64.
2. Download the SDL2 development package for MinGWhere (and the others likeSDL_image,SDL_mixer, etc..here if you use them).
3. Extract the SDL2 development package and copy thex86_64-w64-mingw32 folder inside recursively to the system's MinGWx86_64-w64-mingw32 folder. You may also do the same for thei686-w64-mingw32 folder.
   • OnArch Linux, it'scp -r x86_64-w64-mingw32 /usr.
4. Now you can start cross-compiling your Go program by runningenv CGO_ENABLED="1" CC="/usr/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc" GOOS="windows" CGO_LDFLAGS="-lmingw32 -lSDL2" CGO_CFLAGS="-D_REENTRANT" go build -x main.go. You can change some of the parameters if you'd like to. In this example, it should produce amain.exe executable file.
5. Before running the program, you need to putSDL2.dll from theSDL2 runtime package (For others likeSDL_image,SDL_mixer, etc.., look for themhere) for Windows in the same folder as your executable.
6. Now you should be able to run the program using Wine or Windows!

1. InstallHomebrew
2. Install MinGW through Homebrew viabrew install mingw-w64
3. Download the SDL2 development package for MinGWhere (and the others likeSDL_image,SDL_mixer, etc..here if you use them).
4. Extract the SDL2 development package and copy thex86_64-w64-mingw folder inside recursively to the system's MinGWx86_64-w64-mingw32 folder. You may also do the same for thei686-w64-mingw32 folder. The path to MinGW may be slightly different but the command should look something likecp -r x86_64-w64-mingw32 /usr/local/Cellar/mingw-w64/5.0.3/toolchain-x86_64.
5. Now you can start cross-compiling your Go program by runningenv CGO_ENABLED=1 CC=x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc GOOS=windows CGO_LDFLAGS="-L/usr/local/Cellar/mingw-w64/5.0.3/toolchain-x86_64/x86_64-w64-mingw32/lib -lSDL2" CGO_CFLAGS="-I/usr/local/Cellar/mingw-w64/5.0.3/toolchain-x86_64/x86_64-w64-mingw32/include -D_REENTRANT" go build -x main.go. You can change some of the parameters if you'd like to. In this example, it should produce amain.exe executable file.
6. Before running the program, you need to putSDL2.dll from theSDL2 runtime package (For others likeSDL_image,SDL_mixer, etc.., look for themhere) for Windows in the same folder as your executable.
7. Now you should be able to run the program using Wine or Windows!

1. Install macOS toolchain viaosxcross
2. Run the following build command (replace the values in parentheses):

CGO_ENABLED=1 CC=[path-to-osxcross]/target/bin/[arch]-apple-darwin[version]-clang GOOS=darwin GOARCH=[arch] go build -tags static -ldflags "-s -w" -a

NOTE: The following example is for themaster branch. Please check theREADME ofv0.4.x for the stable version.

package mainimport"github.com/veandco/go-sdl2/sdl"funcmain() {iferr:=sdl.Init(sdl.INIT_EVERYTHING);err!=nil {panic(err)}defersdl.Quit()window,err:=sdl.CreateWindow("test",sdl.WINDOWPOS_UNDEFINED,sdl.WINDOWPOS_UNDEFINED,800,600,sdl.WINDOW_SHOWN)iferr!=nil {panic(err)}deferwindow.Destroy()surface,err:=window.GetSurface()iferr!=nil {panic(err)}surface.FillRect(nil,0)rect:= sdl.Rect{0,0,200,200}colour:= sdl.Color{R:255,G:0,B:255,A:255}// purplepixel:=sdl.MapRGBA(surface.Format,colour.R,colour.G,colour.B,colour.A)surface.FillRect(&rect,pixel)window.UpdateSurface()running:=trueforrunning {forevent:=sdl.PollEvent();event!=nil;event=sdl.PollEvent() {switchevent.(type) {case sdl.QuitEvent:// NOTE: Please use `*sdl.QuitEvent` for `v0.4.x` (current version).println("Quit")running=falsebreak}}sdl.Delay(33)}}

There are two ways a game might be running: one that updates on user input usingsdl.WaitEvent() and one that updates regardless of user input usingsdl.PollEvent(). You can check the examples of those two loopshere.

For more runnable examples, seehttps://github.com/veandco/go-sdl2-examples. You can run any of the.go files withgo run.

Why does the program not run on Windows?Try putting theruntime libraries (e.g.SDL2.dll and friends) in the same folder as your program.

Why does my program crash randomly or hang?Puttingruntime.LockOSThread() at the start of your main() usually solves the problem (seeSDL2 FAQ about multi-threading).

UPDATE: Recent update added a call queue system where you can put thread-sensitive code and have it called synchronously on the same OS thread. See therender_queue orrender_goroutines examples fromhttps://github.com/veandco/go-sdl2-examples to see how it works.

Why can't SDL_mixer seem to play MP3 audio file?Your installed SDL_mixer probably doesn't support MP3 file.

OnmacOS, this is easy to correct. First remove the faulty mixer:brew remove sdl2_mixer, then reinstall it with the MP3 option:brew install sdl2_mixer --with-flac --with-fluid-synth --with-libmikmod --with-libmodplug --with-smpeg2. If necessary, check which options you can enable withbrew info sdl2_mixer. You could also try installing sdl2_mixer with mpg123 by runningbrew install sdl2_mixer --with-mpg123.

OnOther Operating Systems, you will need to compile smpeg and SDL_mixer from source with the MP3 option enabled. You can find smpeg in theexternal directory of SDL_mixer. Refer to issue#148 for instructions.

Note that there seems to be a problem with SDL_mixer 2.0.2 so you can also try to revert back to 2.0.1 and see if it solves your problem

Does go-sdl2 support compiling on mobile platforms like Android and iOS?For Android, seehttps://github.com/veandco/go-sdl2-examples/tree/master/examples/android.

There is currently no support for iOS yet.

Why does my window not immediately render after creation?It appears the rendering subsystem needs some time to be able to present the drawn pixels. This can be workaround by adding delay usingsdl.Delay() or put the rendering code inside a draw loop.

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Go-SDL2 is BSD 3-clause licensed.