Getting Started on Linux

Please help us keep this information up-to-date! :)

Dependencies

To install and use Gosu on Linux, you need the following packages (the names will be slightly different in every distribution):

libsdl2-dev, libsdl2-ttf-dev, libpango1.0-dev, libgl1-mesa-dev, libopenal-dev, libsndfile-dev, libmpg123-dev (starting in 0.12.0)

Ubuntu (last tested on Yakkety Yak (16.10), with Gosu 0.11.2) / Linux Mint (last tested on Linux Mint 17.3)

# Dependencies for both C++ and Ruby
sudo apt-get install build-essential libsdl2-dev libsdl2-ttf-dev libpango1.0-dev \
                     libgl1-mesa-dev libopenal-dev libsndfile-dev libmpg123-dev

# To install Ruby itself - if you are using rvm or rbenv, please skip this step
sudo apt-get install ruby-dev

# If you are using a Ruby version manager (i.e. rvm or rbenv)
gem install gosu
# If you are using system Ruby, you will need "sudo" to install Ruby libraries (gems)
sudo gem install gosu

See this forum thread for another detailed guide.

Debian 8 with Nvidia GPU

Please see this post on the Gosu forum if you run into trouble installing Gosu or anything else that uses OpenGL.

Manjaro Linux (last tested on 2014-09-02 with Gosu 0.8.3)

# Gosu's dependencies for both C++ and Ruby
sudo pacman -S freeglut libegl openal pango sdl2_ttf libsndfile pkg-config

# To install Ruby 2.1.2
sudo pacman -S ruby

Fedora (last tested on Fedora 25 with Gosu 0.10.8)

# Gosu's dependencies for both C++ and Ruby
sudo dnf groupinstall --assumeyes "Development Tools"
sudo dnf install --assumeyes mesa-libGL-devel openal-devel pango-devel SDL2_ttf-devel libsndfile-devel gcc-c++ redhat-rpm-config

# To install Ruby
sudo dnf install --assumeyes ruby-devel rubygems

Arch Linux (last tested on 2014-12-09 with Gosu 0.8.x)

# Gosu's dependencies for both C++ and Ruby
sudo pacman -S freeglut libegl openal pango sdl_ttf libsndfile pkg-config sdl2_ttf sdl2

# To install Ruby
sudo pacman -S ruby

Gentoo Linux (last tested 2014-11-09 with Gosu 0.8.x)

# Gosu's dependencies for both C++ and Ruby, ensure you have the 'opengl' USE Flag set globally or at least for media-libs/libsdl2.
sudo emerge -av media-libs/mesa media-libs/openal x11-libs/pango media-libs/sdl2-ttf media-libs/libsndfile

# To install Ruby
sudo emerge -av dev-lang/ruby

OpenSUSE (last tested on OpenSUSE 13.1 with Gosu 0.8.3)

# General development tools
sudo zypper install --type pattern devel_basis
# Add the 'games' repository for libfreeimage-devel
sudo zypper addrepo http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/games/openSUSE_12.1/ opensuse-games
# Gosu's dependencies for both C++ and Ruby
sudo zypper install libSDL2-devel libSDL2_ttf-devel pango-devel libsndfile-devel openal-soft-devel

# To install the Ruby headers
sudo zypper install ruby-devel

# If you are using rvm or rbenv, do not use 'sudo'
sudo gem install gosu

Compiling Gosu for C++

To compile Gosu, cd into the cmake subdirectory and run:

mkdir -p build
cd build
cmake ..
make

If you are using Debian/Ubuntu, you can use this to install Gosu:

cd ..
./create_deb_package.sh
sudo dpkg -i libgosu-dev-0.10.7-Linux.deb

On all other systems you can use this to install Gosu - but be aware, there is no uninstall target. Run it inside build, after running make. Warning: This puts the object files in a different spot on the system and can cause problems when building a Gosu-based project with the -lgosu option passed to g++.

sudo make install

Using Gosu in C++ with CMake

Have a look at the examples. The example CMakeLists.txt are short, commented and straightforward, and can be used as a starting point for your own Gosu C++ games:

https://github.com/gosu/gosu/blob/master/examples/Tutorial/CMakeLists.txt

Using Gosu in C++ without CMake

(The following assumes that you have installed Gosu system-wide. Note: This hasn't been tested in a while.)

You have to compile with `pkg-config --cflags gosu` and `pkg-config --libs gosu`, so a simple Makefile could look like this:

OBJS = main.o player.o
CXXFLAGS += `pkg-config --cflags gosu`
LIBS = `pkg-config --libs gosu`

myGame: $(OBJS)
        g++ -o myGame $(OBJS) libgosu.a $(LIBS)