Features

• OpenGL 3.3+ rendering
• GLFW window management
• GLAD OpenGL loader
• STB image loading support
• Meson build system
• C++17 standard

Prerequisites

Before building, ensure you have the following installed:

• C++ compiler with C++17 support (GCC 7+, Clang 5+, or MSVC 2017+)
• Meson build system (0.55.0 or later)
• Ninja build tool
• GLFW3 development libraries
• OpenGL development libraries

Windows

Option 1: MSYS2 (Recommended)

# Install MSYS2 from https://www.msys2.org/
# Then in MSYS2 MinGW64 terminal:
pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-gcc mingw-w64-x86_64-meson mingw-w64-x86_64-ninja mingw-w64-x86_64-glfw

Option 2: Visual Studio

1. Install Visual Studio 2017 or later with C++ support
2. Install Python 3.7+ from https://www.python.org/
3. Install Meson and Ninja:

   pip install meson ninja

4. Install vcpkg and GLFW:

   git clone https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg.git
   cd vcpkg
   .\bootstrap-vcpkg.bat
   .\vcpkg install glfw3:x64-windows

5. Set environment variable or use --pkg-config-path when configuring

Option 3: Chocolatey

choco install python meson ninja
# Then install GLFW manually or via vcpkg

Ubuntu/Debian

sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential meson ninja-build libglfw3-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libx11-dev

Fedora/RHEL

sudo dnf install gcc-c++ meson ninja-build glfw-devel mesa-libGL-devel libX11-devel

Arch Linux

sudo pacman -S base-devel meson ninja glfw-x11 mesa libx11

macOS

brew install meson ninja glfw

Project Structure

.
├── src/                    # Application source files (.cpp)
├── include/                # Header files
├── external/
│   ├── glad/              # GLAD OpenGL loader
│   │   ├── include/
│   │   └── src/
│   └── stb_image/         # STB image loading library
├── meson.build            # Build configuration
└── README.md

Building

Setup

Linux/macOS:

meson setup build

Windows (MSYS2):

meson setup build

Windows (Visual Studio):

meson setup build --backend=vs
# Or for Ninja backend:
meson setup build

Windows (with vcpkg):

meson setup build --pkg-config-path=C:\path\to\vcpkg\installed\x64-windows\lib\pkgconfig

Compile

Linux/macOS/Windows (MSYS2):

meson compile -C build

Or using Ninja directly:

ninja -C build

Windows (Visual Studio): Open build/opengl-app.sln in Visual Studio and build, or use:

meson compile -C build

Run

Linux/macOS:

./build/app

Windows:

.\build\app.exe

Or in MSYS2:

./build/app.exe

Compile Commands

The build system generates compile_commands.json for IDE integration (clangd, IntelliSense, etc.).

Clean Build

Linux/macOS/Windows (MSYS2):

rm -rf build
meson setup build
meson compile -C build

Windows (PowerShell/CMD):

rmdir /s /q build
meson setup build
meson compile -C build

Dependencies

• GLFW3: Cross-platform window and input handling
• OpenGL: Graphics API (opengl32 on Windows, GL on Linux, OpenGL framework on macOS)
• GLAD: OpenGL function loader
• STB Image: Image loading library
• threads: Threading library (POSIX threads on Unix, Windows threads on Windows)

Platform-Specific Dependencies

• Linux: dl (dynamic linking), X11 (X Window System)
• Windows: opengl32 (OpenGL library)
• macOS: OpenGL framework

Compiler Options

• C++ Standard: C++17
• Warning Level: 3 (high warnings enabled)
• GLAD built with reduced warnings (-Wno-pedantic)

Platform Support

• Linux: Full support with X11
• Windows: Full support (MSVC, MinGW, MSYS2)
• macOS: Full support with Cocoa and OpenGL framework

Acknowledgments

• GLFW - Window and input library
• GLAD - OpenGL loader generator
• STB - Single-file public domain libraries