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GLFW, a platform-independent API for developers already supports Vulkan

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Good news developers, GLFW (an alternative to things like SDL) already supports Vulkan and it's available right now. They haven't officially released GLFW 3.2 yet which has Vulkan, but you can grab the source any time from github.

QuoteGLFW is a free, 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.


It seems they actually worked with Nvidia to make it happen:

Many thanks to @Nvidia for providing early access to their #Vulkan driver so I could test GLFW on all relevant platforms.

— elmindreda (@elmindreda) February 16, 2016



You can find GLFW on github, and their official GLFW site here. You can also find their brand new Vulkan documentation here. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Toolkit, Vulkan
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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11 comments
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loggfreak Feb 17, 2016
Few, i almost thought it said GFWL(games for windows live)
instead of GLFW
kuro Feb 17, 2016
Whoa never again GFWL. It's dead and should stay dead. I think we all don't want a GFWL Zombie.
Liam Dawe Feb 17, 2016
Quoting: kuroWhoa never again GFWL. It's dead and should stay dead. I think we all don't want a GFWL Zombie.

Completely different things.
Keyrock Feb 17, 2016
Quoting: loggfreakFew, i almost thought it said GFWL(games for windows live)
instead of GLFW

Same here. GFWL has scarred me so deep that seeing any combination of those 4 letters as an acronym sends shivers down my spine. That horrible "service" from Microsoft has ruined all other acronyms with those letters for me. :(
Seegras Feb 17, 2016
Well, about GFWL: https://github.com/Seegras/wine/tree/work/dlls/xlive

And that's nearly about as much of GFWL you will ever need (well, nearly, if we could bring ourselves to really finish it, some things are still rather weird and unfinished).
Skully Feb 17, 2016
Actually GLFW sux as hard as GFWL. Seen quite a few games suffer problems from using that instead of SDL2.
toni Feb 17, 2016
"Good news developers, GLFW (an alternative to thinks like SDL) "

Obviously it's a typo for "things"
nifker Feb 17, 2016
Quoting: SkullyActually GLFW sux as hard as GFWL. Seen quite a few games suffer problems from using that instead of SDL2.
GLFW supports OpenGL (and Vulkan) better than SDL2 does.


Last edited by nifker on 17 February 2016 at 6:39 pm UTC
ElectricPrism Feb 18, 2016
Quoting: Guest
Quoting: SkullyActually GLFW sux as hard as GFWL. Seen quite a few games suffer problems from using that instead of SDL2.

Care to explain why it "sux"? Considering all GLFW does is open a window and handle a little bit of input, there's not a whole lot that can go wrong with it of note. For what it covers, SDL2 and GLFW are quite comparable.

I err on the side of caution, for example to the inexperienced someone may compare GIMP and Photoshop and they would be right to do so at mere face value, however the differences are infinitesimal.

Sure SDL2 and GLFW are both game libraries, It's been a while since I programmed with SDL however my experience with it felt that it lacked the modularity that I hoped it would have and that events had to be triggered in a much more procedural way than alternatives.

Apples and Pears here. I too hope OP elaborates more from his experience.
drmoth Feb 18, 2016
GLFW is an excellent, modern Windowing Library. It is equivalent to SDL2, and certainly not worse than it. Probably better in a number of ways actually.
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