zig-sdl3

Zig bindings for SDL3 3.4.18.

• Covers every SDL3 header, one Zig file per header under src/sdl3/, re exported flat from src/sdl3.zig (sdl.createWindow, sdl.Window, ...).
• Zig friendly signatures: slices instead of pointer + length, Error!T instead of bool/null returns, results returned instead of written to out pointers, packed structs for flags.
• Opaque handles have method aliases (window.setTitle(...), renderer.clear()), and their property names live in Type.Properties.
• Doc comments come from the SDL headers, with C names converted to their Zig equivalents.
• SDL is built from source with castholm/SDL, so no prebuilt binaries or CMake are needed. You can link the system's SDL3 instead.

Requires Zig 0.17.0.

Usage

zig fetch --save git+https://git.nnstdios.com/nnra6864/zig-sdl3

In build.zig:

const sdl3 = b.dependency("zig_sdl3", .{ .target = target, .optimize = optimize });
exe.root_module.addImport("sdl3", sdl3.module("sdl3"));

Importing the module links SDL3 for you.

const sdl = @import("sdl3");

pub fn main() !void {
    try sdl.init(.{ .video = true });
    defer sdl.quit();

    const window = try sdl.createWindow("Hello SDL3", 800, 600, .{ .resizable = true });
    defer window.destroy();
    const renderer = try sdl.createRenderer(window, null);
    defer renderer.destroy();

    main_loop: while (true) {
        var event: sdl.Event = undefined;
        while (sdl.pollEvent(&event)) {
            if (event.type == .quit) break :main_loop;
        }
        try renderer.setDrawColor(30, 30, 46, 255);
        try renderer.clear();
        try renderer.present();
    }
}

Build options

Option	Default	Description
system_sdl	false	Link the SDL3 installed on the system instead of building it from source.
linkage	static	Build SDL3 as a static or dynamic library.
system_include_path, system_framework_path, library_path		Paths into a macOS SDK, required when cross compiling for macOS.

With linkage = .dynamic, install the library next to your executable with b.installArtifact(sdl3.artifact("SDL3")).

Not bound

• Most of SDL_stdinc.h (strings, math, sorting, ...): use Zig's std. Memory functions, Time and sdl.allocator (a std.mem.Allocator backed by SDL) are bound.
• C only macros and functions that take a va_list. The printf style functions (log*, setError, ioPrintf, ...) take a std.fmt format string instead.
• SDL_main/SDL_App*, which your program implements. Use sdl.runApp or sdl.enterAppMainCallbacks.

Testing

# Builds SDL from source
zig build test
# Uses the system SDL
zig build test -Dsystem_sdl=true

License

The bindings are released into the public domain under CC0 1.0.

SDL itself is © Sam Lantinga and distributed under the zlib license. The doc comments in src/sdl3/ are adapted from SDL's headers and remain under that license.

☦

   Ὤ
 Ὁ   Ν
Ι̅Ϲ̅ │ Χ̅Ϲ̅
───┼───
ΝΙ │ ΚΑ
   ☦

Εἰς δόξαν τοῦ Θεοῦ
To the glory of God

Τῇ Ὑπεραγίᾳ Θεοτόκῳ δόξα
Glory to the Most Holy Theotokos

Δόξα τῷ Θεῷ πάντων ἕνεκεν
Glory to God for all things

ΑΜΗΝ

☦