Compiling OpenGL Programs on Lab Machines (e.g. MLH 303):

• Compiling an OpenGL/GLUT program requires you to use a number of libraries.
  • GLUT (library "glut" on Linux)
  • OpenGL (library "GL" on Linux)
  • GL Utilities (library "GLU" on Linux)
  • Windowing specific libraries needed by GLUT. For X-Windows, these include:
    • X11
    • Xmu
    • Xi
  • Often you'll also need the math library (library "m" on Linux)
  • You need to include (more) libraries if you encounter error messages such as:
    • /tmp/ccKfrBZc.o(.text+0x1a6): In function `main':
      : undefined reference to `glutInitDisplayMode'
  
  
• Including libraries is easy with gcc or g++, just at "-l< lib-name >" to the command line.
  
  
• So, a compilation including all these libraries would look like:
  • gcc -o myProg myProg.c -lglut -lGL -lGLU -lX11 -lXmu -lXi -lm
  • The "-o myProg" tells gcc to call the executable "myProg"
  • After compilation, you can run by typing "./myProg" or if "." is in your path just "myProg" will work.
  
  
• On many machines, gcc doesn't know where to find the correct include files (those you added to your code using #include"...")
  • Adding "-I < include-path >" tells gcc where to find additional include files.
  • You'll need to add -I commands to eliminate errors such as:
    • myProg.c:1:17: Xm.h: No such file or directory
  
  
• Often (including on the lab machines), the linker doesn't know where to find some of the libraries if they're stored in unusual locations (like outside of /usr/lib)
  • Adding "-L < library-path >" tells the linker where to find additional library files.
  • You'll need to add -L commands to eliminate errors such as:
    • /usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lX11

Suggested Command Line to Compile on Lab Machines:

gcc -o myProg myProg.c -I /usr/X11R6/include/ -L /usr/X11R6/lib/ -lglut -lGL -lGLU -lX11 -lXmu -lXi -lm

You should just be able to copy/paste. The only changes you need to make are:

• Change the filename "myProg.c" to the filename of your program
  • (If you have more than one C file, include more than one on the command line)
• Change "gcc" to "g++" if you're using C++.

Last Modified: Thursday, September 2, 2004

Chris Wyman (cwyman@cs.uiowa.edu)