Finding glfw library file in xcode in OSX? - c++

Question

So I'm trying to build a program using OpenGL and GLFW. The only errors I'm getting are:
Undefined symbols for architecture x86_64:
"_glewInit", referenced from:
_main in main.o
"_glfwCreateWindow", referenced from:
_main in main.o
"_glfwGetKey", referenced from:
_main in main.o
"_glfwInit", referenced from:
_main in main.o
"_glfwMakeContextCurrent", referenced from:
_main in main.o
"_glfwPollEvents", referenced from:
_main in main.o
"_glfwSetInputMode", referenced from:
_main in main.o
"_glfwSwapBuffers", referenced from:
_main in main.o
"_glfwTerminate", referenced from:
_main in main.o
"_glfwWindowHint", referenced from:
_main in main.o
"_glfwWindowShouldClose", referenced from:
_main in main.o
ld: symbol(s) not found for architecture x86_64
clang: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)
So obviously this is a linking error. After doing some research, I think I found my error. It seems like I need to add the GLFW library (libglfw.dylib) and the Cocoa and OpenGL libraries. My problem is that I can't find libglfw.dylib - or anything glfw for that matter - under the "Link Binary With Libraries" section. I found OpenGL.framework and Cocoa.framework, but I can't find the glfw one. I tried going through the whole cmake process (cmake > make > sudo make install) for glfw but it didn't show up. I then tried installing using brew and that didn't work either. I can't figure out why I can't find this file. Any ideas? This is my first time doing anything with GLFW and one of my first projects doing any coding on OSX. If I'm forgetting any information you need to help let me know and I'll get it to you all as fast as I can.

Answer 1

First of all, using GLEW on OS X is 100% pointless (OpenGL extensions are all handled statically at link-time on this platform). You should add some code to your project that does something along the lines of:
#ifndef __APPLE__
// GLEW-specific code here
#endif
Also, .dylib is for dynamically linking - there's not much point in doing that on OS X. GLFW is not distributed in the form of a Framework, you'll have to compile it yourself. You can still use a dynamic linking version of GLFW if you wish, but you'd wind up having to package the library in your .app bundle. I would advise you just use the static version and avoid all of that.
Have you reviewed the OS X section of the GLFW compilation instructions?