Steps to build SDL natively with the MinGW environment available at: http://www.mingw.org/ These steps assume that you are comfortable with the UNIX environment. Step 1. Download the msys package, version 1.0.8 or newer, and install it. Step 2. Download the latest stable version of the MinGW package. Step 3. Run the msys shell. Further instructions assume you're in this shell. Step 3. Unpack the MinGW package in the /mingw directory. Step 4. Move /mingw/bin/make.exe to /mingw/bin/mingw32-make.exe as directed. Step 5. Extract the SDL source into a directory and run: ./configure && make && make install Step 6. When you're ready to build SDL applications, copy SDL.dll from /usr/local/lib to whereever your SDL application source resides. Troubleshooting: =========================================================================== Q: I get an error when building and I unpacked the source in a path with spaces. A: Unpack the source in a path without spaces, like /tmp, and build there. =========================================================================== Q: I get the following error while building SDL: GL/gl.h: No such file or directory A: You need to get the OpenGL development headers from: http://www.libsdl.org/extras/win32/common/opengl-devel.tar.gz You need to unpack these in the /mingw directory. =========================================================================== Q: My version of SDL doesn't have DirectX support! A: You need to get the DirectX development headers and libraries from: http://www.libsdl.org/extras/win32/common/directx-devel.tar.gz You need to unpack these in the /mingw directory. =========================================================================== Q: My version of SDL doesn't have assembly support, NASM is not available. A: You need to get nasm assembler from: http://www.libsdl.org/extras/win32/mingw32/nasm.exe Put this file in the /mingw/bin directory. =========================================================================== Q: I get various errors from make, including: unexpected EOF while looking for matching `"' A: You are using an old version of MSYS. Make sure you're running version 1.0.8 or newer - it's the only MinGW build environment supported by SDL. =========================================================================== Q: SDL 1.3 links with libunicows.a, where can I find it? A: http://libunicows.sourceforge.net/ ===========================================================================