SETUP.txt

Quick guide for setting up MinGW and SDL for C development on windows.

STEP 1 - Download MinGW
https://osdn.net/projects/mingw/
this is the most recent version (as of 2023, since 2017):
https://osdn.net/projects/mingw/downloads/68260/mingw-get-setup.exe/
(download will start automatically)

STEP 2 - Run mingw-get-setup.exe
-click install
-intallation directory should be c:\MinGW
-after "MinGW Installation Manager Setup Tool" is finished, the "MinGW Installation Manager" will show up, where you should click the checkboxes on:
	* mingw32-base-bin
	* mingw32-binutils-bin
	* Everything that says "The GNU C Compiler" on the description column ( mingw32-gcc-bin, ..., mingw32-gcc-man )
	* Everything that has a little star or seems important. Go with your gut feeling. Worst case scenario you run this thing again and add more stuff.
- On the menu at the top, click "Installation", and on the drop-down, "Apply Changes".
-wait for it to be done and close it.

STEP 3 
- open up "This PC" on windows explorer.
- right-click anywhere on the window (like, empty space, the background, not an icon or link or anything)
- click "Properties"
(if the previous 3 steps did not make sense to you, somehow, find your way over to the "Control Panel\System and Security\System" screen. or just look for "System Variables" in the taskbar search box.)
- On the sidebar on the left, click "Advanced system settings"
- click the button that says "Environment Variables"
- on the lower list, "System variables", find a variable called "Path", select it and click "Edit..."
- Now on the "Edit environment variable" window, click "New" and add "C:\MinGW\bin" in there. (without the quotes)
- Done! Now we can compile from the command line. You can try it with the sample project in the 'Compilation Test, no SDL' folder.

STEP 4 - SDL!
- go to https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL/releases
- Download the Development Library, for MinGW
( link should look like this: SDL2-devel-2.28.2-mingw.zip )
-now go to https://www.libsdl.org/projects/
and, again, get the MinGW develpment libraries for whatever you think you need:
* SDL_image: https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL_image/releases (loading/saving images)
* SDL_ttf: https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL_ttf/releases (rendering text)
* SDL_net: https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL_net/releases (networking)
etc.
- Now create an SDL folder in C drive. "C:\SDL"
- unzip all of your development libraries in there. Your base SDL directory should look like "C:\SDL\SDL2-2.28.2" (if that's the version you're on.)

YOU'RE DONE. Look in "WORKFLOW" to see what to do next.