YUP: Cross-Platform Application And Plugin Development Library

Example Rive animation display (source code): Renderer Youtube Video

Introduction

YUP is an open-source library dedicated to empowering developers with advanced tools for cross-platform application and plugin development, featuring state-of-the-art rendering and audio processing. Originating from a fork of JUCE7's ISC-licensed modules, YUP builds on the robust, high-performance capabilities that made JUCE7 popular among audio and visual application developers. Unlike its successor JUCE8, which moved to a restrictive AGPL license and an even more costly commercial one, YUP maintains the more permissive ISC license and ensures that all of its dependencies are either liberally licensed or public domain, remaining a freely accessible and modifiable resource for developers worldwide.

Caution

The project is still in embryonic stage, use it at your own risk!

Features

YUP brings a suite of powerful features, including:

• High-Performance Rendering: From intricate visualizations to high-speed gaming graphics, YUP handles it all with ease and efficiency, relying on the open source Rive Renderer, backed by Metal, Direct3D, OpenGL, Vulkan and WebGPU.
• Advanced Audio Processing: Tailored for professionals, our audio toolkit delivers pristine sound quality with minimal latency, suitable for music production, live performance tools, and more. Based on the JUCE7 module for audio/midi input and output.
• Open Source Audio Plugin Standards: Facilitates the development of CLAP plugin abstractions, providing a framework for creating versatile and compatible audio plugins.
• Cross-Platform Compatibility: Consistent and reliable on Windows, macOS, Linux, Wasm (iOS and Android are in the pipe).
• Extensive Testing Infrastructure: Massive set of unit and integration tests to validate functionality.
• Community-Driven Development: As an open-source project, YUP thrives on contributions from developers around the globe.

Supported Platforms

Windows	macOS	Linux	WASM	Android	iOS
✅	✅	✅	✅	🚧	🚧

Supported Rendering Backends

	Windows	macOS	Linux	WASM	Android	iOS
OpenGL 4.2	✅		✅
OpenGL ES3.0					✅
WebGL2 (GLES3.0)				✅
Metal		✅				✅
Direct3D 11	✅
Vulkan	🚧		🚧		🚧
WebGPU	🚧	🚧	🚧	🚧	🚧	🚧

Supported Audio Backends

	Windows	macOS	Linux	WASM	Android	iOS
CoreAudio		✅				✅
ASIO	✅
DirectSound	✅
WASAPI	✅
ALSA			✅
JACK			✅
Oboe					✅
OpenSL					✅
AudioWorklet				✅

Prerequisites

Before building, ensure you have a:

• C++17-compliant compiler
• CMake 3.28 or later

Windows

Visual Studio 2022.

macOS and iOS

Xcode 15.2 (and command-line tools).

Linux

Required packages:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y \
    libasound2-dev libjack-jackd2-dev ladspa-sdk libcurl4-openssl-dev libfreetype6-dev \
    libx11-dev libxcomposite-dev libxcursor-dev libxcursor-dev libxext-dev libxi-dev libxinerama-dev \
    libxrandr-dev libxrender-dev libglu1-mesa-dev mesa-common-dev

Wasm

Emscripten SDK (at least version 3.1.45).

Android

JDK 17, Android SDK, and NDK (at least r26d).

Installation

Clone the YUP repository:

git clone https://github.com/kunitoki/yup.git
cd yup

Preparing the build directory

Create a Dedicated Build Directory:

mkdir -p build

Configure and Build

Generate the build system files with CMake.

Windows / Linux / macOS

For a standard desktop build with tests and examples enabled, run:

cmake . -B build -DYUP_ENABLE_TESTS=ON -DYUP_ENABLE_EXAMPLES=ON
cmake --build build --config Release --parallel 4

Android

Android will rely on cmake for configuration and gradlew will again call into cmake to build the native part of yup:

cmake -G "Ninja Multi-Config" . -B build -DYUP_TARGET_ANDROID=ON -DYUP_ENABLE_TESTS=ON -DYUP_ENABLE_EXAMPLES=ON
cd build/examples/render
./gradlew assembleRelease
# ./gradlew assembleDebug

iOS

You can either use Ninja or Xcode:

cmake -G "Ninja Multi-Config" . -B build -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=cmake/toolchains/ios.cmake -DPLATFORM=OS64 -DYUP_ENABLE_TESTS=ON -DYUP_ENABLE_EXAMPLES=ON
cmake --build build --config Release --parallel 4

Wasm

Use Emscripten’s helper command, after having activated the emsdk (refer to https://emscripten.org/docs/getting_started/downloads.html how to install and activate Emscripten):

emcmake cmake -G "Ninja Multi-Config" . -B build -DYUP_ENABLE_TESTS=ON -DYUP_ENABLE_EXAMPLES=ON
cmake --build build --config Release --parallel 4
python3 -m http.server -d build

These command builds the project in Release mode. Replace Release with Debug if you need a debug build.

Running Tests and Examples

After compilation, you can validate the build and explore YUP’s features:

• Run Tests: Build and execute the yup_tests target to run the automated test suite.

• Build Examples: Compile example targets like example_app, example_console, or example_render to see practical implementations.

Running Your First Application

Here is a simple example of creating a basic window using YUP, save this as main.cpp:

#include <juce_core/juce_core.h>
#include <juce_events/juce_events.h>
#include <yup_graphics/yup_graphics.h>
#include <yup_gui/yup_gui.h>

class MyWindow : public yup::DocumentWindow
{
public:
    MyWindow()
        : yup::DocumentWindow (yup::ComponentNative::Options(), {})
    {
        setTitle ("MyWindow");

        takeFocus();
    }

    void paint (yup::Graphics& g) override
    {
        g.fillAll (0xffffffff);
    }

    void userTriedToCloseWindow() override
    {
        yup::YUPApplication::getInstance()->systemRequestedQuit();
    }
};

struct MyApplication : yup::YUPApplication
{
    MyApplication() = default;

    const yup::String getApplicationName() override
    {
        return "MyApplication";
    }

    const yup::String getApplicationVersion() override
    {
        return "1.0";
    }

    void initialise (const yup::String& commandLineParameters) override
    {
        window = std::make_unique<MyWindow>();
        window->centreWithSize ({ 1080, 2400 });
        window->setVisible (true);
        window->toFront();
    }

    void shutdown() override
    {
        window.reset();
    }

private:
    std::unique_ptr<MyWindow> window;
};

START_JUCE_APPLICATION (MyApplication)

And add this as CMakeLists.txt:

# TODO

Documentation

For full documentation, including more detailed tutorials and comprehensive API references, please visit YUP Documentation.

Community Engagement

Join our growing community and contribute to the YUP project. Connect with us and other YUP developers:

• GitHub: YUP Repository

Important

We are looking for collaborators to bring forward the framework!

License

YUP is distributed under the ISC License, supporting both personal and commercial use, modification, and distribution without restrictions.

Acknowledgments

YUP was born in response to JUCE8’s shift to a more restrictive licensing model. By forking JUCE7’s community-driven, ISC-licensed modules, we aim to preserve and continue a legacy of high-quality, freely accessible software development. We are grateful to the JUCE7 community for laying the groundwork for this initiative.