libavengl: a simple cross-platform 2D graphics library

The libavengl library provides a dynamic loader for the OpenGL ES 2.0 API and an API for drawing 2D shapes, textures, text, and an immediate mode UI. It vendors the GLFW and STB TrueType libraries, along with the headers for OpenGL ES 2.0, Wayland, X11, and xkbcommon.

The provided drawing APIs all use a common subset of desktop OpenGL 2.1 and OpenGL ES 2.0, and the provided GLFW wrapper will automatically load OpenGL 2.1 as a runtime backup if OpenGL ES 2.0 support fails to load. A helper macro is provided to runtime select compatible shader preludes (GLSL version, etc.) for the loaded API.

Platform support

I've tested the project on x86_64 machines running Windows, Linux (gnu or musl libc, X11 or Wayland display manager), and FreeBSD (X11 or Wayland). Theoretically, it should run on other architectures as well. Apple operating systems are not supported at the moment as I don't have an Apple device to test on. Web platforms are supported via Emscripten.

Testing the loader

To build and test the loader, run:

make
./build test

You should see some colored shapes, colored rounded shapes, and a checkered square.

Cleaning up

To clean test build artifacts, run:

./build clean
make clean

Example

A full example application using libavengl is the algorithm visualization in libavengraph.