Better ubuntu (apt-get) install instructions

[taiya]

I know how to compile from sources, but it would be great if you could provide instructions on how to install glfw3 (system/root level) by leveraging the debian packages (ubuntu).

It seems there are some repositories containing glfw3, but from this page it is not clear which repositories should be added: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/glfw3

This stackoverflow post also discusses similar issues, but there is not straightforward solution that was identified: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17768008/how-to-build-install-glfw-3-and-use-it-in-a-linux-project

This is another github issue that seems to address a similar problem:
filipwasil/fillwave#58

As you can see, it seems to be a pretty widespread question! :)

[taiya]

By the way, this "works" but I don't love the fact I rely on an independent "keithw" repository!

(Tested on a virgin copy of Ubuntu 16.04)
Add the following line to /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/keithw/glfw3/ubuntu trusty main

Then execute these commands

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libglfw3
sudo apt-get install libglfw3-dev

The library should now be available here:

/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libglfw.so
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libglfw.so.3
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libglfw.so.3.1

And the headers here:

/usr/include/GLFW/glfw3.h

[jcowgill]

The first link you posted is to the main Ubuntu repositories. If you have 14.10 or later and you only want a shared library, you can just run this to get glfw3:

sudo apt-get install libglfw3-dev

You don't need any extra repositories.

[taiya]

Right, I guess I assumed I needed this one, which was not on the repo. Nonetheless, a google search didn't pop up anything on how to get glfw3 installed on Ubuntu beside what I show above. Perhaps you should include what you say above on your official page?

sudo apt-get install libglfw3-dev

[elmindreda]

The main reason there aren't any package installation instructions any more is that many distros have often lagged far behind the current stable version and some (not mentioning any names of Fedora) used to ship with random, buggy pre-release snapshots.

Using the distro package is fine if one is making FOSS that will also be packaged or is making personal projects where stability and transferability aren't important. Instead I try to make GLFW easy to build as part of a larger project, like fillwave is doing.

[taiya]

@elmindreda I am not saying that having a great build-from-sources system is not good, but having clear instructions on how to fetch it in standard distros simplifies people's life substantially.
When you have 20+ libraries to install, compiling each from sources is cumbersome.

Further, I use this library for student assignment/projects, and as they are not very experienced C++ developers, a non packaged library can create a substantial problem...

[elmindreda]

I will look into whether the current set of packages are worth mentioning for 3.3.

[kevinkit]

+1