Migrating to SDL 3.0

This guide provides useful information for migrating applications from SDL 2.0 to SDL 3.0.

Details on API changes are organized by SDL 2.0 header below.

The file with your main() function should include <SDL3/SDL_main.h>, as that is no longer included in SDL.h.

Many functions and symbols have been renamed. We have provided a handy Python script rename_symbols.py to rename SDL2 functions to their SDL3 counterparts:

rename_symbols.py --all-symbols source_code_path

It's also possible to apply a semantic patch to migrate more easily to SDL3: SDL_migration.cocci

SDL headers should now be included as #include <SDL3/SDL.h>. Typically that's the only SDL header you'll need in your application unless you are using OpenGL or Vulkan functionality. SDL_image, SDL_mixer, SDL_net, SDL_ttf and SDL_rtf have also their preferred include path changed: for SDL_image, it becomes #include <SDL3_image/SDL_image.h>. We have provided a handy Python script rename_headers.py to rename SDL2 headers to their SDL3 counterparts:

rename_headers.py source_code_path

Some macros are renamed and/or removed in SDL3. We have provided a handy Python script rename_macros.py to replace these, and also add fixme comments on how to further improve the code:

rename_macros.py source_code_path

CMake users should use this snippet to include SDL support in their project:

find_package(SDL3 REQUIRED CONFIG REQUIRED COMPONENTS SDL3)
target_link_libraries(mygame PRIVATE SDL3::SDL3)

Autotools users should use this snippet to include SDL support in their project:

PKG_CHECK_MODULES([SDL3], [sdl3])

and then add $SDL3_CFLAGS to their project CFLAGS and $SDL3_LIBS to their project LDFLAGS.

Makefile users can use this snippet to include SDL support in their project:

CFLAGS += $(shell pkg-config sdl3 --cflags)
LDFLAGS += $(shell pkg-config sdl3 --libs)

The SDL3test library has been renamed SDL3_test.

The SDLmain library has been removed, it's been entirely replaced by SDL_main.h.

The vi format comments have been removed from source code. Vim users can use the editorconfig plugin to automatically set tab spacing for the SDL coding style.

Installed SDL CMake configuration files no longer define SDL3_PREFIX, SDL3_EXEC_PREFIX, SDL3_INCLUDE_DIR, SDL3_INCLUDE_DIRS, SDL3_BINDIR or SDL3_LIBDIR. Users are expected to use CMake generator expressions with SDL3::SDL3, SDL3::SDL3-shared, SDL3::SDL3-static or SDL3::Headers. By no longer defining these CMake variables, using a system SDL3 or using a vendoring SDL3 behave in the same way.

SDL_atomic.h

The following structures have been renamed:

SDL_atomic_t => SDL_AtomicInt

The following functions have been renamed:

SDL_AtomicCAS() => SDL_AtomicCompareAndSwap()
SDL_AtomicCASPtr() => SDL_AtomicCompareAndSwapPointer()
SDL_AtomicLock() => SDL_LockSpinlock()
SDL_AtomicTryLock() => SDL_TryLockSpinlock()
SDL_AtomicUnlock() => SDL_UnlockSpinlock()

SDL_audio.h

The audio subsystem in SDL3 is dramatically different than SDL2. The primary way to play audio is no longer an audio callback; instead you bind SDL_AudioStreams to devices; however, there is still a callback method available if needed.

The SDL 1.2 audio compatibility API has also been removed, as it was a simplified version of the audio callback interface.

SDL3 will not implicitly initialize the audio subsystem on your behalf if you open a device without doing so. Please explicitly call SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_AUDIO) at some point.

SDL2 referred to audio devices that record sound as "capture" devices, and ones that play sound to speakers as "output" devices. In SDL3, we've changed this terminology to be "recording" devices and "playback" devices, which we hope is more clear.

SDL3's audio subsystem offers an enormous amount of power over SDL2, but if you just want a simple migration of your existing code, you can ignore most of it. The simplest migration path from SDL2 looks something like this:

In SDL2, you might have done something like this to play audio...

    void SDLCALL MyAudioCallback(void *userdata, Uint8 * stream, int len)
    {
        /* Calculate a little more audio here, maybe using `userdata`, write it to `stream` */
    }

    /* ...somewhere near startup... */
    SDL_AudioSpec my_desired_audio_format;
    SDL_zero(my_desired_audio_format);
    my_desired_audio_format.format = AUDIO_S16;
    my_desired_audio_format.channels = 2;
    my_desired_audio_format.freq = 44100;
    my_desired_audio_format.samples = 1024;
    my_desired_audio_format.callback = MyAudioCallback;
    my_desired_audio_format.userdata = &my_audio_callback_user_data;
    SDL_AudioDeviceID my_audio_device = SDL_OpenAudioDevice(NULL, 0, &my_desired_audio_format, NULL, 0);
    SDL_PauseAudioDevice(my_audio_device, 0);

...in SDL3, you can do this...

    void SDLCALL MyNewAudioCallback(void *userdata, SDL_AudioStream *stream, int additional_amount, int total_amount)
    {
        /* Calculate a little more audio here, maybe using `userdata`, write it to `stream`
         *
         * If you want to use the original callback, you could do something like this:
         */
        if (additional_amount > 0) {
            Uint8 *data = SDL_stack_alloc(Uint8, additional_amount);
            if (data) {
                MyAudioCallback(userdata, data, additional_amount);
                SDL_PutAudioStreamData(stream, data, additional_amount);
                SDL_stack_free(data);
            }
        }
    }

    /* ...somewhere near startup... */
    const SDL_AudioSpec spec = { SDL_AUDIO_S16, 2, 44100 };
    SDL_AudioStream *stream = SDL_OpenAudioDeviceStream(SDL_AUDIO_DEVICE_DEFAULT_PLAYBACK, &spec, MyNewAudioCallback, &my_audio_callback_user_data);
    SDL_ResumeAudioDevice(SDL_GetAudioStreamDevice(stream));

If you used SDL_QueueAudio instead of a callback in SDL2, this is also straightforward.

    /* ...somewhere near startup... */
    const SDL_AudioSpec spec = { SDL_AUDIO_S16, 2, 44100 };
    SDL_AudioStream *stream = SDL_OpenAudioDeviceStream(SDL_AUDIO_DEVICE_DEFAULT_PLAYBACK, &spec, NULL, NULL);
    SDL_ResumeAudioDevice(SDL_GetAudioStreamDevice(stream));

    /* ...in your main loop... */
    /* calculate a little more audio into `buf`, add it to `stream` */
    SDL_PutAudioStreamData(stream, buf, buflen);

...these same migration examples apply to audio recording, just using SDL_GetAudioStreamData instead of SDL_PutAudioStreamData.

SDL_AudioInit() and SDL_AudioQuit() have been removed. Instead you can call SDL_InitSubSystem() and SDL_QuitSubSystem() with SDL_INIT_AUDIO, which will properly refcount the subsystems. You can choose a specific audio driver using SDL_AUDIO_DRIVER hint.

The SDL_AUDIO_ALLOW_* symbols have been removed; now one may request the format they desire from the audio device, but ultimately SDL_AudioStream will manage the difference. One can use SDL_GetAudioDeviceFormat() to see what the final format is, if any "allowed" changes should be accomodated by the app.

SDL_AudioDeviceID now represents both an open audio device's handle (a "logical" device) and the instance ID that the hardware owns as long as it exists on the system (a "physical" device). The separation between device instances and device indexes is gone, and logical and physical devices are almost entirely interchangeable at the API level.

Devices are opened by physical device instance ID, and a new logical instance ID is generated by the open operation; This allows any device to be opened multiple times, possibly by unrelated pieces of code. SDL will manage the logical devices to provide a single stream of audio to the physical device behind the scenes.

Devices are not opened by an arbitrary string name anymore, but by device instance ID (or magic numbers to request a reasonable default, like a NULL string in SDL2). In SDL2, the string was used to open both a standard list of system devices, but also allowed for arbitrary devices, such as hostnames of network sound servers. In SDL3, many of the backends that supported arbitrary device names are obsolete and have been removed; of those that remain, arbitrary devices will be opened with a default device ID and an SDL_hint, so specific end-users can set an environment variable to fit their needs and apps don't have to concern themselves with it.

Many functions that would accept a device index and an iscapture parameter now just take an SDL_AudioDeviceID, as they are unique across all devices, instead of separate indices into playback and recording device lists.

Rather than iterating over audio devices using a device index, there are new functions, SDL_GetAudioPlaybackDevices() and SDL_GetAudioRecordingDevices(), to get the current list of devices, and new functions to get information about devices from their instance ID:

{
    if (SDL_InitSubSystem(SDL_INIT_AUDIO) == 0) {
        int i, num_devices;
        SDL_AudioDeviceID *devices = SDL_GetAudioPlaybackDevices(&num_devices);
        if (devices) {
            for (i = 0; i < num_devices; ++i) {
                SDL_AudioDeviceID instance_id = devices[i];
                const char *name = SDL_GetAudioDeviceName(instance_id);
                SDL_Log("AudioDevice %" SDL_PRIu32 ": %s\n", instance_id, name);
            }
            SDL_free(devices);
        }
        SDL_QuitSubSystem(SDL_INIT_AUDIO);
    }
}

SDL_LockAudioDevice() and SDL_UnlockAudioDevice() have been removed, since there is no callback in another thread to protect. SDL's audio subsystem and SDL_AudioStream maintain their own locks internally, so audio streams are safe to use from any thread. If the app assigns a callback to a specific stream, it can use the stream's lock through SDL_LockAudioStream() if necessary.

SDL_PauseAudioDevice() no longer takes a second argument; it always pauses the device. To unpause, use SDL_ResumeAudioDevice().

Audio devices, opened by SDL_OpenAudioDevice(), no longer start in a paused state, as they don't begin processing audio until a stream is bound.

SDL_GetAudioDeviceStatus() has been removed; there is now SDL_AudioDevicePaused().

SDL_QueueAudio(), SDL_DequeueAudio, and SDL_ClearQueuedAudio and SDL_GetQueuedAudioSize() have been removed; an SDL_AudioStream bound to a device provides the exact same functionality.

APIs that use channel counts used to use a Uint8 for the channel; now they use int.

SDL_AudioSpec has been reduced; now it only holds format, channel, and sample rate. SDL_GetSilenceValueForFormat() can provide the information from the SDL_AudioSpec's silence field. The other SDL2 SDL_AudioSpec fields aren't relevant anymore.

SDL_GetAudioDeviceSpec() is removed; use SDL_GetAudioDeviceFormat() instead.

SDL_GetDefaultAudioInfo() is removed; SDL_GetAudioDeviceFormat() with SDL_AUDIO_DEVICE_DEFAULT_PLAYBACK or SDL_AUDIO_DEVICE_DEFAULT_RECORDING. There is no replacement for querying the default device name; the string is no longer used to open devices, and SDL3 will migrate between physical devices on the fly if the system default changes, so if you must show this to the user, a generic name like "System default" is recommended.

SDL_MixAudioFormat() and SDL_MIX_MAXVOLUME have been removed in favour of SDL_MixAudio(), which now takes the audio format, and a float volume between 0.0 and 1.0.

SDL_FreeWAV has been removed and calls can be replaced with SDL_free.

SDL_LoadWAV() is a proper function now and no longer a macro (but offers the same functionality otherwise).

SDL_LoadWAV_IO() and SDL_LoadWAV() return an int now: zero on success, -1 on error, like most of SDL. They no longer return a pointer to an SDL_AudioSpec.

SDL_AudioCVT interface has been removed, the SDL_AudioStream interface (for audio supplied in pieces) or the new SDL_ConvertAudioSamples() function (for converting a complete audio buffer in one call) can be used instead.

Code that used to look like this:

    SDL_AudioCVT cvt;
    SDL_BuildAudioCVT(&cvt, src_format, src_channels, src_rate, dst_format, dst_channels, dst_rate);
    cvt.len = src_len;
    cvt.buf = (Uint8 *) SDL_malloc(src_len * cvt.len_mult);
    SDL_memcpy(cvt.buf, src_data, src_len);
    SDL_ConvertAudio(&cvt);
    do_something(cvt.buf, cvt.len_cvt);

should be changed to:

    Uint8 *dst_data = NULL;
    int dst_len = 0;
    const SDL_AudioSpec src_spec = { src_format, src_channels, src_rate };
    const SDL_AudioSpec dst_spec = { dst_format, dst_channels, dst_rate };
    if (SDL_ConvertAudioSamples(&src_spec, src_data, src_len, &dst_spec, &dst_data, &dst_len) < 0) {
        /* error */
    }
    do_something(dst_data, dst_len);
    SDL_free(dst_data);

AUDIO_U16, AUDIO_U16LSB, AUDIO_U16MSB, and AUDIO_U16SYS have been removed. They were not heavily used, and one could not memset a buffer in this format to silence with a single byte value. Use a different audio format.

If you need to convert U16 audio data to a still-supported format at runtime, the fastest, lossless conversion is to SDL_AUDIO_S16:

    /* this converts the buffer in-place. The buffer size does not change. */
    Sint16 *audio_ui16_to_si16(Uint16 *buffer, const size_t num_samples)
    {
        size_t i;
        const Uint16 *src = buffer;
        Sint16 *dst = (Sint16 *) buffer;

        for (i = 0; i < num_samples; i++) {
            dst[i] = (Sint16) (src[i] ^ 0x8000);
        }

        return dst;
    }

All remaining AUDIO_* symbols have been renamed to SDL_AUDIO_* for API consistency, but othewise are identical in value and usage.

In SDL2, SDL_AudioStream would convert/resample audio data during input (via SDL_AudioStreamPut). In SDL3, it does this work when requesting audio (via SDL_GetAudioStreamData, which would have been SDL_AudioStreamGet in SDL2). The way you use an AudioStream is roughly the same, just be aware that the workload moved to a different phase.

In SDL2, SDL_AudioStreamAvailable() returns 0 if passed a NULL stream. In SDL3, the equivalent SDL_GetAudioStreamAvailable() call returns -1 and sets an error string, which matches other audiostream APIs' behavior.

In SDL2, SDL_AUDIODEVICEREMOVED events would fire for open devices with the which field set to the SDL_AudioDeviceID of the lost device, and in later SDL2 releases, would also fire this event with a which field of zero for unopened devices, to signify that the app might want to refresh the available device list. In SDL3, this event works the same, except it won't ever fire with a zero; in this case it'll return the physical device's SDL_AudioDeviceID. Any still-open SDL_AudioDeviceIDs generated from this device with SDL_OpenAudioDevice() will also fire a separate event.

The following functions have been renamed:

SDL_AudioStreamAvailable() => SDL_GetAudioStreamAvailable()
SDL_AudioStreamClear() => SDL_ClearAudioStream()
SDL_AudioStreamFlush() => SDL_FlushAudioStream()
SDL_AudioStreamGet() => SDL_GetAudioStreamData()
SDL_AudioStreamPut() => SDL_PutAudioStreamData()
SDL_FreeAudioStream() => SDL_DestroyAudioStream()
SDL_LoadWAV_RW() => SDL_LoadWAV_IO()
SDL_MixAudioFormat() => SDL_MixAudio()
SDL_NewAudioStream() => SDL_CreateAudioStream()

The following functions have been removed:

SDL_GetNumAudioDevices()
SDL_GetAudioDeviceSpec()
SDL_ConvertAudio()
SDL_BuildAudioCVT()
SDL_OpenAudio()
SDL_CloseAudio()
SDL_PauseAudio()
SDL_GetAudioStatus()
SDL_GetAudioDeviceStatus()
SDL_GetDefaultAudioInfo()
SDL_LockAudio()
SDL_LockAudioDevice()
SDL_UnlockAudio()
SDL_UnlockAudioDevice()
SDL_MixAudio()
SDL_QueueAudio()
SDL_DequeueAudio()
SDL_ClearAudioQueue()
SDL_GetQueuedAudioSize()

The following symbols have been renamed:

AUDIO_F32 => SDL_AUDIO_F32LE
AUDIO_F32LSB => SDL_AUDIO_F32LE
AUDIO_F32MSB => SDL_AUDIO_F32BE
AUDIO_F32SYS => SDL_AUDIO_F32
AUDIO_S16 => SDL_AUDIO_S16LE
AUDIO_S16LSB => SDL_AUDIO_S16LE
AUDIO_S16MSB => SDL_AUDIO_S16BE
AUDIO_S16SYS => SDL_AUDIO_S16
AUDIO_S32 => SDL_AUDIO_S32LE
AUDIO_S32LSB => SDL_AUDIO_S32LE
AUDIO_S32MSB => SDL_AUDIO_S32BE
AUDIO_S32SYS => SDL_AUDIO_S32
AUDIO_S8 => SDL_AUDIO_S8
AUDIO_U8 => SDL_AUDIO_U8

The following symbols have been removed:

SDL_MIX_MAXVOLUME - mixer volume is now a float between 0.0 and 1.0

SDL_cpuinfo.h

The intrinsics headers (mmintrin.h, etc.) have been moved to <SDL3/SDL_intrin.h> and are no longer automatically included in SDL.h.

SDL_Has3DNow() has been removed; there is no replacement.

SDL_HasRDTSC() has been removed; there is no replacement. Don't use the RDTSC opcode in modern times, use SDL_GetPerformanceCounter and SDL_GetPerformanceFrequency instead.

SDL_SIMDAlloc(), SDL_SIMDRealloc(), and SDL_SIMDFree() have been removed. You can use SDL_aligned_alloc() and SDL_aligned_free() with SDL_GetSIMDAlignment() to get the same functionality.

The following functions have been renamed:

SDL_SIMDGetAlignment() => SDL_GetSIMDAlignment()

SDL_endian.h

The following functions have been renamed:

SDL_SwapBE16() => SDL_Swap16BE()
SDL_SwapBE32() => SDL_Swap32BE()
SDL_SwapBE64() => SDL_Swap64BE()
SDL_SwapLE16() => SDL_Swap16LE()
SDL_SwapLE32() => SDL_Swap32LE()
SDL_SwapLE64() => SDL_Swap64LE()

SDL_error.h

The following functions have been removed:

SDL_GetErrorMsg() - Can be implemented as SDL_strlcpy(errstr, SDL_GetError(), maxlen);

SDL_events.h

The timestamp member of the SDL_Event structure now represents nanoseconds, and is populated with SDL_GetTicksNS()

The timestamp_us member of the sensor events has been renamed sensor_timestamp and now represents nanoseconds. This value is filled in from the hardware, if available, and may not be synchronized with values returned from SDL_GetTicksNS().

You should set the event.common.timestamp field before passing an event to SDL_PushEvent(). If the timestamp is 0 it will be filled in with SDL_GetTicksNS().

Event memory is now managed by SDL, so you should not free the data in SDL_EVENT_DROP_FILE, and if you want to hold onto the text in SDL_EVENT_TEXT_EDITING and SDL_EVENT_TEXT_INPUT events, you should make a copy of it. SDL_TEXTINPUTEVENT_TEXT_SIZE is no longer necessary and has been removed.

Mouse events use floating point values for mouse coordinates and relative motion values. You can get sub-pixel motion depending on the platform and display scaling.

The SDL_DISPLAYEVENT_* events have been moved to top level events, and SDL_DISPLAYEVENT has been removed. In general, handling this change just means checking for the individual events instead of first checking for SDL_DISPLAYEVENT and then checking for display events. You can compare the event >= SDL_EVENT_DISPLAY_FIRST and <= SDL_EVENT_DISPLAY_LAST if you need to see whether it's a display event.

The SDL_WINDOWEVENT_* events have been moved to top level events, and SDL_WINDOWEVENT has been removed. In general, handling this change just means checking for the individual events instead of first checking for SDL_WINDOWEVENT and then checking for window events. You can compare the event >= SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_FIRST and <= SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_LAST if you need to see whether it's a window event.

The SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_RESIZED event is always sent, even in response to SDL_SetWindowSize().

The SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_SIZE_CHANGED event has been removed, and you can use SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_PIXEL_SIZE_CHANGED to detect window backbuffer size changes.

The keysym field of key events has been removed to remove one level of indirection, and sym has been renamed key.

Code that looked like this:

    SDL_Event event;
    SDL_Keycode key = event.key.keysym.sym;
    SDL_Keymod mod = event.key.keysym.mod;

now looks like this:

    SDL_Event event;
    SDL_Keycode key = event.key.key;
    SDL_Keymod mod = event.key.mod;

The keycode in key events is affected by modifiers by default. e.g. pressing the A key would generate the keycode SDLK_a, or 'a', and pressing it while holding the shift key would generate the keycode SDLK_A, or 'A'. This behavior can be customized with SDL_HINT_KEYCODE_OPTIONS.

The gamepad event structures caxis, cbutton, cdevice, ctouchpad, and csensor have been renamed gaxis, gbutton, gdevice, gtouchpad, and gsensor.

The mouseX and mouseY fields of SDL_MouseWheelEvent have been renamed mouse_x and mouse_y.

The touchId and fingerId fields of SDL_TouchFingerEvent have been renamed touchID and fingerID.

The level field of SDL_JoyBatteryEvent has been split into state and percent.

The iscapture field of SDL_AudioDeviceEvent has been renamed recording.

SDL_QUERY, SDL_IGNORE, SDL_ENABLE, and SDL_DISABLE have been removed. You can use the functions SDL_SetEventEnabled() and SDL_EventEnabled() to set and query event processing state.

SDL_AddEventWatch() now returns -1 if it fails because it ran out of memory and couldn't add the event watch callback.

SDL_RegisterEvents() now returns 0 if it couldn't allocate any user events.

The following symbols have been renamed:

SDL_APP_DIDENTERBACKGROUND => SDL_EVENT_DID_ENTER_BACKGROUND
SDL_APP_DIDENTERFOREGROUND => SDL_EVENT_DID_ENTER_FOREGROUND
SDL_APP_LOWMEMORY => SDL_EVENT_LOW_MEMORY
SDL_APP_TERMINATING => SDL_EVENT_TERMINATING
SDL_APP_WILLENTERBACKGROUND => SDL_EVENT_WILL_ENTER_BACKGROUND
SDL_APP_WILLENTERFOREGROUND => SDL_EVENT_WILL_ENTER_FOREGROUND
SDL_AUDIODEVICEADDED => SDL_EVENT_AUDIO_DEVICE_ADDED
SDL_AUDIODEVICEREMOVED => SDL_EVENT_AUDIO_DEVICE_REMOVED
SDL_CLIPBOARDUPDATE => SDL_EVENT_CLIPBOARD_UPDATE
SDL_CONTROLLERAXISMOTION => SDL_EVENT_GAMEPAD_AXIS_MOTION
SDL_CONTROLLERBUTTONDOWN => SDL_EVENT_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_DOWN
SDL_CONTROLLERBUTTONUP => SDL_EVENT_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_UP
SDL_CONTROLLERDEVICEADDED => SDL_EVENT_GAMEPAD_ADDED
SDL_CONTROLLERDEVICEREMAPPED => SDL_EVENT_GAMEPAD_REMAPPED
SDL_CONTROLLERDEVICEREMOVED => SDL_EVENT_GAMEPAD_REMOVED
SDL_CONTROLLERSENSORUPDATE => SDL_EVENT_GAMEPAD_SENSOR_UPDATE
SDL_CONTROLLERSTEAMHANDLEUPDATED => SDL_EVENT_GAMEPAD_STEAM_HANDLE_UPDATED
SDL_CONTROLLERTOUCHPADDOWN => SDL_EVENT_GAMEPAD_TOUCHPAD_DOWN
SDL_CONTROLLERTOUCHPADMOTION => SDL_EVENT_GAMEPAD_TOUCHPAD_MOTION
SDL_CONTROLLERTOUCHPADUP => SDL_EVENT_GAMEPAD_TOUCHPAD_UP
SDL_DROPBEGIN => SDL_EVENT_DROP_BEGIN
SDL_DROPCOMPLETE => SDL_EVENT_DROP_COMPLETE
SDL_DROPFILE => SDL_EVENT_DROP_FILE
SDL_DROPTEXT => SDL_EVENT_DROP_TEXT
SDL_FINGERDOWN => SDL_EVENT_FINGER_DOWN
SDL_FINGERMOTION => SDL_EVENT_FINGER_MOTION
SDL_FINGERUP => SDL_EVENT_FINGER_UP
SDL_FIRSTEVENT => SDL_EVENT_FIRST
SDL_JOYAXISMOTION => SDL_EVENT_JOYSTICK_AXIS_MOTION
SDL_JOYBALLMOTION => SDL_EVENT_JOYSTICK_BALL_MOTION
SDL_JOYBATTERYUPDATED => SDL_EVENT_JOYSTICK_BATTERY_UPDATED
SDL_JOYBUTTONDOWN => SDL_EVENT_JOYSTICK_BUTTON_DOWN
SDL_JOYBUTTONUP => SDL_EVENT_JOYSTICK_BUTTON_UP
SDL_JOYDEVICEADDED => SDL_EVENT_JOYSTICK_ADDED
SDL_JOYDEVICEREMOVED => SDL_EVENT_JOYSTICK_REMOVED
SDL_JOYHATMOTION => SDL_EVENT_JOYSTICK_HAT_MOTION
SDL_KEYDOWN => SDL_EVENT_KEY_DOWN
SDL_KEYMAPCHANGED => SDL_EVENT_KEYMAP_CHANGED
SDL_KEYUP => SDL_EVENT_KEY_UP
SDL_LASTEVENT => SDL_EVENT_LAST
SDL_LOCALECHANGED => SDL_EVENT_LOCALE_CHANGED
SDL_MOUSEBUTTONDOWN => SDL_EVENT_MOUSE_BUTTON_DOWN
SDL_MOUSEBUTTONUP => SDL_EVENT_MOUSE_BUTTON_UP
SDL_MOUSEMOTION => SDL_EVENT_MOUSE_MOTION
SDL_MOUSEWHEEL => SDL_EVENT_MOUSE_WHEEL
SDL_POLLSENTINEL => SDL_EVENT_POLL_SENTINEL
SDL_QUIT => SDL_EVENT_QUIT
SDL_RENDER_DEVICE_RESET => SDL_EVENT_RENDER_DEVICE_RESET
SDL_RENDER_TARGETS_RESET => SDL_EVENT_RENDER_TARGETS_RESET
SDL_SENSORUPDATE => SDL_EVENT_SENSOR_UPDATE
SDL_TEXTEDITING => SDL_EVENT_TEXT_EDITING
SDL_TEXTEDITING_EXT => SDL_EVENT_TEXT_EDITING_EXT
SDL_TEXTINPUT => SDL_EVENT_TEXT_INPUT
SDL_USEREVENT => SDL_EVENT_USER

The following symbols have been removed:

SDL_DROPEVENT_DATA_SIZE - drop event data is dynamically allocated
SDL_SYSWMEVENT - you can use SDL_SetWindowsMessageHook() and SDL_SetX11EventHook() to watch and modify system events before SDL sees them.
SDL_TEXTEDITINGEVENT_TEXT_SIZE - text editing event data is dynamically allocated

The following structures have been renamed:

SDL_ControllerAxisEvent => SDL_GamepadAxisEvent
SDL_ControllerButtonEvent => SDL_GamepadButtonEvent
SDL_ControllerDeviceEvent => SDL_GamepadDeviceEvent
SDL_ControllerSensorEvent => SDL_GamepadSensorEvent
SDL_ControllerTouchpadEvent => SDL_GamepadTouchpadEvent

The following functions have been removed:

SDL_EventState() - replaced with SDL_SetEventEnabled()
SDL_GetEventState() - replaced with SDL_EventEnabled()

The following enums have been renamed:

SDL_eventaction => SDL_EventAction

SDL_gamecontroller.h

SDL_gamecontroller.h has been renamed SDL_gamepad.h, and all APIs have been renamed to match.

The SDL_EVENT_GAMEPAD_ADDED event now provides the joystick instance ID in the which member of the cdevice event structure.

The functions SDL_GetGamepads(), SDL_GetGamepadInstanceName(), SDL_GetGamepadInstancePath(), SDL_GetGamepadInstancePlayerIndex(), SDL_GetGamepadInstanceGUID(), SDL_GetGamepadInstanceVendor(), SDL_GetGamepadInstanceProduct(), SDL_GetGamepadInstanceProductVersion(), and SDL_GetGamepadInstanceType() have been added to directly query the list of available gamepads.

The gamepad face buttons have been renamed from A/B/X/Y to North/South/East/West to indicate that they are positional rather than hardware-specific. You can use SDL_GetGamepadButtonLabel() to get the labels for the face buttons, e.g. A/B/X/Y or Cross/Circle/Square/Triangle. The hint SDL_HINT_GAMECONTROLLER_USE_BUTTON_LABELS is ignored, and mappings that use this hint are translated correctly into positional buttons. Applications should provide a way for users to swap between South/East as their accept/cancel buttons, as this varies based on region and muscle memory. You can use an approach similar to the following to handle this:

#define CONFIRM_BUTTON SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_SOUTH
#define CANCEL_BUTTON SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_EAST

SDL_bool flipped_buttons;

void InitMappedButtons(SDL_Gamepad *gamepad)
{
    if (!GetFlippedButtonSetting(&flipped_buttons)) {
        if (SDL_GetGamepadButtonLabel(gamepad, SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_SOUTH) == SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_LABEL_B) {
            flipped_buttons = SDL_TRUE;
        } else {
            flipped_buttons = SDL_FALSE;
        }
    }
}

SDL_GamepadButton GetMappedButton(SDL_GamepadButton button)
{
    if (flipped_buttons) {
        switch (button) {
        case SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_SOUTH:
            return SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_EAST;
        case SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_EAST:
            return SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_SOUTH;
        case SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_WEST:
            return SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_NORTH;
        case SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_NORTH:
            return SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_WEST;
        default:
            break;
        }
    }
    return button;
}

SDL_GamepadButtonLabel GetConfirmActionLabel(SDL_Gamepad *gamepad)
{
    return SDL_GetGamepadButtonLabel(gamepad, GetMappedButton(CONFIRM_BUTTON));
}

SDL_GamepadButtonLabel GetCancelActionLabel(SDL_Gamepad *gamepad)
{
    return SDL_GetGamepadButtonLabel(gamepad, GetMappedButton(CANCEL_BUTTON));
}

void HandleGamepadEvent(SDL_Event *event)
{
    if (event->type == SDL_EVENT_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_DOWN) {
        switch (GetMappedButton(event->gbutton.button)) {
        case CONFIRM_BUTTON:
            /* Handle confirm action */
            break;
        case CANCEL_BUTTON:
            /* Handle cancel action */
            break;
        default:
            /* ... */
            break;
        }
    }
}

SDL_GameControllerGetSensorDataWithTimestamp() has been removed. If you want timestamps for the sensor data, you should use the sensor_timestamp member of SDL_EVENT_GAMEPAD_SENSOR_UPDATE events.

SDL_CONTROLLER_TYPE_VIRTUAL has been removed, so virtual controllers can emulate other gamepad types. If you need to know whether a controller is virtual, you can use SDL_IsJoystickVirtual().

SDL_CONTROLLER_TYPE_AMAZON_LUNA has been removed, and can be replaced with this code:

SDL_bool SDL_IsJoystickAmazonLunaController(Uint16 vendor_id, Uint16 product_id)
{
    return ((vendor_id == 0x1949 && product_id == 0x0419) ||
            (vendor_id == 0x0171 && product_id == 0x0419));
}

SDL_CONTROLLER_TYPE_GOOGLE_STADIA has been removed, and can be replaced with this code:

SDL_bool SDL_IsJoystickGoogleStadiaController(Uint16 vendor_id, Uint16 product_id)
{
    return (vendor_id == 0x18d1 && product_id == 0x9400);
}

SDL_CONTROLLER_TYPE_NVIDIA_SHIELD has been removed, and can be replaced with this code:

SDL_bool SDL_IsJoystickNVIDIASHIELDController(Uint16 vendor_id, Uint16 product_id)
{
    return (vendor_id == 0x0955 && (product_id == 0x7210 || product_id == 0x7214));
}

The inputType and outputType fields of SDL_GamepadBinding have been renamed input_type and output_type.

The following enums have been renamed:

SDL_GameControllerAxis => SDL_GamepadAxis
SDL_GameControllerBindType => SDL_GamepadBindingType
SDL_GameControllerButton => SDL_GamepadButton
SDL_GameControllerType => SDL_GamepadType

The following structures have been renamed:

SDL_GameController => SDL_Gamepad

The following functions have been renamed:

SDL_GameControllerAddMapping() => SDL_AddGamepadMapping()
SDL_GameControllerAddMappingsFromFile() => SDL_AddGamepadMappingsFromFile()
SDL_GameControllerAddMappingsFromRW() => SDL_AddGamepadMappingsFromIO()
SDL_GameControllerClose() => SDL_CloseGamepad()
SDL_GameControllerFromInstanceID() => SDL_GetGamepadFromInstanceID()
SDL_GameControllerFromPlayerIndex() => SDL_GetGamepadFromPlayerIndex()
SDL_GameControllerGetAppleSFSymbolsNameForAxis() => SDL_GetGamepadAppleSFSymbolsNameForAxis()
SDL_GameControllerGetAppleSFSymbolsNameForButton() => SDL_GetGamepadAppleSFSymbolsNameForButton()
SDL_GameControllerGetAttached() => SDL_GamepadConnected()
SDL_GameControllerGetAxis() => SDL_GetGamepadAxis()
SDL_GameControllerGetAxisFromString() => SDL_GetGamepadAxisFromString()
SDL_GameControllerGetButton() => SDL_GetGamepadButton()
SDL_GameControllerGetButtonFromString() => SDL_GetGamepadButtonFromString()
SDL_GameControllerGetFirmwareVersion() => SDL_GetGamepadFirmwareVersion()
SDL_GameControllerGetJoystick() => SDL_GetGamepadJoystick()
SDL_GameControllerGetNumTouchpadFingers() => SDL_GetNumGamepadTouchpadFingers()
SDL_GameControllerGetNumTouchpads() => SDL_GetNumGamepadTouchpads()
SDL_GameControllerGetPlayerIndex() => SDL_GetGamepadPlayerIndex()
SDL_GameControllerGetProduct() => SDL_GetGamepadProduct()
SDL_GameControllerGetProductVersion() => SDL_GetGamepadProductVersion()
SDL_GameControllerGetSensorData() => SDL_GetGamepadSensorData()
SDL_GameControllerGetSensorDataRate() => SDL_GetGamepadSensorDataRate()
SDL_GameControllerGetSerial() => SDL_GetGamepadSerial()
SDL_GameControllerGetSteamHandle() => SDL_GetGamepadSteamHandle()
SDL_GameControllerGetStringForAxis() => SDL_GetGamepadStringForAxis()
SDL_GameControllerGetStringForButton() => SDL_GetGamepadStringForButton()
SDL_GameControllerGetTouchpadFinger() => SDL_GetGamepadTouchpadFinger()
SDL_GameControllerGetType() => SDL_GetGamepadType()
SDL_GameControllerGetVendor() => SDL_GetGamepadVendor()
SDL_GameControllerHasAxis() => SDL_GamepadHasAxis()
SDL_GameControllerHasButton() => SDL_GamepadHasButton()
SDL_GameControllerHasSensor() => SDL_GamepadHasSensor()
SDL_GameControllerIsSensorEnabled() => SDL_GamepadSensorEnabled()
SDL_GameControllerMapping() => SDL_GetGamepadMapping()
SDL_GameControllerMappingForGUID() => SDL_GetGamepadMappingForGUID()
SDL_GameControllerName() => SDL_GetGamepadName()
SDL_GameControllerOpen() => SDL_OpenGamepad()
SDL_GameControllerPath() => SDL_GetGamepadPath()
SDL_GameControllerRumble() => SDL_RumbleGamepad()
SDL_GameControllerRumbleTriggers() => SDL_RumbleGamepadTriggers()
SDL_GameControllerSendEffect() => SDL_SendGamepadEffect()
SDL_GameControllerSetLED() => SDL_SetGamepadLED()
SDL_GameControllerSetPlayerIndex() => SDL_SetGamepadPlayerIndex()
SDL_GameControllerSetSensorEnabled() => SDL_SetGamepadSensorEnabled()
SDL_GameControllerUpdate() => SDL_UpdateGamepads()
SDL_IsGameController() => SDL_IsGamepad()

The following functions have been removed:

SDL_GameControllerEventState() - replaced with SDL_SetGamepadEventsEnabled() and SDL_GamepadEventsEnabled()
SDL_GameControllerGetBindForAxis() - replaced with SDL_GetGamepadBindings()
SDL_GameControllerGetBindForButton() - replaced with SDL_GetGamepadBindings()
SDL_GameControllerHasLED() - replaced with SDL_PROP_GAMEPAD_CAP_RGB_LED_BOOLEAN
SDL_GameControllerHasRumble() - replaced with SDL_PROP_GAMEPAD_CAP_RUMBLE_BOOLEAN
SDL_GameControllerHasRumbleTriggers() - replaced with SDL_PROP_GAMEPAD_CAP_TRIGGER_RUMBLE_BOOLEAN
SDL_GameControllerMappingForDeviceIndex() - replaced with SDL_GetGamepadInstanceMapping()
SDL_GameControllerMappingForIndex() - replaced with SDL_GetGamepadMappings()
SDL_GameControllerNameForIndex() - replaced with SDL_GetGamepadInstanceName()
SDL_GameControllerNumMappings() - replaced with SDL_GetGamepadMappings()
SDL_GameControllerPathForIndex() - replaced with SDL_GetGamepadInstancePath()
SDL_GameControllerTypeForIndex() - replaced with SDL_GetGamepadInstanceType()

The following symbols have been renamed:

SDL_CONTROLLER_AXIS_INVALID => SDL_GAMEPAD_AXIS_INVALID
SDL_CONTROLLER_AXIS_LEFTX => SDL_GAMEPAD_AXIS_LEFTX
SDL_CONTROLLER_AXIS_LEFTY => SDL_GAMEPAD_AXIS_LEFTY
SDL_CONTROLLER_AXIS_MAX => SDL_GAMEPAD_AXIS_MAX
SDL_CONTROLLER_AXIS_RIGHTX => SDL_GAMEPAD_AXIS_RIGHTX
SDL_CONTROLLER_AXIS_RIGHTY => SDL_GAMEPAD_AXIS_RIGHTY
SDL_CONTROLLER_AXIS_TRIGGERLEFT => SDL_GAMEPAD_AXIS_LEFT_TRIGGER
SDL_CONTROLLER_AXIS_TRIGGERRIGHT => SDL_GAMEPAD_AXIS_RIGHT_TRIGGER
SDL_CONTROLLER_BINDTYPE_AXIS => SDL_GAMEPAD_BINDTYPE_AXIS
SDL_CONTROLLER_BINDTYPE_BUTTON => SDL_GAMEPAD_BINDTYPE_BUTTON
SDL_CONTROLLER_BINDTYPE_HAT => SDL_GAMEPAD_BINDTYPE_HAT
SDL_CONTROLLER_BINDTYPE_NONE => SDL_GAMEPAD_BINDTYPE_NONE
SDL_CONTROLLER_BUTTON_A => SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_SOUTH
SDL_CONTROLLER_BUTTON_B => SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_EAST
SDL_CONTROLLER_BUTTON_BACK => SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_BACK
SDL_CONTROLLER_BUTTON_DPAD_DOWN => SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_DPAD_DOWN
SDL_CONTROLLER_BUTTON_DPAD_LEFT => SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_DPAD_LEFT
SDL_CONTROLLER_BUTTON_DPAD_RIGHT => SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_DPAD_RIGHT
SDL_CONTROLLER_BUTTON_DPAD_UP => SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_DPAD_UP
SDL_CONTROLLER_BUTTON_GUIDE => SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_GUIDE
SDL_CONTROLLER_BUTTON_INVALID => SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_INVALID
SDL_CONTROLLER_BUTTON_LEFTSHOULDER => SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_LEFT_SHOULDER
SDL_CONTROLLER_BUTTON_LEFTSTICK => SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_LEFT_STICK
SDL_CONTROLLER_BUTTON_MAX => SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_MAX
SDL_CONTROLLER_BUTTON_MISC1 => SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_MISC1
SDL_CONTROLLER_BUTTON_PADDLE1 => SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_RIGHT_PADDLE1
SDL_CONTROLLER_BUTTON_PADDLE2 => SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_LEFT_PADDLE1
SDL_CONTROLLER_BUTTON_PADDLE3 => SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_RIGHT_PADDLE2
SDL_CONTROLLER_BUTTON_PADDLE4 => SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_LEFT_PADDLE2
SDL_CONTROLLER_BUTTON_RIGHTSHOULDER => SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_RIGHT_SHOULDER
SDL_CONTROLLER_BUTTON_RIGHTSTICK => SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_RIGHT_STICK
SDL_CONTROLLER_BUTTON_START => SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_START
SDL_CONTROLLER_BUTTON_TOUCHPAD => SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_TOUCHPAD
SDL_CONTROLLER_BUTTON_X => SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_WEST
SDL_CONTROLLER_BUTTON_Y => SDL_GAMEPAD_BUTTON_NORTH
SDL_CONTROLLER_TYPE_NINTENDO_SWITCH_JOYCON_LEFT => SDL_GAMEPAD_TYPE_NINTENDO_SWITCH_JOYCON_LEFT
SDL_CONTROLLER_TYPE_NINTENDO_SWITCH_JOYCON_PAIR => SDL_GAMEPAD_TYPE_NINTENDO_SWITCH_JOYCON_PAIR
SDL_CONTROLLER_TYPE_NINTENDO_SWITCH_JOYCON_RIGHT => SDL_GAMEPAD_TYPE_NINTENDO_SWITCH_JOYCON_RIGHT
SDL_CONTROLLER_TYPE_NINTENDO_SWITCH_PRO => SDL_GAMEPAD_TYPE_NINTENDO_SWITCH_PRO
SDL_CONTROLLER_TYPE_PS3 => SDL_GAMEPAD_TYPE_PS3
SDL_CONTROLLER_TYPE_PS4 => SDL_GAMEPAD_TYPE_PS4
SDL_CONTROLLER_TYPE_PS5 => SDL_GAMEPAD_TYPE_PS5
SDL_CONTROLLER_TYPE_UNKNOWN => SDL_GAMEPAD_TYPE_STANDARD
SDL_CONTROLLER_TYPE_VIRTUAL => SDL_GAMEPAD_TYPE_VIRTUAL
SDL_CONTROLLER_TYPE_XBOX360 => SDL_GAMEPAD_TYPE_XBOX360
SDL_CONTROLLER_TYPE_XBOXONE => SDL_GAMEPAD_TYPE_XBOXONE

SDL_gesture.h

The gesture API has been removed. There is no replacement planned in SDL3. However, the SDL2 code has been moved to a single-header library that can be dropped into an SDL3 or SDL2 program, to continue to provide this functionality to your app and aid migration. That is located in the SDL_gesture GitHub repository.

SDL_haptic.h

Gamepads with simple rumble capability no longer show up in the SDL haptics interface, instead you should use SDL_RumbleGamepad().

Rather than iterating over haptic devices using device index, there is a new function SDL_GetHaptics() to get the current list of haptic devices, and new functions to get information about haptic devices from their instance ID:

{
    if (SDL_InitSubSystem(SDL_INIT_HAPTIC) == 0) {
        int i, num_haptics;
        SDL_HapticID *haptics = SDL_GetHaptics(&num_haptics);
        if (haptics) {
            for (i = 0; i < num_haptics; ++i) {
                SDL_HapticID instance_id = haptics[i];
                const char *name = SDL_GetHapticInstanceName(instance_id);

                SDL_Log("Haptic %" SDL_PRIu32 ": %s\n",
                        instance_id, name ? name : "Unknown");
            }
            SDL_free(haptics);
        }
        SDL_QuitSubSystem(SDL_INIT_HAPTIC);
    }
}

SDL_HapticEffectSupported(), SDL_HapticRumbleSupported(), and SDL_IsJoystickHaptic() now return SDL_bool instead of an optional negative error code.

The following functions have been renamed:

SDL_HapticClose() => SDL_CloseHaptic()
SDL_HapticDestroyEffect() => SDL_DestroyHapticEffect()
SDL_HapticGetEffectStatus() => SDL_GetHapticEffectStatus()
SDL_HapticNewEffect() => SDL_CreateHapticEffect()
SDL_HapticNumAxes() => SDL_GetNumHapticAxes()
SDL_HapticNumEffects() => SDL_GetMaxHapticEffects()
SDL_HapticNumEffectsPlaying() => SDL_GetMaxHapticEffectsPlaying()
SDL_HapticOpen() => SDL_OpenHaptic()
SDL_HapticOpenFromJoystick() => SDL_OpenHapticFromJoystick()
SDL_HapticOpenFromMouse() => SDL_OpenHapticFromMouse()
SDL_HapticPause() => SDL_PauseHaptic()
SDL_HapticQuery() => SDL_GetHapticFeatures()
SDL_HapticRumbleInit() => SDL_InitHapticRumble()
SDL_HapticRumblePlay() => SDL_PlayHapticRumble()
SDL_HapticRumbleStop() => SDL_StopHapticRumble()
SDL_HapticRunEffect() => SDL_RunHapticEffect()
SDL_HapticSetAutocenter() => SDL_SetHapticAutocenter()
SDL_HapticSetGain() => SDL_SetHapticGain()
SDL_HapticStopAll() => SDL_StopHapticEffects()
SDL_HapticStopEffect() => SDL_StopHapticEffect()
SDL_HapticUnpause() => SDL_ResumeHaptic()
SDL_HapticUpdateEffect() => SDL_UpdateHapticEffect()
SDL_JoystickIsHaptic() => SDL_IsJoystickHaptic()
SDL_MouseIsHaptic() => SDL_IsMouseHaptic()

The following functions have been removed:

SDL_HapticIndex() - replaced with SDL_GetHapticInstanceID()
SDL_HapticName() - replaced with SDL_GetHapticInstanceName()
SDL_HapticOpened() - replaced with SDL_GetHapticFromInstanceID()
SDL_NumHaptics() - replaced with SDL_GetHaptics()

SDL_hints.h

SDL_AddHintCallback() now returns a standard int result instead of void, returning 0 if the function succeeds or a negative error code if there was an error.

Calling SDL_GetHint() with the name of the hint being changed from within a hint callback will now return the new value rather than the old value. The old value is still passed as a parameter to the hint callback.

The following hints have been removed:

SDL_HINT_ACCELEROMETER_AS_JOYSTICK
SDL_HINT_GAMECONTROLLER_USE_BUTTON_LABELS - gamepad buttons are always positional
SDL_HINT_GRAB_KEYBOARD - use SDL_SetWindowKeyboardGrab() instead
SDL_HINT_IDLE_TIMER_DISABLED - use SDL_DisableScreenSaver() instead
SDL_HINT_IME_SUPPORT_EXTENDED_TEXT - the normal text editing event has extended text
SDL_HINT_MOUSE_RELATIVE_SCALING - mouse coordinates are no longer automatically scaled by the SDL renderer
SDL_HINT_PS2_DYNAMIC_VSYNC - use SDL_SetRendererVSync(renderer, -1) instead
SDL_HINT_RENDER_BATCHING - Render batching is always enabled, apps should call SDL_FlushRenderer() before calling into a lower-level graphics API.
SDL_HINT_RENDER_LOGICAL_SIZE_MODE - the logical size mode is explicitly set with SDL_SetRenderLogicalPresentation()
SDL_HINT_RENDER_OPENGL_SHADERS - shaders are always used if they are available
SDL_HINT_RENDER_SCALE_QUALITY - textures now default to linear filtering, use SDL_SetTextureScaleMode(texture, SDL_SCALEMODE_NEAREST) if you want nearest pixel mode instead
SDL_HINT_THREAD_STACK_SIZE - the stack size can be specified using SDL_CreateThreadWithProperties()
SDL_HINT_VIDEO_EXTERNAL_CONTEXT - replaced with SDL_PROP_WINDOW_CREATE_EXTERNAL_GRAPHICS_CONTEXT_BOOLEAN in SDL_CreateWindowWithProperties()
SDL_HINT_VIDEO_FOREIGN_WINDOW_OPENGL - replaced with SDL_PROP_WINDOW_CREATE_OPENGL_BOOLEAN in SDL_CreateWindowWithProperties()
SDL_HINT_VIDEO_FOREIGN_WINDOW_VULKAN - replaced with SDL_PROP_WINDOW_CREATE_VULKAN_BOOLEAN in SDL_CreateWindowWithProperties()
SDL_HINT_VIDEO_HIGHDPI_DISABLED - high DPI support is always enabled
SDL_HINT_VIDEO_WINDOW_SHARE_PIXEL_FORMAT - replaced with SDL_PROP_WINDOW_CREATE_WIN32_PIXEL_FORMAT_HWND_POINTER in SDL_CreateWindowWithProperties()
SDL_HINT_VIDEO_X11_FORCE_EGL - use SDL_HINT_VIDEO_FORCE_EGL instead
SDL_HINT_VIDEO_X11_XINERAMA - Xinerama no longer supported by the X11 backend
SDL_HINT_VIDEO_X11_XVIDMODE - Xvidmode no longer supported by the X11 backend
SDL_HINT_WINDOWS_DISABLE_THREAD_NAMING - SDL now properly handles the 0x406D1388 Exception if no debugger intercepts it, preventing its propagation.
SDL_HINT_WINDOWS_NO_CLOSE_ON_ALT_F4 - replaced with SDL_HINT_WINDOWS_CLOSE_ON_ALT_F4, defaulting to SDL_TRUE
SDL_HINT_XINPUT_USE_OLD_JOYSTICK_MAPPING
Renamed hints SDL_HINT_VIDEODRIVER and SDL_HINT_AUDIODRIVER to SDL_HINT_VIDEO_DRIVER and SDL_HINT_AUDIO_DRIVER
Renamed environment variables SDL_VIDEODRIVER and SDL_AUDIODRIVER to SDL_VIDEO_DRIVER and SDL_AUDIO_DRIVER
The environment variables SDL_VIDEO_X11_WMCLASS and SDL_VIDEO_WAYLAND_WMCLASS have been removed and replaced with the unified hint SDL_HINT_APP_ID

The following hints have been renamed:

SDL_HINT_ALLOW_TOPMOST => SDL_HINT_WINDOW_ALLOW_TOPMOST
SDL_HINT_DIRECTINPUT_ENABLED => SDL_HINT_JOYSTICK_DIRECTINPUT
SDL_HINT_GDK_TEXTINPUT_DEFAULT => SDL_HINT_GDK_TEXTINPUT_DEFAULT_TEXT
SDL_HINT_JOYSTICK_GAMECUBE_RUMBLE_BRAKE => SDL_HINT_JOYSTICK_HIDAPI_GAMECUBE_RUMBLE_BRAKE
SDL_HINT_LINUX_DIGITAL_HATS => SDL_HINT_JOYSTICK_LINUX_DIGITAL_HATS
SDL_HINT_LINUX_HAT_DEADZONES => SDL_HINT_JOYSTICK_LINUX_HAT_DEADZONES
SDL_HINT_LINUX_JOYSTICK_CLASSIC => SDL_HINT_JOYSTICK_LINUX_CLASSIC
SDL_HINT_LINUX_JOYSTICK_DEADZONES => SDL_HINT_JOYSTICK_LINUX_DEADZONES

The following functions have been removed:

SDL_ClearHints() - replaced with SDL_ResetHints()

SDL_init.h

The following symbols have been renamed:

SDL_INIT_GAMECONTROLLER => SDL_INIT_GAMEPAD

The following symbols have been removed:

SDL_INIT_NOPARACHUTE
SDL_INIT_EVERYTHING - you should only initialize the subsystems you are using

SDL_joystick.h

SDL_JoystickID has changed from Sint32 to Uint32, with an invalid ID being 0.

Rather than iterating over joysticks using device index, there is a new function SDL_GetJoysticks() to get the current list of joysticks, and new functions to get information about joysticks from their instance ID:

{
    if (SDL_InitSubSystem(SDL_INIT_JOYSTICK) == 0) {
        int i, num_joysticks;
        SDL_JoystickID *joysticks = SDL_GetJoysticks(&num_joysticks);
        if (joysticks) {
            for (i = 0; i < num_joysticks; ++i) {
                SDL_JoystickID instance_id = joysticks[i];
                const char *name = SDL_GetJoystickInstanceName(instance_id);
                const char *path = SDL_GetJoystickInstancePath(instance_id);

                SDL_Log("Joystick %" SDL_PRIu32 ": %s%s%s VID 0x%.4x, PID 0x%.4x\n",
                        instance_id, name ? name : "Unknown", path ? ", " : "", path ? path : "", SDL_GetJoystickInstanceVendor(instance_id), SDL_GetJoystickInstanceProduct(instance_id));
            }
            SDL_free(joysticks);
        }
        SDL_QuitSubSystem(SDL_INIT_JOYSTICK);
    }
}

The SDL_EVENT_JOYSTICK_ADDED event now provides the joystick instance ID in the which member of the jdevice event structure.

The functions SDL_GetJoysticks(), SDL_GetJoystickInstanceName(), SDL_GetJoystickInstancePath(), SDL_GetJoystickInstancePlayerIndex(), SDL_GetJoystickInstanceGUID(), SDL_GetJoystickInstanceVendor(), SDL_GetJoystickInstanceProduct(), SDL_GetJoystickInstanceProductVersion(), and SDL_GetJoystickInstanceType() have been added to directly query the list of available joysticks.

SDL_AttachVirtualJoystick() now returns the joystick instance ID instead of a device index, and returns 0 if there was an error.

SDL_VirtualJoystickDesc no longer takes a struct version; if we need to extend this in the future, we'll make a second struct and a second SDL_AttachVirtualJoystickEx-style function that uses it. Just zero the struct and don't set a version.

The following functions have been renamed:

SDL_JoystickAttachVirtualEx() => SDL_AttachVirtualJoystick()
SDL_JoystickClose() => SDL_CloseJoystick()
SDL_JoystickDetachVirtual() => SDL_DetachVirtualJoystick()
SDL_JoystickFromInstanceID() => SDL_GetJoystickFromInstanceID()
SDL_JoystickFromPlayerIndex() => SDL_GetJoystickFromPlayerIndex()
SDL_JoystickGetAttached() => SDL_JoystickConnected()
SDL_JoystickGetAxis() => SDL_GetJoystickAxis()
SDL_JoystickGetAxisInitialState() => SDL_GetJoystickAxisInitialState()
SDL_JoystickGetBall() => SDL_GetJoystickBall()
SDL_JoystickGetButton() => SDL_GetJoystickButton()
SDL_JoystickGetFirmwareVersion() => SDL_GetJoystickFirmwareVersion()
SDL_JoystickGetGUID() => SDL_GetJoystickGUID()
SDL_JoystickGetGUIDFromString() => SDL_GetJoystickGUIDFromString()
SDL_JoystickGetGUIDString() => SDL_GetJoystickGUIDString()
SDL_JoystickGetHat() => SDL_GetJoystickHat()
SDL_JoystickGetPlayerIndex() => SDL_GetJoystickPlayerIndex()
SDL_JoystickGetProduct() => SDL_GetJoystickProduct()
SDL_JoystickGetProductVersion() => SDL_GetJoystickProductVersion()
SDL_JoystickGetSerial() => SDL_GetJoystickSerial()
SDL_JoystickGetType() => SDL_GetJoystickType()
SDL_JoystickGetVendor() => SDL_GetJoystickVendor()
SDL_JoystickInstanceID() => SDL_GetJoystickInstanceID()
SDL_JoystickIsVirtual() => SDL_IsJoystickVirtual()
SDL_JoystickName() => SDL_GetJoystickName()
SDL_JoystickNumAxes() => SDL_GetNumJoystickAxes()
SDL_JoystickNumBalls() => SDL_GetNumJoystickBalls()
SDL_JoystickNumButtons() => SDL_GetNumJoystickButtons()
SDL_JoystickNumHats() => SDL_GetNumJoystickHats()
SDL_JoystickOpen() => SDL_OpenJoystick()
SDL_JoystickPath() => SDL_GetJoystickPath()
SDL_JoystickRumble() => SDL_RumbleJoystick()
SDL_JoystickRumbleTriggers() => SDL_RumbleJoystickTriggers()
SDL_JoystickSendEffect() => SDL_SendJoystickEffect()
SDL_JoystickSetLED() => SDL_SetJoystickLED()
SDL_JoystickSetPlayerIndex() => SDL_SetJoystickPlayerIndex()
SDL_JoystickSetVirtualAxis() => SDL_SetJoystickVirtualAxis()
SDL_JoystickSetVirtualButton() => SDL_SetJoystickVirtualButton()
SDL_JoystickSetVirtualHat() => SDL_SetJoystickVirtualHat()
SDL_JoystickUpdate() => SDL_UpdateJoysticks()

The following symbols have been renamed:

SDL_JOYSTICK_TYPE_GAMECONTROLLER => SDL_JOYSTICK_TYPE_GAMEPAD

The following functions have been removed:

SDL_JoystickAttachVirtual() - replaced with SDL_AttachVirtualJoystick()
SDL_JoystickCurrentPowerLevel() - replaced with SDL_GetJoystickConnectionState() and SDL_GetJoystickPowerInfo()
SDL_JoystickEventState() - replaced with SDL_SetJoystickEventsEnabled() and SDL_JoystickEventsEnabled()
SDL_JoystickGetDeviceGUID() - replaced with SDL_GetJoystickInstanceGUID()
SDL_JoystickGetDeviceInstanceID()
SDL_JoystickGetDevicePlayerIndex() - replaced with SDL_GetJoystickInstancePlayerIndex()
SDL_JoystickGetDeviceProduct() - replaced with SDL_GetJoystickInstanceProduct()
SDL_JoystickGetDeviceProductVersion() - replaced with SDL_GetJoystickInstanceProductVersion()
SDL_JoystickGetDeviceType() - replaced with SDL_GetJoystickInstanceType()
SDL_JoystickGetDeviceVendor() - replaced with SDL_GetJoystickInstanceVendor()
SDL_JoystickHasLED() - replaced with SDL_PROP_JOYSTICK_CAP_RGB_LED_BOOLEAN
SDL_JoystickHasRumble() - replaced with SDL_PROP_JOYSTICK_CAP_RUMBLE_BOOLEAN
SDL_JoystickHasRumbleTriggers() - replaced with SDL_PROP_JOYSTICK_CAP_TRIGGER_RUMBLE_BOOLEAN
SDL_JoystickNameForIndex() - replaced with SDL_GetJoystickInstanceName()
SDL_JoystickPathForIndex() - replaced with SDL_GetJoystickInstancePath()
SDL_NumJoysticks() - replaced with SDL_GetJoysticks()
SDL_VIRTUAL_JOYSTICK_DESC_VERSION - no longer needed, version info has been removed from SDL_VirtualJoystickDesc.

The following symbols have been removed:

SDL_JOYBALLMOTION

SDL_keyboard.h

Text input is no longer automatically enabled when initializing video, you should call SDL_StartTextInput() when you want to receive text input and call SDL_StopTextInput() when you are done. Starting text input may shown an input method editor (IME) and cause key up/down events to be skipped, so should only be enabled when the application wants text input.

The text input state hase been changed to be window-specific. SDL_StartTextInput(), SDL_StopTextInput(), SDL_TextInputActive(), and SDL_ClearComposition() all now take a window parameter.

SDL_GetDefaultKeyFromScancode(), SDL_GetKeyFromScancode(), and SDL_GetScancodeFromKey() take an SDL_Keymod parameter and use that to provide the correct result based on keyboard modifier state.

The following functions have been renamed:

SDL_IsScreenKeyboardShown() => SDL_ScreenKeyboardShown()
SDL_IsTextInputActive() => SDL_TextInputActive()

The following functions have been removed:

SDL_IsTextInputShown()

The following structures have been removed:

SDL_Keysym

SDL_keycode.h

SDL_Keycode is now Uint32 and the SDLK_* constants are now defines instead of an enum, to more clearly reflect that they are a subset of the possible values of an SDL_Keycode.

The following symbols have been removed:

KMOD_RESERVED - No replacement. A bit named "RESERVED" probably shouldn't be used in an app, but if you need it, this was equivalent to KMOD_SCROLL (0x8000) in SDL2.
SDLK_WWW
SDLK_MAIL
SDLK_CALCULATOR
SDLK_COMPUTER
SDLK_BRIGHTNESSDOWN
SDLK_BRIGHTNESSUP
SDLK_DISPLAYSWITCH
SDLK_KBDILLUMTOGGLE
SDLK_KBDILLUMDOWN
SDLK_KBDILLUMUP
SDLK_APP1
SDLK_APP2

The following symbols have been renamed:

KMOD_ALT => SDL_KMOD_ALT
KMOD_CAPS => SDL_KMOD_CAPS
KMOD_CTRL => SDL_KMOD_CTRL
KMOD_GUI => SDL_KMOD_GUI
KMOD_LALT => SDL_KMOD_LALT
KMOD_LCTRL => SDL_KMOD_LCTRL
KMOD_LGUI => SDL_KMOD_LGUI
KMOD_LSHIFT => SDL_KMOD_LSHIFT
KMOD_MODE => SDL_KMOD_MODE
KMOD_NONE => SDL_KMOD_NONE
KMOD_NUM => SDL_KMOD_NUM
KMOD_RALT => SDL_KMOD_RALT
KMOD_RCTRL => SDL_KMOD_RCTRL
KMOD_RGUI => SDL_KMOD_RGUI
KMOD_RSHIFT => SDL_KMOD_RSHIFT
KMOD_SCROLL => SDL_KMOD_SCROLL
KMOD_SHIFT => SDL_KMOD_SHIFT
SDLK_AUDIOFASTFORWARD => SDLK_MEDIA_FAST_FORWARD
SDLK_AUDIOMUTE => SDLK_MUTE
SDLK_AUDIONEXT => SDLK_MEDIA_NEXT_TRACK
SDLK_AUDIOPLAY => SDLK_MEDIA_PLAY
SDLK_AUDIOPREV => SDLK_MEDIA_PREVIOUS_TRACK
SDLK_AUDIOREWIND => SDLK_MEDIA_REWIND
SDLK_AUDIOSTOP => SDLK_MEDIA_STOP
SDLK_BACKQUOTE => SDLK_GRAVE
SDLK_EJECT => SDLK_MEDIA_EJECT
SDLK_MEDIASELECT => SDLK_MEDIA_SELECT
SDLK_QUOTE => SDLK_APOSTROPHE
SDLK_QUOTEDBL => SDLK_DBLAPOSTROPHE

SDL_loadso.h

SDL_LoadFunction() now returns SDL_FunctionPointer instead of void *, and should be cast to the appropriate function type. You can define SDL_FUNCTION_POINTER_IS_VOID_POINTER in your project to restore the previous behavior.

SDL_log.h

The following macros have been removed:

SDL_MAX_LOG_MESSAGE - there's no message length limit anymore. If you need an artificial limit, this used to be 4096 in SDL versions before 2.0.24.

The following functions have been renamed:

SDL_LogGetOutputFunction() => SDL_GetLogOutputFunction()
SDL_LogGetPriority() => SDL_GetLogPriority()
SDL_LogResetPriorities() => SDL_ResetLogPriorities()
SDL_LogSetAllPriority() => SDL_SetLogPriorities()
SDL_LogSetOutputFunction() => SDL_SetLogOutputFunction()
SDL_LogSetPriority() => SDL_SetLogPriority()

SDL_main.h

SDL3 doesn't have a static libSDLmain to link against anymore. Instead SDL_main.h is now a header-only library and not included by SDL.h anymore.

Using it is really simple: Just #include <SDL3/SDL_main.h> in the source file with your standard int main(int argc, char* argv[]) function. See docs/README-main-functions.md for details.

Several platform-specific entry point functions have been removed as unnecessary. If for some reason you explicitly need them, here are easy replacements:

#define SDL_WinRTRunApp(MAIN_FUNC, RESERVED)  SDL_RunApp(0, NULL, MAIN_FUNC, RESERVED)
#define SDL_UIKitRunApp(ARGC, ARGV, MAIN_FUNC)  SDL_RunApp(ARGC, ARGV, MAIN_FUNC, NULL)
#define SDL_GDKRunApp(MAIN_FUNC, RESERVED)  SDL_RunApp(0, NULL, MAIN_FUNC, RESERVED)

SDL_messagebox.h

The buttonid field of SDL_MessageBoxButtonData has been renamed buttonID.

SDL_metal.h

SDL_Metal_GetDrawableSize() has been removed. SDL_GetWindowSizeInPixels() can be used in its place.

SDL_mouse.h

SDL_ShowCursor() has been split into three functions: SDL_ShowCursor(), SDL_HideCursor(), and SDL_CursorVisible()

SDL_GetMouseState(), SDL_GetGlobalMouseState(), SDL_GetRelativeMouseState(), SDL_WarpMouseInWindow(), and SDL_WarpMouseGlobal() all use floating point mouse positions, to provide sub-pixel precision on platforms that support it.

SDL_SystemCursor's items from SDL2 have been renamed to match CSS cursor names.

The following functions have been renamed:

SDL_FreeCursor() => SDL_DestroyCursor()

The following symbols have been renamed:

SDL_SYSTEM_CURSOR_ARROW => SDL_SYSTEM_CURSOR_DEFAULT
SDL_SYSTEM_CURSOR_HAND => SDL_SYSTEM_CURSOR_POINTER
SDL_SYSTEM_CURSOR_IBEAM => SDL_SYSTEM_CURSOR_TEXT
SDL_SYSTEM_CURSOR_NO => SDL_SYSTEM_CURSOR_NOT_ALLOWED
SDL_SYSTEM_CURSOR_SIZEALL => SDL_SYSTEM_CURSOR_MOVE
SDL_SYSTEM_CURSOR_SIZENESW => SDL_SYSTEM_CURSOR_NESW_RESIZE
SDL_SYSTEM_CURSOR_SIZENS => SDL_SYSTEM_CURSOR_NS_RESIZE
SDL_SYSTEM_CURSOR_SIZENWSE => SDL_SYSTEM_CURSOR_NWSE_RESIZE
SDL_SYSTEM_CURSOR_SIZEWE => SDL_SYSTEM_CURSOR_EW_RESIZE
SDL_SYSTEM_CURSOR_WAITARROW => SDL_SYSTEM_CURSOR_PROGRESS

SDL_mutex.h

SDL_MUTEX_MAXWAIT has been removed; it suggested there was a maximum timeout one could outlive, instead of an infinite wait. Instead, pass a -1 to functions that accepted this symbol.

SDL_LockMutex and SDL_UnlockMutex now return void; if the mutex is valid (including being a NULL pointer, which returns immediately), these functions never fail. If the mutex is invalid or the caller does something illegal, like unlock another thread's mutex, this is considered undefined behavior.

The following functions have been renamed:

SDL_CondBroadcast() => SDL_BroadcastCondition()
SDL_CondSignal() => SDL_SignalCondition()
SDL_CondWait() => SDL_WaitCondition()
SDL_CondWaitTimeout() => SDL_WaitConditionTimeout()
SDL_CreateCond() => SDL_CreateCondition()
SDL_DestroyCond() => SDL_DestroyCondition()
SDL_SemPost() => SDL_PostSemaphore()
SDL_SemTryWait() => SDL_TryWaitSemaphore()
SDL_SemValue() => SDL_GetSemaphoreValue()
SDL_SemWait() => SDL_WaitSemaphore()
SDL_SemWaitTimeout() => SDL_WaitSemaphoreTimeout()

The following symbols have been renamed:

SDL_cond => SDL_Condition
SDL_mutex => SDL_Mutex
SDL_sem => SDL_Semaphore

SDL_pixels.h

SDL_CalculateGammaRamp has been removed, because SDL_SetWindowGammaRamp has been removed as well due to poor support in modern operating systems (see SDL_video.h).

The BitsPerPixel and BytesPerPixel fields of SDL_PixelFormat have been renamed bits_per_pixel and bytes_per_pixel.

SDL_PixelFormatEnum is used instead of Uint32 for API functions that refer to pixel format by enumerated value.

The following functions have been renamed:

SDL_AllocFormat() => SDL_CreatePixelFormat()
SDL_AllocPalette() => SDL_CreatePalette()
SDL_FreeFormat() => SDL_DestroyPixelFormat()
SDL_FreePalette() => SDL_DestroyPalette()
SDL_MasksToPixelFormatEnum() => SDL_GetPixelFormatEnumForMasks()
SDL_PixelFormatEnumToMasks() => SDL_GetMasksForPixelFormatEnum()

The following symbols have been renamed:

SDL_PIXELFORMAT_BGR444 => SDL_PIXELFORMAT_XBGR4444
SDL_PIXELFORMAT_BGR555 => SDL_PIXELFORMAT_XBGR1555
SDL_PIXELFORMAT_BGR888 => SDL_PIXELFORMAT_XBGR8888
SDL_PIXELFORMAT_RGB444 => SDL_PIXELFORMAT_XRGB4444
SDL_PIXELFORMAT_RGB555 => SDL_PIXELFORMAT_XRGB1555
SDL_PIXELFORMAT_RGB888 => SDL_PIXELFORMAT_XRGB8888

The following macros have been removed:

SDL_Colour - use SDL_Color instead

SDL_platform.h

The following platform preprocessor macros have been renamed:

SDL2	SDL3
`__3DS__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_3DS`
`__AIX__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_AIX`
`__ANDROID__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_ANDROID`
`__APPLE__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_APPLE`
`__BSDI__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_BSDI`
`__CYGWIN_`	`SDL_PLATFORM_CYGWIN`
`__EMSCRIPTEN__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_EMSCRIPTEN`
`__FREEBSD__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_FREEBSD`
`__GDK__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_GDK`
`__HAIKU__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_HAIKU`
`__HPUX__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_HPUX`
`__IPHONEOS__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_IOS`
`__IRIX__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_IRIX`
`__LINUX__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_LINUX`
`__MACOSX__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_MACOS`
`__NETBSD__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_NETBSD`
`__NGAGE__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_NGAGE`
`__OPENBSD__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_OPENBSD`
`__OS2__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_OS2`
`__OSF__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_OSF`
`__PS2__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_PS2`
`__PSP__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_PSP`
`__QNXNTO__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_QNXNTO`
`__RISCOS__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_RISCOS`
`__SOLARIS__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_SOLARIS`
`__TVOS__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_TVOS`
`__unix__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_UNI`
`__VITA__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_VITA`
`__WIN32__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_WIN32`
`__WINGDK__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_WINGDK`
`__WINRT__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_WINRT`
`__XBOXONE__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_XBOXONE`
`__XBOXSERIES__`	`SDL_PLATFORM_XBOXSERIES`

You can use the Python script rename_macros.py to automatically rename these in your source code.

A new macro SDL_PLATFORM_WINDOWS has been added that is true for all Windows platforms, including Xbox, GDK, etc.

The following platform preprocessor macros have been removed:

__DREAMCAST__
__NACL__
__PNACL__
__WINDOWS__

SDL_quit.h

SDL_quit.h has been completely removed. It only had one symbol in it--SDL_QuitRequested--and if you want it, you can just add this to your app...

#define SDL_QuitRequested() (SDL_PumpEvents(), (SDL_PeepEvents(NULL,0,SDL_PEEKEVENT,SDL_EVENT_QUIT,SDL_EVENT_QUIT) > 0))

...but this macro is sort of messy, calling two functions in sequence in an expression.

The following macros have been removed:

SDL_QuitRequested - call SDL_PumpEvents() then SDL_PeepEvents() directly, instead.

SDL_rect.h

The following functions have been renamed:

SDL_EncloseFPoints() => SDL_GetRectEnclosingPointsFloat()
SDL_EnclosePoints() => SDL_GetRectEnclosingPoints()
SDL_FRectEmpty() => SDL_RectEmptyFloat()
SDL_FRectEquals() => SDL_RectsEqualFloat()
SDL_FRectEqualsEpsilon() => SDL_RectsEqualEpsilon()
SDL_HasIntersection() => SDL_HasRectIntersection()
SDL_HasIntersectionF() => SDL_HasRectIntersectionFloat()
SDL_IntersectFRect() => SDL_GetRectIntersectionFloat()
SDL_IntersectFRectAndLine() => SDL_GetRectAndLineIntersectionFloat()
SDL_IntersectRect() => SDL_GetRectIntersection()
SDL_IntersectRectAndLine() => SDL_GetRectAndLineIntersection()
SDL_PointInFRect() => SDL_PointInRectFloat()
SDL_RectEquals() => SDL_RectsEqual()
SDL_UnionFRect() => SDL_GetRectUnionFloat()
SDL_UnionRect() => SDL_GetRectUnion()

SDL_render.h

The 2D renderer API always uses batching in SDL3. There is no magic to turn it on and off; it doesn't matter if you select a specific renderer or try to use any hint. This means that all apps that use SDL3's 2D renderer and also want to call directly into the platform's lower-layer graphics API must call SDL_FlushRenderer() before doing so. This will make sure any pending rendering work from SDL is done before the app starts directly drawing.

SDL_GetRenderDriverInfo() has been removed, since most of the information it reported were estimates and could not be accurate before creating a renderer. Often times this function was used to figure out the index of a driver, so one would call it in a for-loop, looking for the driver named "opengl" or whatnot. SDL_GetRenderDriver() has been added for this functionality, which returns only the name of the driver.

SDL_CreateRenderer()'s second argument is no longer an integer index, but a const char * representing a renderer's name; if you were just using a for-loop to find which index is the "opengl" or whatnot driver, you can just pass that string directly here, now. Passing NULL is the same as passing -1 here in SDL2, to signify you want SDL to decide for you.

SDL_CreateRenderer()'s flags parameter has been removed. See specific flags below for how to achieve the same functionality in SDL 3.0.

SDL_CreateWindowAndRenderer() now takes the window title as the first parameter.

SDL_GetRendererInfo() has been removed. The name of a renderer can be retrieved using SDL_GetRendererName(), and the other information is available as properties on the renderer.

SDL_QueryTexture() has been removed. The properties of the texture can be queried using SDL_PROP_TEXTURE_FORMAT_NUMBER, SDL_PROP_TEXTURE_ACCESS_NUMBER, SDL_PROP_TEXTURE_WIDTH_NUMBER, and SDL_PROP_TEXTURE_HEIGHT_NUMBER. A function SDL_GetTextureSize() has been added to get the size of the texture as floating point values.

Mouse and touch events are no longer filtered to change their coordinates, instead you can call SDL_ConvertEventToRenderCoordinates() to explicitly map event coordinates into the rendering viewport.

SDL_RenderWindowToLogical() and SDL_RenderLogicalToWindow() have been renamed SDL_RenderCoordinatesFromWindow() and SDL_RenderCoordinatesToWindow() and take floating point coordinates in both directions.

The viewport, clipping state, and scale for render targets are now persistent and will remain set whenever they are active.

SDL_Vertex has been changed to use floating point colors, in the range of [0..1] for SDR content.

SDL_RenderReadPixels() returns a surface instead of filling in preallocated memory.

The following functions have been renamed:

SDL_GetRendererOutputSize() => SDL_GetCurrentRenderOutputSize()
SDL_RenderCopy() => SDL_RenderTexture()
SDL_RenderCopyEx() => SDL_RenderTextureRotated()
SDL_RenderCopyExF() => SDL_RenderTextureRotated()
SDL_RenderCopyF() => SDL_RenderTexture()
SDL_RenderDrawLine() => SDL_RenderLine()
SDL_RenderDrawLineF() => SDL_RenderLine()
SDL_RenderDrawLines() => SDL_RenderLines()
SDL_RenderDrawLinesF() => SDL_RenderLines()
SDL_RenderDrawPoint() => SDL_RenderPoint()
SDL_RenderDrawPointF() => SDL_RenderPoint()
SDL_RenderDrawPoints() => SDL_RenderPoints()
SDL_RenderDrawPointsF() => SDL_RenderPoints()
SDL_RenderDrawRect() => SDL_RenderRect()
SDL_RenderDrawRectF() => SDL_RenderRect()
SDL_RenderDrawRects() => SDL_RenderRects()
SDL_RenderDrawRectsF() => SDL_RenderRects()
SDL_RenderFillRectF() => SDL_RenderFillRect()
SDL_RenderFillRectsF() => SDL_RenderFillRects()
SDL_RenderFlush() => SDL_FlushRenderer()
SDL_RenderGetClipRect() => SDL_GetRenderClipRect()
SDL_RenderGetIntegerScale() => SDL_GetRenderIntegerScale()
SDL_RenderGetLogicalSize() => SDL_GetRenderLogicalPresentation()
SDL_RenderGetMetalCommandEncoder() => SDL_GetRenderMetalCommandEncoder()
SDL_RenderGetMetalLayer() => SDL_GetRenderMetalLayer()
SDL_RenderGetScale() => SDL_GetRenderScale()
SDL_RenderGetViewport() => SDL_GetRenderViewport()
SDL_RenderGetWindow() => SDL_GetRenderWindow()
SDL_RenderIsClipEnabled() => SDL_RenderClipEnabled()
SDL_RenderLogicalToWindow() => SDL_RenderCoordinatesToWindow()
SDL_RenderSetClipRect() => SDL_SetRenderClipRect()
SDL_RenderSetLogicalSize() => SDL_SetRenderLogicalPresentation()
SDL_RenderSetScale() => SDL_SetRenderScale()
SDL_RenderSetVSync() => SDL_SetRenderVSync()
SDL_RenderSetViewport() => SDL_SetRenderViewport()
SDL_RenderWindowToLogical() => SDL_RenderCoordinatesFromWindow()

The following functions have been removed:

SDL_GL_BindTexture() - use SDL_GetTextureProperties() to get the OpenGL texture ID and bind the texture directly
SDL_GL_UnbindTexture() - use SDL_GetTextureProperties() to get the OpenGL texture ID and unbind the texture directly
SDL_GetTextureUserData() - use SDL_GetTextureProperties() instead
SDL_RenderGetIntegerScale()
SDL_RenderSetIntegerScale() - this is now explicit with SDL_LOGICAL_PRESENTATION_INTEGER_SCALE
SDL_RenderTargetSupported() - render targets are always supported
SDL_SetTextureUserData() - use SDL_GetTextureProperties() instead

The following enums have been renamed:

SDL_RendererFlip => SDL_FlipMode - moved to SDL_surface.h

The following symbols have been renamed:

SDL_ScaleModeBest => SDL_SCALEMODE_BEST
SDL_ScaleModeLinear => SDL_SCALEMODE_LINEAR
SDL_ScaleModeNearest => SDL_SCALEMODE_NEAREST

The following symbols have been removed:

SDL_RENDERER_ACCELERATED - all renderers except SDL_SOFTWARE_RENDERER are accelerated
SDL_RENDERER_PRESENTVSYNC - replaced with SDL_PROP_RENDERER_CREATE_PRESENT_VSYNC_NUMBER during renderer creation and SDL_PROP_RENDERER_VSYNC_NUMBER after renderer creation
SDL_RENDERER_SOFTWARE - you can check whether the name of the renderer is SDL_SOFTWARE_RENDERER
SDL_RENDERER_TARGETTEXTURE - all renderers support target texture functionality

SDL_rwops.h

The following symbols have been renamed:

RW_SEEK_CUR => SDL_IO_SEEK_CUR
RW_SEEK_END => SDL_IO_SEEK_END
RW_SEEK_SET => SDL_IO_SEEK_SET

SDL_rwops.h is now named SDL_iostream.h

SDL_RWops is now an opaque structure, and has been renamed to SDL_IOStream. The SDL3 APIs to create an SDL_IOStream (SDL_IOFromFile, etc) are renamed but otherwise still function as they did in SDL2. However, to make a custom SDL_IOStream with app-provided function pointers, call SDL_OpenIO and provide the function pointers through there. To call into an SDL_IOStream's functionality, use the standard APIs (SDL_ReadIO, etc), as the function pointers are internal.

SDL_IOStream is not to be confused with the unrelated standard C++ iostream class!

The RWops function pointers are now in a separate structure called SDL_IOStreamInterface, which is provided to SDL_OpenIO when creating a custom SDL_IOStream implementation. All the functions now take a void * userdata argument for their first parameter instead of an SDL_IOStream, since that's now an opaque structure.

SDL_RWread and SDL_RWwrite (and the read and write function pointers) have a different function signature in SDL3, in addition to being renamed.

Previously they looked more like stdio:

size_t SDL_RWread(SDL_RWops *context, void *ptr, size_t size, size_t maxnum);
size_t SDL_RWwrite(SDL_RWops *context, const void *ptr, size_t size, size_t maxnum);

But now they look more like POSIX:

size_t SDL_ReadIO(SDL_IOStream *context, void *ptr, size_t size);
size_t SDL_WriteIO(SDL_IOStream *context, const void *ptr, size_t size);

Code that used to look like this:

size_t custom_read(void *ptr, size_t size, size_t nitems, SDL_RWops *stream)
{
    return SDL_RWread(stream, ptr, size, nitems);
}

should be changed to:

size_t custom_read(void *ptr, size_t size, size_t nitems, SDL_IOStream *stream)
{
    if (size > 0 && nitems > 0) {
        return SDL_ReadIO(stream, ptr, size * nitems) / size;
    }
    return 0;
}

SDL_RWops::type was removed; it wasn't meaningful for app-provided implementations at all, and wasn't much use for SDL's internal implementations, either. If you have to identify the type, you can examine the SDL_IOStream's properties to detect built-in implementations.

SDL_IOStreamInterface::close implementations should clean up their own userdata, but not call SDL_CloseIO on themselves; now the contract is always that SDL_CloseIO is called, which calls ->close before freeing the opaque object.

SDL_AllocRW(), SDL_FreeRW(), SDL_RWclose() and direct access to the ->close function pointer have been removed from the API, so there's only one path to manage RWops lifetimes now: SDL_OpenIO() and SDL_CloseIO().

SDL_RWFromFP has been removed from the API, due to issues when the SDL library uses a different C runtime from the application.

You can implement this in your own code easily:

#include <stdio.h>

typedef struct IOStreamStdioFPData
{
    FILE *fp;
    SDL_bool autoclose;
} IOStreamStdioFPData;

static Sint64 SDLCALL stdio_seek(void *userdata, Sint64 offset, int whence)
{
    FILE *fp = ((IOStreamStdioFPData *) userdata)->fp;
    int stdiowhence;

    switch (whence) {
    case SDL_IO_SEEK_SET:
        stdiowhence = SEEK_SET;
        break;
    case SDL_IO_SEEK_CUR:
        stdiowhence = SEEK_CUR;
        break;
    case SDL_IO_SEEK_END:
        stdiowhence = SEEK_END;
        break;
    default:
        return SDL_SetError("Unknown value for 'whence'");
    }

    if (fseek(fp, (fseek_off_t)offset, stdiowhence) == 0) {
        const Sint64 pos = ftell(fp);
        if (pos < 0) {
            return SDL_SetError("Couldn't get stream offset");
        }
        return pos;
    }
    return SDL_Error(SDL_EFSEEK);
}

static size_t SDLCALL stdio_read(void *userdata, void *ptr, size_t size, SDL_IOStatus *status)
{
    FILE *fp = ((IOStreamStdioFPData *) userdata)->fp;
    const size_t bytes = fread(ptr, 1, size, fp);
    if (bytes == 0 && ferror(fp)) {
        SDL_Error(SDL_EFREAD);
    }
    return bytes;
}

static size_t SDLCALL stdio_write(void *userdata, const void *ptr, size_t size, SDL_IOStatus *status)
{
    FILE *fp = ((IOStreamStdioFPData *) userdata)->fp;
    const size_t bytes = fwrite(ptr, 1, size, fp);
    if (bytes == 0 && ferror(fp)) {
        SDL_Error(SDL_EFWRITE);
    }
    return bytes;
}

static int SDLCALL stdio_close(void *userdata)
{
    IOStreamStdioData *rwopsdata = (IOStreamStdioData *) userdata;
    int status = 0;
    if (rwopsdata->autoclose) {
        if (fclose(rwopsdata->fp) != 0) {
            status = SDL_Error(SDL_EFWRITE);
        }
    }
    return status;
}

SDL_IOStream *SDL_RWFromFP(FILE *fp, SDL_bool autoclose)
{
    SDL_IOStreamInterface iface;
    IOStreamStdioFPData *rwopsdata;
    SDL_IOStream *rwops;

    rwopsdata = (IOStreamStdioFPData *) SDL_malloc(sizeof (*rwopsdata));
    if (!rwopsdata) {
        return NULL;
    }

    SDL_zero(iface);
    /* There's no stdio_size because SDL_GetIOSize emulates it the same way we'd do it for stdio anyhow. */
    iface.seek = stdio_seek;
    iface.read = stdio_read;
    iface.write = stdio_write;
    iface.close = stdio_close;

    rwopsdata->fp = fp;
    rwopsdata->autoclose = autoclose;

    rwops = SDL_OpenIO(&iface, rwopsdata);
    if (!rwops) {
        iface.close(rwopsdata);
    }
    return rwops;
}

The internal FILE * is available through a standard SDL_IOStream property, for streams made through SDL_IOFromFile() that use stdio behind the scenes; apps use this pointer at their own risk and should make sure that SDL and the app are using the same C runtime.

The functions SDL_ReadU8(), SDL_ReadU16LE(), SDL_ReadU16BE(), SDL_ReadU32LE(), SDL_ReadU32BE(), SDL_ReadU64LE(), and SDL_ReadU64BE() now return SDL_TRUE if the read succeeded and SDL_FALSE if it didn't, and store the data in a pointer passed in as a parameter.

The following functions have been renamed:

SDL_RWFromConstMem() => SDL_IOFromConstMem()
SDL_RWFromFile() => SDL_IOFromFile()
SDL_RWFromMem() => SDL_IOFromMem()
SDL_RWclose() => SDL_CloseIO()
SDL_RWread() => SDL_ReadIO()
SDL_RWseek() => SDL_SeekIO()
SDL_RWsize() => SDL_GetIOSize()
SDL_RWtell() => SDL_TellIO()
SDL_RWwrite() => SDL_WriteIO()
SDL_ReadBE16() => SDL_ReadU16BE()
SDL_ReadBE32() => SDL_ReadU32BE()
SDL_ReadBE64() => SDL_ReadU64BE()
SDL_ReadLE16() => SDL_ReadU16LE()
SDL_ReadLE32() => SDL_ReadU32LE()
SDL_ReadLE64() => SDL_ReadU64LE()
SDL_WriteBE16() => SDL_WriteU16BE()
SDL_WriteBE32() => SDL_WriteU32BE()
SDL_WriteBE64() => SDL_WriteU64BE()
SDL_WriteLE16() => SDL_WriteU16LE()
SDL_WriteLE32() => SDL_WriteU32LE()
SDL_WriteLE64() => SDL_WriteU64LE()

The following structures have been renamed:

SDL_RWops => SDL_IOStream

SDL_scancode.h

The following symbols have been removed:

SDL_SCANCODE_WWW
SDL_SCANCODE_MAIL
SDL_SCANCODE_CALCULATOR
SDL_SCANCODE_COMPUTER
SDL_SCANCODE_BRIGHTNESSDOWN
SDL_SCANCODE_BRIGHTNESSUP
SDL_SCANCODE_DISPLAYSWITCH
SDL_SCANCODE_KBDILLUMTOGGLE
SDL_SCANCODE_KBDILLUMDOWN
SDL_SCANCODE_KBDILLUMUP
SDL_SCANCODE_APP1
SDL_SCANCODE_APP2

The following symbols have been renamed:

SDL_SCANCODE_AUDIOFASTFORWARD => SDL_SCANCODE_MEDIA_FAST_FORWARD
SDL_SCANCODE_AUDIOMUTE => SDL_SCANCODE_MUTE
SDL_SCANCODE_AUDIONEXT => SDL_SCANCODE_MEDIA_NEXT_TRACK
SDL_SCANCODE_AUDIOPLAY => SDL_SCANCODE_MEDIA_PLAY
SDL_SCANCODE_AUDIOPREV => SDL_SCANCODE_MEDIA_PREVIOUS_TRACK
SDL_SCANCODE_AUDIOREWIND => SDL_SCANCODE_MEDIA_REWIND
SDL_SCANCODE_AUDIOSTOP => SDL_SCANCODE_MEDIA_STOP
SDL_SCANCODE_EJECT => SDL_SCANCODE_MEDIA_EJECT
SDL_SCANCODE_MEDIASELECT => SDL_SCANCODE_MEDIA_SELECT

SDL_sensor.h

SDL_SensorID has changed from Sint32 to Uint32, with an invalid ID being 0.

Rather than iterating over sensors using device index, there is a new function SDL_GetSensors() to get the current list of sensors, and new functions to get information about sensors from their instance ID:

{
    if (SDL_InitSubSystem(SDL_INIT_SENSOR) == 0) {
        int i, num_sensors;
        SDL_SensorID *sensors = SDL_GetSensors(&num_sensors);
        if (sensors) {
            for (i = 0; i < num_sensors; ++i) {
                SDL_Log("Sensor %" SDL_PRIu32 ": %s, type %d, platform type %d\n",
                        sensors[i],
                        SDL_GetSensorInstanceName(sensors[i]),
                        SDL_GetSensorInstanceType(sensors[i]),
                        SDL_GetSensorInstanceNonPortableType(sensors[i]));
            }
            SDL_free(sensors);
        }
        SDL_QuitSubSystem(SDL_INIT_SENSOR);
    }
}

Removed SDL_SensorGetDataWithTimestamp(), if you want timestamps for the sensor data, you should use the sensor_timestamp member of SDL_EVENT_SENSOR_UPDATE events.

The following functions have been renamed:

SDL_SensorClose() => SDL_CloseSensor()
SDL_SensorFromInstanceID() => SDL_GetSensorFromInstanceID()
SDL_SensorGetData() => SDL_GetSensorData()
SDL_SensorGetInstanceID() => SDL_GetSensorInstanceID()
SDL_SensorGetName() => SDL_GetSensorName()
SDL_SensorGetNonPortableType() => SDL_GetSensorNonPortableType()
SDL_SensorGetType() => SDL_GetSensorType()
SDL_SensorOpen() => SDL_OpenSensor()
SDL_SensorUpdate() => SDL_UpdateSensors()

The following functions have been removed:

SDL_LockSensors()
SDL_NumSensors() - replaced with SDL_GetSensors()
SDL_SensorGetDeviceInstanceID()
SDL_SensorGetDeviceName() - replaced with SDL_GetSensorInstanceName()
SDL_SensorGetDeviceNonPortableType() - replaced with SDL_GetSensorInstanceNonPortableType()
SDL_SensorGetDeviceType() - replaced with SDL_GetSensorInstanceType()
SDL_UnlockSensors()

SDL_shape.h

This header has been removed and a simplified version of this API has been added as SDL_SetWindowShape() in SDL_video.h. See test/testshape.c for an example.

SDL_stdinc.h

The standard C headers like stdio.h and stdlib.h are no longer included, you should include them directly in your project if you use non-SDL C runtime functions. M_PI is no longer defined in SDL_stdinc.h, you can use the new symbols SDL_PI_D (double) and SDL_PI_F (float) instead.

SDL3 attempts to apply consistency to case-insensitive string functions. In SDL2, things like SDL_strcasecmp() would usually only work on English letters, and depending on the user's locale, possibly not even those. In SDL3, consistency is applied:

Many things that don't care about case-insensitivity, like SDL_strcmp(), continue to work with any null-terminated string of bytes, even if it happens to be malformed UTF-8.
SDL_strcasecmp() expects valid UTF-8 strings, and will attempt to support most Unicode characters with a technique known as "case-folding," which is to say it can match 'A' and 'a', and also 'Η' and 'η', but ALSO 'ß' and "ss". This is probably how most apps assumed it worked in SDL2 and won't need any changes.
SDL_strncasecmp() works the same, but the third parameter takes bytes, as before, so SDL_strlen() can continue to be used with it. If a string hits the limit in the middle of a codepoint, the half-processed bytes of the codepoint will be treated as a collection of U+0xFFFD (REPLACEMENT CHARACTER) codepoints, which you probably don't want.
SDL_wcscasecmp() and SDL_wcsncasecmp() work the same way but operate on UTF-16 or UTF-32 encoded strings, depending on what the platform considers "wchar_t" to be. SDL_wcsncasecmp's third parameter is number of wchar_t values, not bytes, but UTF-16 has the same concerns as UTF-8 for variable-length codepoints.
SDL_strcasestr() expects valid UTF-8 strings, and will compare codepoints using case-folding.
SDL_tolower() and SDL_toupper() continue to only work on single bytes (even though the parameter is an int) and only converts low-ASCII English A through Z.
SDL_strlwr() and SDL_strupr() operates on individual bytes (not UTF-8 codepoints) and only change low-ASCII English 'A' through 'Z'. These functions do not check the string for valid UTF-8 encoding.
The ctype.h replacement SDL_is*() functions (SDL_isalpha, SDL_isdigit, etc) only work on low-ASCII characters and ignore user locale, assuming English. This makes these functions consistent in SDL3, but applications need to be careful to understand their limits.

Please note that the case-folding technique used by SDL3 will not produce correct results for the "Turkish 'I'"; this one letter is a surprisingly hard problem in the Unicode world, and since these functions do not specify the human language in use, we have chosen to ignore this problem.

The following macros have been removed:

SDL_TABLESIZE() - use SDL_arraysize() instead

The following functions have been renamed:

SDL_strtokr() => SDL_strtok_r()

The following functions have been removed:

SDL_memcpy4()

SDL_surface.h

The userdata member of SDL_Surface has been replaced with a more general properties interface, which can be queried with SDL_GetSurfaceProperties()

Removed unused 'flags' parameter from SDL_ConvertSurface and SDL_ConvertSurfaceFormat.

SDL_CreateRGBSurface() and SDL_CreateRGBSurfaceWithFormat() have been combined into a new function SDL_CreateSurface(). SDL_CreateRGBSurfaceFrom() and SDL_CreateRGBSurfaceWithFormatFrom() have been combined into a new function SDL_CreateSurfaceFrom().

You can implement the old functions in your own code easily:

SDL_Surface *SDL_CreateRGBSurface(Uint32 flags, int width, int height, int depth, Uint32 Rmask, Uint32 Gmask, Uint32 Bmask, Uint32 Amask)
{
    return SDL_CreateSurface(width, height,
            SDL_GetPixelFormatEnumForMasks(depth, Rmask, Gmask, Bmask, Amask));
}

SDL_Surface *SDL_CreateRGBSurfaceWithFormat(Uint32 flags, int width, int height, int depth, Uint32 format)
{
    return SDL_CreateSurface(width, height, format);
}

SDL_Surface *SDL_CreateRGBSurfaceFrom(void *pixels, int width, int height, int depth, int pitch, Uint32 Rmask, Uint32 Gmask, Uint32 Bmask, Uint32 Amask)
{
    return SDL_CreateSurfaceFrom(pixels, width, height, pitch,
            SDL_GetPixelFormatEnumForMasks(depth, Rmask, Gmask, Bmask, Amask));
}

SDL_Surface *SDL_CreateRGBSurfaceWithFormatFrom(void *pixels, int width, int height, int depth, int pitch, Uint32 format)
{
    return SDL_CreateSurfaceFrom(pixels, width, height, pitch, format);
}

But if you're migrating your code which uses masks, you probably have a format in mind, possibly one of these:

// Various mask (R, G, B, A) and their corresponding format:
0xFF000000 0x00FF0000 0x0000FF00 0x000000FF => SDL_PIXELFORMAT_RGBA8888
0x00FF0000 0x0000FF00 0x000000FF 0xFF000000 => SDL_PIXELFORMAT_ARGB8888
0x0000FF00 0x00FF0000 0xFF000000 0x000000FF => SDL_PIXELFORMAT_BGRA8888
0x000000FF 0x0000FF00 0x00FF0000 0xFF000000 => SDL_PIXELFORMAT_ABGR8888
0x0000F800 0x000007E0 0x0000001F 0x00000000 => SDL_PIXELFORMAT_RGB565

SDL_BlitSurfaceScaled() and SDL_BlitSurfaceUncheckedScaled() now take a scale paramater.

SDL_SoftStretch() now takes a scale paramater.

SDL_PixelFormatEnum is used instead of Uint32 for API functions that refer to pixel format by enumerated value.

The following functions have been renamed:

SDL_BlitScaled() => SDL_BlitSurfaceScaled()
SDL_FillRect() => SDL_FillSurfaceRect()
SDL_FillRects() => SDL_FillSurfaceRects()
SDL_FreeSurface() => SDL_DestroySurface()
SDL_GetClipRect() => SDL_GetSurfaceClipRect()
SDL_GetColorKey() => SDL_GetSurfaceColorKey()
SDL_HasColorKey() => SDL_SurfaceHasColorKey()
SDL_HasSurfaceRLE() => SDL_SurfaceHasRLE()
SDL_LoadBMP_RW() => SDL_LoadBMP_IO()
SDL_LowerBlit() => SDL_BlitSurfaceUnchecked()
SDL_LowerBlitScaled() => SDL_BlitSurfaceUncheckedScaled()
SDL_SaveBMP_RW() => SDL_SaveBMP_IO()
SDL_SetClipRect() => SDL_SetSurfaceClipRect()
SDL_SetColorKey() => SDL_SetSurfaceColorKey()
SDL_UpperBlit() => SDL_BlitSurface()
SDL_UpperBlitScaled() => SDL_BlitSurfaceScaled()

The following symbols have been removed:

SDL_SWSURFACE

The following functions have been removed:

SDL_GetYUVConversionMode()
SDL_GetYUVConversionModeForResolution()
SDL_SetYUVConversionMode() - use SDL_SetSurfaceColorspace() to set the surface colorspace and SDL_PROP_TEXTURE_CREATE_COLORSPACE_NUMBER with SDL_CreateTextureWithProperties() to set the texture colorspace. The default colorspace for YUV pixel formats is SDL_COLORSPACE_JPEG.
SDL_SoftStretchLinear() - use SDL_SoftStretch() with SDL_SCALEMODE_LINEAR

SDL_system.h

SDL_WindowsMessageHook has changed signatures so the message may be modified and it can block further message processing.

SDL_AndroidGetExternalStorageState() takes the state as an output parameter and returns 0 if the function succeeds or a negative error code if there was an error.

SDL_AndroidRequestPermission is no longer a blocking call; the caller now provides a callback function that fires when a response is available.

SDL_iPhoneSetAnimationCallback() and SDL_iPhoneSetEventPump() have been renamed to SDL_iOSSetAnimationCallback() and SDL_iOSSetEventPump(), respectively. SDL2 has had macros to provide this new name with the old symbol since the introduction of the iPad, but now the correctly-named symbol is the only option.

The following functions have been removed:

SDL_RenderGetD3D11Device() - replaced with the "SDL.renderer.d3d11.device" property
SDL_RenderGetD3D12Device() - replaced with the "SDL.renderer.d3d12.device" property
SDL_RenderGetD3D9Device() - replaced with the "SDL.renderer.d3d9.device" property
SDL_WinRTGetFSPathUNICODE() - Use SDL_WinRTGetFSPath() and SDL_iconv_string to convert from UTF-8 to UTF-16.

The following functions have been renamed:

SDL_WinRTGetFSPathUTF8() => SDL_WinRTGetFSPath()
SDL_iPhoneSetAnimationCallback() => SDL_iOSSetAnimationCallback()
SDL_iPhoneSetEventPump() => SDL_iOSSetEventPump()

SDL_syswm.h

This header has been removed.

The Windows and X11 events are now available via callbacks which you can set with SDL_SetWindowsMessageHook() and SDL_SetX11EventHook().

The information previously available in SDL_GetWindowWMInfo() is now available as window properties, e.g.

    SDL_SysWMinfo info;
    SDL_VERSION(&info.version);

#if defined(__WIN32__)
    HWND hwnd = NULL;
    if (SDL_GetWindowWMInfo(window, &info) && info.subsystem == SDL_SYSWM_WINDOWS) {
        hwnd = info.info.win.window;
    }
    if (hwnd) {
        ...
    }
#elif defined(__MACOSX__)
    NSWindow *nswindow = NULL;
    if (SDL_GetWindowWMInfo(window, &info) && info.subsystem == SDL_SYSWM_COCOA) {
        nswindow = (__bridge NSWindow *)info.info.cocoa.window;
    }
    if (nswindow) {
        ...
    }
#elif defined(__LINUX__)
    if (SDL_GetWindowWMInfo(window, &info)) {
        if (info.subsystem == SDL_SYSWM_X11) {
            Display *xdisplay = info.info.x11.display;
            Window xwindow = info.info.x11.window;
            if (xdisplay && xwindow) {
                ...
            }
        } else if (info.subsystem == SDL_SYSWM_WAYLAND) {
            struct wl_display *display = info.info.wl.display;
            struct wl_surface *surface = info.info.wl.surface;
            if (display && surface) {
                ...
            }
        }
    }
#elif defined(__IPHONEOS__)
    UIWindow *uiwindow = NULL;
    if (SDL_GetWindowWMInfo(window, &info) && info.subsystem == SDL_SYSWM_UIKIT) {
        uiwindow = (__bridge UIWindow *)info.info.uikit.window;
    }
    if (uiwindow) {
        GLuint framebuffer = info.info.uikit.framebuffer;
        GLuint colorbuffer = info.info.uikit.colorbuffer;
        GLuint resolveFramebuffer = info.info.uikit.resolveFramebuffer;
        ...
    }
#endif

becomes:

#if defined(SDL_PLATFORM_WIN32)
    HWND hwnd = (HWND)SDL_GetProperty(SDL_GetWindowProperties(window), SDL_PROP_WINDOW_WIN32_HWND_POINTER, NULL);
    if (hwnd) {
        ...
    }
#elif defined(SDL_PLATFORM_MACOS)
    NSWindow *nswindow = (__bridge NSWindow *)SDL_GetProperty(SDL_GetWindowProperties(window), SDL_PROP_WINDOW_COCOA_WINDOW_POINTER, NULL);
    if (nswindow) {
        ...
    }
#elif defined(SDL_PLATFORM_LINUX)
    if (SDL_strcmp(SDL_GetCurrentVideoDriver(), "x11") == 0) {
        Display *xdisplay = (Display *)SDL_GetProperty(SDL_GetWindowProperties(window), SDL_PROP_WINDOW_X11_DISPLAY_POINTER, NULL);
        Window xwindow = (Window)SDL_GetNumberProperty(SDL_GetWindowProperties(window), SDL_PROP_WINDOW_X11_WINDOW_NUMBER, 0);
        if (xdisplay && xwindow) {
            ...
        }
    } else if (SDL_strcmp(SDL_GetCurrentVideoDriver(), "wayland") == 0) {
        struct wl_display *display = (struct wl_display *)SDL_GetProperty(SDL_GetWindowProperties(window), SDL_PROP_WINDOW_WAYLAND_DISPLAY_POINTER, NULL);
        struct wl_surface *surface = (struct wl_surface *)SDL_GetProperty(SDL_GetWindowProperties(window), SDL_PROP_WINDOW_WAYLAND_SURFACE_POINTER, NULL);
        if (display && surface) {
            ...
        }
    }
#elif defined(SDL_PLATFORM_IOS)
    SDL_PropertiesID props = SDL_GetWindowProperties(window);
    UIWindow *uiwindow = (__bridge UIWindow *)SDL_GetProperty(props, SDL_PROP_WINDOW_UIKIT_WINDOW_POINTER, NULL);
    if (uiwindow) {
        GLuint framebuffer = (GLuint)SDL_GetNumberProperty(props, SDL_PROP_WINDOW_UIKIT_OPENGL_FRAMEBUFFER_NUMBER, 0);
        GLuint colorbuffer = (GLuint)SDL_GetNumberProperty(props, SDL_PROP_WINDOW_UIKIT_OPENGL_RENDERBUFFER_NUMBER, 0);
        GLuint resolveFramebuffer = (GLuint)SDL_GetNumberProperty(props, SDL_PROP_WINDOW_UIKIT_OPENGL_RESOLVE_FRAMEBUFFER_NUMBER, 0);
        ...
    }
#endif

SDL_thread.h

SDL_CreateThreadWithStackSize has been replaced with SDL_CreateThreadWithProperties.

SDL_CreateThread and SDL_CreateThreadWithProperties now take beginthread/endthread function pointers on all platforms (ignoring them on most), and have been replaced with macros that hide this detail on all platforms. This works the same as before at the source code level, but the actual function signature that is called in SDL has changed. The library's exported symbol is SDL_CreateThreadRuntime, and looking for "SDL_CreateThread" in the DLL/Shared Library/Dylib will fail. You should not call this directly, but instead always use the macro!

The following functions have been renamed:

SDL_TLSCleanup() => SDL_CleanupTLS()
SDL_TLSCreate() => SDL_CreateTLS()
SDL_TLSGet() => SDL_GetTLS()
SDL_TLSSet() => SDL_SetTLS()
SDL_ThreadID() => SDL_GetCurrentThreadID()

The following symbols have been renamed:

SDL_threadID => SDL_ThreadID

SDL_timer.h

SDL_GetTicks() now returns a 64-bit value. Instead of using the SDL_TICKS_PASSED macro, you can directly compare tick values, e.g.

Uint32 deadline = SDL_GetTicks() + 1000;
...
if (SDL_TICKS_PASSED(SDL_GetTicks(), deadline)) {
    ...
}

becomes:

Uint64 deadline = SDL_GetTicks() + 1000
...
if (SDL_GetTicks() >= deadline) {
    ...
}

If you were using this macro for other things besides SDL ticks values, you can define it in your own code as:

#define SDL_TICKS_PASSED(A, B)  ((Sint32)((B) - (A)) <= 0)

The callback passed to SDL_AddTimer() has changed parameters to:

Uint32 SDLCALL TimerCallback(void *userdata, SDL_TimerID timerID, Uint32 interval);

The return value of SDL_RemoveTimer() has changed to the standard int error code.

SDL_touch.h

SDL_GetTouchName is replaced with SDL_GetTouchDeviceName(), which takes an SDL_TouchID instead of an index.

SDL_TouchID and SDL_FingerID are now Uint64 with 0 being an invalid value.

Rather than iterating over touch devices using an index, there is a new function SDL_GetTouchDevices() to get the available devices.

Rather than iterating over touch fingers using an index, there is a new function SDL_GetTouchFingers() to get the current set of active fingers.

The following functions have been removed:

SDL_GetNumTouchDevices() - replaced with SDL_GetTouchDevices()
SDL_GetNumTouchFingers() - replaced with SDL_GetTouchFingers()
SDL_GetTouchDevice() - replaced with SDL_GetTouchDevices()
SDL_GetTouchFinger() - replaced with SDL_GetTouchFingers()

SDL_version.h

SDL_GetRevisionNumber() has been removed from the API, it always returned 0 in SDL 2.0.

SDL_GetVersion() returns the version number, which can be directly compared with another version wrapped with SDL_VERSIONNUM().

The following structures have been removed:

SDL_version

The following symbols have been renamed:

SDL_COMPILEDVERSION => SDL_VERSION
SDL_PATCHLEVEL => SDL_MICRO_VERSION

SDL_video.h

Several video backends have had their names lower-cased ("kmsdrm", "rpi", "android", "psp", "ps2", "vita"). SDL already does a case-insensitive compare for SDL_HINT_VIDEO_DRIVER tests, but if your app is calling SDL_GetVideoDriver() or SDL_GetCurrentVideoDriver() and doing case-sensitive compares on those strings, please update your code.

SDL_VideoInit() and SDL_VideoQuit() have been removed. Instead you can call SDL_InitSubSystem() and SDL_QuitSubSystem() with SDL_INIT_VIDEO, which will properly refcount the subsystems. You can choose a specific video driver using SDL_VIDEO_DRIVER hint.

Rather than iterating over displays using display index, there is a new function SDL_GetDisplays() to get the current list of displays, and functions which used to take a display index now take SDL_DisplayID, with an invalid ID being 0.

{
    if (SDL_InitSubSystem(SDL_INIT_VIDEO) == 0) {
        int i, num_displays = 0;
        SDL_DisplayID *displays = SDL_GetDisplays(&num_displays);
        if (displays) {
            for (i = 0; i < num_displays; ++i) {
                SDL_DisplayID instance_id = displays[i];
                const char *name = SDL_GetDisplayName(instance_id);

                SDL_Log("Display %" SDL_PRIu32 ": %s\n", instance_id, name ? name : "Unknown");
            }
            SDL_free(displays);
        }
        SDL_QuitSubSystem(SDL_INIT_VIDEO);
    }
}

SDL_CreateWindow() has been simplified and no longer takes a window position. You can use SDL_CreateWindowWithProperties() if you need to set the window position when creating it, e.g.

    SDL_PropertiesID props = SDL_CreateProperties();
    SDL_SetStringProperty(props, SDL_PROP_WINDOW_CREATE_TITLE_STRING, title);
    SDL_SetNumberProperty(props, SDL_PROP_WINDOW_CREATE_X_NUMBER, x);
    SDL_SetNumberProperty(props, SDL_PROP_WINDOW_CREATE_Y_NUMBER, y);
    SDL_SetNumberProperty(props, SDL_PROP_WINDOW_CREATE_WIDTH_NUMBER, width);
    SDL_SetNumberProperty(props, SDL_PROP_WINDOW_CREATE_HEIGHT_NUMBER, height);
    SDL_SetNumberProperty(props, "flags", flags);
    pWindow = SDL_CreateWindowWithProperties(props);
    SDL_DestroyProperties(props);
    if (window) {
        ...
    }

The SDL_WINDOWPOS_UNDEFINED_DISPLAY() and SDL_WINDOWPOS_CENTERED_DISPLAY() macros take a display ID instead of display index. The display ID 0 has a special meaning in this case, and is used to indicate the primary display.

The SDL_WINDOW_SHOWN flag has been removed. Windows are shown by default and can be created hidden by using the SDL_WINDOW_HIDDEN flag.

The SDL_WINDOW_SKIP_TASKBAR flag has been replaced by the SDL_WINDOW_UTILITY flag, which has the same functionality.

SDL_DisplayMode now includes the pixel density which can be greater than 1.0 for display modes that have a higher pixel size than the mode size. You should use SDL_GetWindowSizeInPixels() to get the actual pixel size of the window back buffer.

The refresh rate in SDL_DisplayMode is now a float.

Rather than iterating over display modes using an index, there is a new function SDL_GetFullscreenDisplayModes() to get the list of available fullscreen modes on a display.

{
    SDL_DisplayID display = SDL_GetPrimaryDisplay();
    int num_modes = 0;
    SDL_DisplayMode **modes = SDL_GetFullscreenDisplayModes(display, &num_modes);
    if (modes) {
        for (i = 0; i < num_modes; ++i) {
            SDL_DisplayMode *mode = modes[i];
            SDL_Log("Display %" SDL_PRIu32 " mode %d: %dx%d@%gx %gHz\n",
                    display, i, mode->w, mode->h, mode->pixel_density, mode->refresh_rate);
        }
        SDL_free(modes);
    }
}

SDL_GetDesktopDisplayMode() and SDL_GetCurrentDisplayMode() return pointers to display modes rather than filling in application memory.

Windows now have an explicit fullscreen mode that is set, using SDL_SetWindowFullscreenMode(). The fullscreen mode for a window can be queried with SDL_GetWindowFullscreenMode(), which returns a pointer to the mode, or NULL if the window will be fullscreen desktop. SDL_SetWindowFullscreen() just takes a boolean value, setting the correct fullscreen state based on the selected mode.

SDL_WINDOW_FULLSCREEN_DESKTOP has been removed, and you can call SDL_GetWindowFullscreenMode() to see whether an exclusive fullscreen mode will be used or the borderless fullscreen desktop mode will be used when the window is fullscreen.

SDL_SetWindowBrightness and SDL_SetWindowGammaRamp have been removed from the API, because they interact poorly with modern operating systems and aren't able to limit their effects to the SDL window.

Programs which have access to shaders can implement more robust versions of those functions using custom shader code rendered as a post-process effect.

Removed SDL_GL_CONTEXT_EGL from OpenGL configuration attributes. You can instead use SDL_GL_SetAttribute(SDL_GL_CONTEXT_PROFILE_MASK, SDL_GL_CONTEXT_PROFILE_ES);

SDL_GL_GetProcAddress() and SDL_EGL_GetProcAddress() now return SDL_FunctionPointer instead of void *, and should be cast to the appropriate function type. You can define SDL_FUNCTION_POINTER_IS_VOID_POINTER in your project to restore the previous behavior.

SDL_GL_SwapWindow() returns 0 if the function succeeds or a negative error code if there was an error.

SDL_GL_GetSwapInterval() takes the interval as an output parameter and returns 0 if the function succeeds or a negative error code if there was an error.

SDL_GL_GetDrawableSize() has been removed. SDL_GetWindowSizeInPixels() can be used in its place.

The SDL_WINDOW_TOOLTIP and SDL_WINDOW_POPUP_MENU window flags are now supported on Windows, Mac (Cocoa), X11, and Wayland. Creating windows with these flags must happen via the SDL_CreatePopupWindow() function. This function requires passing in the handle to a valid parent window for the popup, and the popup window is positioned relative to the parent.

SDL_WindowFlags is used instead of Uint32 for API functions that refer to window flags, and has been extended to 64 bits.

The following functions have been renamed:

SDL_GetClosestDisplayMode() => SDL_GetClosestFullscreenDisplayMode()
SDL_GetDisplayOrientation() => SDL_GetCurrentDisplayOrientation()
SDL_GetPointDisplayIndex() => SDL_GetDisplayForPoint()
SDL_GetRectDisplayIndex() => SDL_GetDisplayForRect()
SDL_GetWindowDisplayIndex() => SDL_GetDisplayForWindow()
SDL_GetWindowDisplayMode() => SDL_GetWindowFullscreenMode()
SDL_HasWindowSurface() => SDL_WindowHasSurface()
SDL_IsScreenSaverEnabled() => SDL_ScreenSaverEnabled()
SDL_SetWindowDisplayMode() => SDL_SetWindowFullscreenMode()

The following functions have been removed:

SDL_GetClosestFullscreenDisplayMode()
SDL_GetDisplayDPI() - not reliable across platforms, approximately replaced by multiplying SDL_GetWindowDisplayScale() times 160 on iPhone and Android, and 96 on other platforms.
SDL_GetDisplayMode()
SDL_GetNumDisplayModes() - replaced with SDL_GetFullscreenDisplayModes()
SDL_GetNumVideoDisplays() - replaced with SDL_GetDisplays()
SDL_SetWindowGrab() - use SDL_SetWindowMouseGrab() instead, along with SDL_SetWindowKeyboardGrab() if you also set SDL_HINT_GRAB_KEYBOARD.
SDL_GetWindowGrab() - use SDL_GetWindowMouseGrab() instead, along with SDL_GetWindowKeyboardGrab() if you also set SDL_HINT_GRAB_KEYBOARD.
SDL_GetWindowData() - use SDL_GetWindowProperties() instead
SDL_SetWindowData() - use SDL_GetWindowProperties() instead
SDL_CreateWindowFrom() - use SDL_CreateWindowWithProperties() with the properties that allow you to wrap an existing window

The SDL_Window id type is named SDL_WindowID

The following symbols have been renamed:

SDL_DISPLAYEVENT_DISCONNECTED => SDL_EVENT_DISPLAY_REMOVED
SDL_DISPLAYEVENT_MOVED => SDL_EVENT_DISPLAY_MOVED
SDL_DISPLAYEVENT_ORIENTATION => SDL_EVENT_DISPLAY_ORIENTATION
SDL_WINDOWEVENT_CLOSE => SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_CLOSE_REQUESTED
SDL_WINDOWEVENT_DISPLAY_CHANGED => SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_DISPLAY_CHANGED
SDL_WINDOWEVENT_ENTER => SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_MOUSE_ENTER
SDL_WINDOWEVENT_EXPOSED => SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_EXPOSED
SDL_WINDOWEVENT_FOCUS_GAINED => SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_FOCUS_GAINED
SDL_WINDOWEVENT_FOCUS_LOST => SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_FOCUS_LOST
SDL_WINDOWEVENT_HIDDEN => SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_HIDDEN
SDL_WINDOWEVENT_HIT_TEST => SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_HIT_TEST
SDL_WINDOWEVENT_ICCPROF_CHANGED => SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_ICCPROF_CHANGED
SDL_WINDOWEVENT_LEAVE => SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_MOUSE_LEAVE
SDL_WINDOWEVENT_MAXIMIZED => SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_MAXIMIZED
SDL_WINDOWEVENT_MINIMIZED => SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_MINIMIZED
SDL_WINDOWEVENT_MOVED => SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_MOVED
SDL_WINDOWEVENT_RESIZED => SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_RESIZED
SDL_WINDOWEVENT_RESTORED => SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_RESTORED
SDL_WINDOWEVENT_SHOWN => SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_SHOWN
SDL_WINDOWEVENT_SIZE_CHANGED => SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_SIZE_CHANGED
SDL_WINDOWEVENT_TAKE_FOCUS => SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_TAKE_FOCUS
SDL_WINDOW_ALLOW_HIGHDPI => SDL_WINDOW_HIGH_PIXEL_DENSITY
SDL_WINDOW_INPUT_GRABBED => SDL_WINDOW_MOUSE_GRABBED

The following window operations are now considered to be asynchronous requests and should not be assumed to succeed unless a corresponding event has been received:

SDL_SetWindowSize() (SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_RESIZED)
SDL_SetWindowPosition() (SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_MOVED)
SDL_MinimizeWindow() (SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_MINIMIZED)
SDL_MaximizeWindow() (SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_MAXIMIZED)
SDL_RestoreWindow() (SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_RESTORED)
SDL_SetWindowFullscreen() (SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_ENTER_FULLSCREEN / SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_LEAVE_FULLSCREEN)

If it is required that operations be applied immediately after one of the preceding calls, the SDL_SyncWindow() function will attempt to wait until all pending window operations have completed. The SDL_HINT_VIDEO_SYNC_WINDOW_OPERATIONS hint can also be set to automatically synchronize after all calls to an asynchronous window operation, mimicking the behavior of SDL 2. Be aware that synchronizing can potentially block for long periods of time, as it may have to wait for window animations to complete. Also note that windowing systems can deny or not precisely obey these requests (e.g. windows may not be allowed to be larger than the usable desktop space or placed offscreen), so a corresponding event may never arrive or not contain the expected values.

SDL_vulkan.h

SDL_Vulkan_GetInstanceExtensions() no longer takes a window parameter, and no longer makes the app allocate query/allocate space for the result, instead returning a static const internal string.

SDL_Vulkan_GetVkGetInstanceProcAddr() now returns SDL_FunctionPointer instead of void *, and should be cast to PFN_vkGetInstanceProcAddr.

SDL_Vulkan_CreateSurface() now returns an int (0=success, -1=error) instead of an SDL_bool (true=success, false=error).

SDL_Vulkan_CreateSurface() now takes a VkAllocationCallbacks pointer as its third parameter. If you don't have an allocator to supply, pass a NULL here to use the system default allocator (SDL2 always used the system default allocator here).

SDL_Vulkan_GetDrawableSize() has been removed. SDL_GetWindowSizeInPixels() can be used in its place.

SDL_vulkanInstance and SDL_vulkanSurface have been removed. They were for compatibility with Tizen, who had built their own Vulkan interface into SDL2, but these apps will need changes for the SDL3 API if they are upgraded anyhow.

Files

README-migration.md

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README-migration.md

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Migrating to SDL 3.0

SDL_atomic.h

SDL_audio.h

SDL_cpuinfo.h

SDL_endian.h

SDL_error.h

SDL_events.h

SDL_gamecontroller.h

SDL_gesture.h

SDL_haptic.h

SDL_hints.h

SDL_init.h

SDL_joystick.h

SDL_keyboard.h

SDL_keycode.h

SDL_loadso.h

SDL_log.h

SDL_main.h

SDL_messagebox.h

SDL_metal.h

SDL_mouse.h

SDL_mutex.h

SDL_pixels.h

SDL_platform.h

SDL_quit.h

SDL_rect.h

SDL_render.h

SDL_rwops.h

SDL_scancode.h

SDL_sensor.h

SDL_shape.h

SDL_stdinc.h

SDL_surface.h

SDL_system.h

SDL_syswm.h

SDL_thread.h

SDL_timer.h

SDL_touch.h

SDL_version.h

SDL_video.h

SDL_vulkan.h