What is the difference between the VC++ 11/12/14 Windows library options?

[tomizzo11]

Hello there,

I'm currently developing a project in Qt and am trying to link in the SFML libraries. I'm trying to target x86 architecture. However, I'm facing many linking issues...

I believe the issue is due to compiler mismatches, however, I'm confused on all of the technical details. So my question: is it necessary that my project is being compiled with the same compiler that compiled the SFML library?

For example, if my project is using MVCC 14(2015), it is thus necessary for me to link to SFML library compiled with that compiler?

If so, why is this? Aren't all of the MVC++ compilers targeting the same x86 architecture? Thus should the correspond .obj within the .lib be compatible?

I will greatly appreciate any help! 

[Laurent]

.obj and .lib formats are specific to the linker. There's no standard. And since there's no standard, VC++ happily breaks the compatibility in each new version. So yes, you have to use the SFML binaries compiled with the same compiler as your project.