So I've tried compiling my first sfml application, using minGW. The source can be seen here:
https://pastebin.com/bVg0U35K (it's very short, just a hello world kinda thing). So I compile it with this command:
g++ sfmltest.cpp -o sfmltest -L c:/lib/lib -lsfml-graphics -lsfml-window -lsfml-system
and it compiles fine. the .a files and .dlls are in C:/lib/lib, and the headers are in a place where they definitely get included.
Attempting to run the program generates the message "The application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b)". Some quick googling yields this page
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10492037/the-application-was-unable-to-start-correctly-0xc000007b, telling me this issue is probably due to 32-bit 64-bit mismatches, but I compiled sfml myself using cmake, with the very compiler I'm using for this program, and by the check suggested in the top answer of this post
https://superuser.com/questions/358434/how-to-check-if-a-binary-is-32-or-64-bit-on-windows, it seems that my compiler, all of the sfml dlls, and the compiled program that generates the error, are all x86.
The stack overflow thread also says that "dependency walker saved the day", so I tried that.
It reports that all of the libraries in this thread
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17023419/win-7-64-bit-dll-problems are missing, but that thread seems to indicate this isn't actually a problem.
It also, however, reports that libgcc_s_seh-1.dll is missing, and indeed my minGW doesn't contain this file, instead containing libgcc_s_dw2-1.dll.
In summary, the whole process of linking sfml has been long and arduous, and every time I solve an issue another one crops up to replace it. I've tried googling the issues, and requesting help elsewhere (these two reddit threads
https://www.reddit.com/r/sfml/comments/8rzlis/undefined_reference_when_trying_to_link_sfml/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Compilers/comments/8n1ssv/help_linking_a_library_sfml/, although these threads are likely not very useful to read through, since they largely concern linking issues that have already been solved). It would be very much appreciated if someone could aid me in finally getting this library up and running.
