build_system - jonathanperis/super-mango-editor GitHub Wiki

Build System

Makefile Overview

The project uses a GNU Makefile that auto-discovers source files via a wildcard -- no manual edits required when adding new .c files.

CC      = clang
CFLAGS  = -std=c11 -Wall -Wextra -Wpedantic $(shell sdl2-config --cflags)
LIBS    = $(shell sdl2-config --libs) -lSDL2_image -lSDL2_ttf -lSDL2_mixer -lm
OUTDIR  = out
TARGET  = $(OUTDIR)/super-mango
SRCDIR  = src
SRCS    = $(wildcard $(SRCDIR)/*.c) \
          $(wildcard $(SRCDIR)/collectibles/*.c) \
          $(wildcard $(SRCDIR)/core/*.c) \
          $(wildcard $(SRCDIR)/effects/*.c) \
          $(wildcard $(SRCDIR)/entities/*.c) \
          $(wildcard $(SRCDIR)/hazards/*.c) \
          $(wildcard $(SRCDIR)/levels/*.c) \
          $(wildcard $(SRCDIR)/player/*.c) \
          $(wildcard $(SRCDIR)/screens/*.c) \
          $(wildcard $(SRCDIR)/surfaces/*.c) \
          $(SRCDIR)/editor/serializer.c \
          vendor/tomlc17/tomlc17.c
OBJS    = $(SRCS:.c=.o)
DEPS    = $(OBJS:.o=.d)

Key Variables

Variable	Value	Description
`CC`	`clang`	C compiler (override with `CC=gcc` if needed)
`CFLAGS`	see below	Compiler flags
`LIBS`	see below	Linker flags
`TARGET`	`out/super-mango`	Output binary path
`SRCS`	`src/.c + src//.c`	All C source files (auto-discovered from src/ and subdirectories)
`OBJS`	`src/*.o`	Object files, placed next to sources
`DEPS`	`src/*.d`	Auto-generated dependency files (tracks header changes)

Compiler Flags Explained

Flag	Meaning
`-std=c11`	Compile as C11 (ISO/IEC 9899:2011)
`-Wall`	Enable common warnings
`-Wextra`	Enable extra warnings beyond `-Wall`
`-Wpedantic`	Strict ISO compliance warnings
`-MMD`	Generate `.d` dependency files for each `.o` (tracks header changes) -- passed in compile rule, not in `CFLAGS`
`-MP`	Add phony targets for each dependency (prevents errors when headers are deleted) -- passed in compile rule, not in `CFLAGS`
`$(shell sdl2-config --cflags)`	SDL2 include paths (`-I/opt/homebrew/include/SDL2`)

Linker Flags Explained

Flag	Meaning
`$(shell sdl2-config --libs)`	SDL2 core library (`-L/opt/homebrew/lib -lSDL2`)
`-lSDL2_image`	PNG/JPG texture loading
`-lSDL2_ttf`	TrueType font rendering
`-lSDL2_mixer`	Audio mixing (WAV, MP3, OGG)
`-lm`	Math library (`math.h` functions: `sinf`, `cosf`, `fmodf`, etc.)

Build Targets

`make` / `make all`

Compiles all src/*.c files to .o objects, then links them into out/super-mango.

make

Steps:

Creates out/ directory if it does not exist
Compiles each src/*.c → src/*.o
Links all .o files → out/super-mango
On macOS (uname -s == Darwin), ad-hoc code signs the binary with codesign --force --sign - $@ (required on Apple Silicon to avoid Killed: 9 errors). On other platforms this step is skipped

`make run`

Builds (if out of date) then immediately executes the binary (no CLI flags).

make run

The binary must be run from the repo root because asset paths are relative:

IMG_LoadTexture(renderer, "assets/sprites/backgrounds/sky_blue.png");
Mix_LoadWAV("assets/sounds/player/player_jump.wav");

`make run-debug`

Builds (if out of date) then runs the binary with the --debug flag, which enables the debug overlay: FPS counter, collision hitbox visualization, and scrolling event log.

make run-debug

`make run-level LEVEL=path`

Builds (if out of date) then runs the binary with the --level flag, loading a specific TOML level file.

make run-level LEVEL=src/levels/exported/sandbox_00.toml

`make run-level-debug LEVEL=path`

Builds (if out of date) then runs the binary with both --debug and --level flags, loading a specific TOML level file with the debug overlay enabled.

make run-level-debug LEVEL=src/levels/exported/sandbox_00.toml

`make editor`

Compiles the standalone level editor into out/super-mango-editor. The editor is a separate binary with its own source files in src/editor/ and the tomlc17 TOML parser from vendor/tomlc17/.

make editor

`make run-editor`

Builds the editor (if out of date) then immediately runs it.

make run-editor

`make web`

Compiles the game to WebAssembly using the Emscripten SDK (emcc). Requires Emscripten to be installed and emcc on PATH.

make web

Produces out/super-mango.html, .js, .wasm, and .data (bundled assets/sounds). SDL2 ports are compiled from source by Emscripten on first build; subsequent builds reuse cached port libraries. Uses a custom shell template from web/shell.html.

`make clean`

Removes all build artifacts.

make clean

Deletes:

src/*.o and src/**/*.o -- all object files
src/*.d and src/**/*.d -- all generated dependency files
out/ -- the output directory and binary

Prerequisites

macOS (Apple Silicon / Intel)

# Install Homebrew if needed: https://brew.sh
brew install sdl2 sdl2_image sdl2_ttf sdl2_mixer

# Xcode Command Line Tools (provides clang and make)
xcode-select --install

SDL2 libraries are installed to /opt/homebrew/ on Apple Silicon. sdl2-config resolves the correct paths automatically.

Linux -- Debian / Ubuntu

sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential clang \
    libsdl2-dev libsdl2-image-dev libsdl2-ttf-dev libsdl2-mixer-dev

Linux -- Fedora / RHEL / CentOS

sudo dnf install clang make \
    SDL2-devel SDL2_image-devel SDL2_ttf-devel SDL2_mixer-devel

Linux -- Arch Linux

sudo pacman -S clang make sdl2 sdl2_image sdl2_ttf sdl2_mixer

Windows (MSYS2)

Install MSYS2
Open the MSYS2 UCRT64 terminal:

pacman -S mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-clang \
          mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-make \
          mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-SDL2 \
          mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-SDL2_image \
          mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-SDL2_ttf \
          mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-SDL2_mixer

Build:

cd /c/path/to/super-mango-editor
make

SDL2 DLLs must be in the same directory as the binary. Copy them from the MSYS2 prefix.

CI/CD Pipelines

Three GitHub Actions workflows handle automated builds:

Workflow	File	Trigger	Purpose
Build & Release	`build.yml`	Push to `main`, pull requests	Multi-platform build (Linux x86_64, macOS arm64, Windows x86_64, WebAssembly); on main push: GitHub Release creation + Pages deployment of WebAssembly build
CodeQL	`codeql.yml`	Push/PR to `main`, weekly	Automated code security and quality analysis
Deploy	`deploy.yml`	Push to `main`, manual	Deploys `docs/` to GitHub Pages via actions/deploy-pages

All workflows install SDL2 dependencies per platform and compile with the project Makefile.

Adding New Source Files

Because the Makefile uses per-subdirectory wildcards, any new .c file placed in src/ or its recognized subdirectories is compiled automatically on the next make invocation. No Makefile changes required.

# Example: adding an entity in a subdirectory
touch src/entities/new_enemy.c src/entities/new_enemy.h
make   # new_enemy.c is compiled automatically

See Developer Guide for the full new-entity workflow.

Output Structure

After a successful build:

out/
├── super-mango                          ← the game binary
└── super-mango-editor                   ← the editor binary (make editor)
src/
├── main.o
├── game.o
├── collectibles/
│   ├── coin.o
│   ├── star_yellow.o
│   └── last_star.o
├── core/
│   ├── debug.o
│   └── entity_utils.o
├── effects/
│   ├── fog.o
│   ├── parallax.o
│   └── water.o
├── entities/
│   ├── spider.o
│   ├── jumping_spider.o
│   ├── bird.o
│   ├── faster_bird.o
│   ├── fish.o
│   └── faster_fish.o
├── hazards/
│   ├── spike.o
│   ├── spike_block.o
│   ├── spike_platform.o
│   ├── circular_saw.o
│   ├── axe_trap.o
│   └── blue_flame.o
├── levels/
│   └── level_loader.o
├── player/
│   └── player.o
├── screens/
│   ├── start_menu.o
│   └── hud.o
├── surfaces/
│   ├── platform.o
│   ├── float_platform.o
│   ├── bridge.o
│   ├── bouncepad.o
│   ├── bouncepad_small.o
│   ├── bouncepad_medium.o
│   ├── bouncepad_high.o
│   ├── rail.o
│   ├── vine.o
│   ├── ladder.o
│   └── rope.o
├── editor/
│   ├── canvas.o
│   ├── editor.o
│   ├── editor_main.o
│   ├── exporter.o
│   ├── file_dialog.o
│   ├── palette.o
│   ├── properties.o
│   ├── serializer.o
│   ├── tools.o
│   ├── ui.o
│   └── undo.o
vendor/
└── tomlc17/
    └── tomlc17.o
(plus corresponding .d dependency files in each directory)