The GLFW-b package only depends on base and bindings-GLFW.

The GLFW package depends on base and the OpenGL Haskell package.

I often use the Haskell OpenGLRaw package instead of OpenGL. Mostly because OpenGLRaw matches the C API for OpenGL. That's nice when you're following documentation as it's almost always for the C API. So then I save myself the step of translating from C OpenGL to the Haskell OpenGL package conventions.

I could probably still use OpenGLRaw with GLFW, but it's an unnecessary dependency. I also know that GLFW-b installs cleanly just using cabal on Windows, OSX, and Linux. I don't recall if GLFW has that property. I think it might require you to install the C GLFW library separately.

I hope that helps,

Jason

On Fri, Dec 13, 2013 at 1:13 PM, Vlad Lopatin <madjestic13@gmail.com> wrote:

>> With GLFW-b you can use either OpenGL or OpenGLRaw, whereas GLFW depends >> directly on OpenGL

Excuse me, Jason, I do not understand you here. What are you trying to say here?

Regards,
Vladimir

On 12 December 2013 23:49, Jason Dagit <dagitj@gmail.com> wrote:

I started using it after making the following comparison several years ago: http://blog.codersbase.com/posts/2011-03-17-picking-gui-library.html

Maybe that analysis is useful to you as well? Just so you know, it's probably out of date by now, so you might want to double check some of my claims. For example, the C library for GLFW doesn't use atexit() anymore (which is a good thing).

Getting back to your question: As I recall, it's better maintained, lighter weight, and it has better dependencies. With GLFW-b you can use either OpenGL or OpenGLRaw, whereas GLFW depends directly on OpenGL. The main drawback, for me, is that GLFW-b doesn't support fonts.

My proposed solution to that was to make a binding to the freetype2 library (you can find my binding on hackage/github). I never really finished that project. The binding should work but it's very low level. A few people have sent me example code they wrote to use it with OpenGL. It's really something I should finish :) The other cool thing about using freetype for fonts is that you can easily make it part of a rendering system that doesn't use any OS rendering libraries (eg., add font support to a ray-tracer).

Jason

On Thu, Dec 12, 2013 at 1:45 PM, Vlad Lopatin <madjestic13@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks, Jason

What makes you prefer GLFW-b instead GLFW?

On 12 December 2013 19:15, Jason Dagit <dagitj@gmail.com> wrote:

On Thu, Dec 12, 2013 at 3:05 AM, Sven Panne <svenpanne@gmail.com> wrote:

2013/12/12 Vlad Lopatin <madjestic13@gmail.com>:

> I keep reading (wiki) that GLUT is a legacy package and some libraries (e.g.
> GLFW) are meant to replace it. I also see that some of the GLUT
> functionality is based on fixed pipeline. What is the current status of
> Haskell GLUT? Is it 'to stay' or something that is going to be deprecated
> at some point? Should one try replacing it with GLFW(-b) in a project, if
> fixed pipeline is not expected to be used?

I think this really depends on your needs: GLUT was designed as a
simple cross-platform API for OpenGL demos and tutorials, perhaps even
some programs of medium complexity.

I prefer GLFW-b for cross platform programs for the simple reason that on windows GLUT requires you to install a DLL and make sure it's in the path.

I prefer GLFW-b more generally because it's more modern, fully open source, and under active development. The license for GLUT is open in practice but it's not a clean open source license. I guess most people use freeglut instead.

Jason