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external/sdl/SDL/docs/README-main-functions.md

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+# Where an SDL program starts running.
+
+## History
+
+SDL has a long, complicated history with starting a program.
+
+In most of the civilized world, an application starts in a C-callable
+function named "main". You probably learned it a long time ago:
+
+```c
+int main(int argc, char **argv)
+{
+    printf("Hello world!\n");
+    return 0;
+}
+```
+
+But not all platforms work like this. Windows apps might want a different
+function named "WinMain", for example, so SDL set out to paper over this
+difference.
+
+Generally how this would work is: your app would always use the "standard"
+`main(argc, argv)` function as its entry point, and `#include` the proper
+SDL header before that, which did some macro magic. On platforms that used
+a standard `main`, it would do nothing and what you saw was what you got.
+
+But those other platforms! If they needed something that _wasn't_ `main`,
+SDL's macro magic would quietly rename your function to `SDL_main`, and
+provide its own entry point that called it. Your app was none the wiser and
+your code worked everywhere without changes.
+
+
+## The main entry point in SDL3
+
+Previous versions of SDL had a static library, SDLmain, that you would link
+your app against. SDL3 still has the same macro tricks, but the static library
+is gone. Now it's supplied by a "single-header library," which means you
+`#include <SDL3/SDL_main.h>` and that header will insert a small amount of
+code into the source file that included it, so you no longer have to worry
+about linking against an extra library that you might need on some platforms.
+You just build your app and it works.
+
+You should _only_ include SDL_main.h from one file (the umbrella header,
+SDL.h, does _not_ include it), and know that it will `#define main` to
+something else, so if you use this symbol elsewhere as a variable name, etc,
+it can cause you unexpected problems.
+
+SDL_main.h will also include platform-specific code (WinMain or whatnot) that
+calls your _actual_ main function. This is compiled directly into your
+program.
+
+If for some reason you need to include SDL_main.h in a file but also _don't_
+want it to generate this platform-specific code, you should define a special
+macro before including the header:
+
+
+```c
+#define SDL_MAIN_NOIMPL
+```
+
+If you are moving from SDL2, remove any references to the SDLmain static
+library from your build system, and you should be done. Things should work as
+they always have.
+
+If you have never controlled your process's entry point (you are using SDL
+as a module from a general-purpose scripting language interpreter, or you're
+using SDL in a plugin for some otherwise-unrelated app), then there is nothing
+required of you here; there is no startup code in SDL's entry point code that
+is required, so using SDL_main.h is completely optional. Just start using
+the SDL API when you are ready.
+
+
+## Main callbacks in SDL3
+
+There is a second option in SDL3 for how to structure your program. This is
+completely optional and you can ignore it if you're happy using a standard
+"main" function.
+
+Some platforms would rather your program operate in chunks. Most of the time,
+games tend to look like this at the highest level:
+
+```c
+int main(int argc, char **argv)
+{
+    initialize();
+    while (keep_running()) {
+        handle_new_events();
+        do_one_frame_of_stuff();
+    }
+    deinitialize();
+}
+```
+
+There are platforms that would rather be in charge of that `while` loop:
+iOS would rather you return from main() immediately and then it will let you
+know that it's time to update and draw the next frame of video. Emscripten
+(programs that run on a web page) absolutely requires this to function at all.
+Video targets like Wayland can notify the app when to draw a new frame, to
+save battery life and cooperate with the compositor more closely.
+
+In most cases, you can add special-case code to your program to deal with this
+on different platforms, but SDL3 offers a system to handle this transparently on
+the app's behalf.
+
+To use this, you have to redesign the highest level of your app a little. Once
+you do, it'll work on all supported SDL platforms without problems and
+`#ifdef`s in your code.
+
+Instead of providing a "main" function, under this system, you would provide
+several functions that SDL will call as appropriate.
+
+Using the callback entry points works on every platform, because on platforms
+that don't require them, we can fake them with a simple loop in an internal
+implementation of the usual SDL_main.
+
+The primary way we expect people to write SDL apps is still with SDL_main, and
+this is not intended to replace it. If the app chooses to use this, it just
+removes some platform-specific details they might have to otherwise manage,
+and maybe removes a barrier to entry on some future platform. And you might
+find you enjoy structuring your program like this more!
+
+
+## How to use main callbacks in SDL3
+
+To enable the callback entry points, you include SDL_main.h with an extra define,
+from a single source file in your project:
+
+```c
+#define SDL_MAIN_USE_CALLBACKS
+#include <SDL3/SDL_main.h>
+```
+
+Once you do this, you do not write a "main" function at all (and if you do,
+the app will likely fail to link). Instead, you provide the following
+functions:
+
+First:
+
+```c
+int SDL_AppInit(int argc, char **argv);
+```
+
+This will be called _once_ before anything else. argc/argv work like they
+always do. If this returns 0, the app runs. If it returns < 0, the app calls
+SDL_AppQuit and terminates with an exit code that reports an error to the
+platform. If it returns > 0, the app calls SDL_AppQuit and terminates with
+an exit code that reports success to the platform. This function should not
+go into an infinite mainloop; it should do any one-time startup it requires
+and then return.
+
+Then:
+
+```c
+int SDL_AppIterate(void);
+```
+
+This is called over and over, possibly at the refresh rate of the display or
+some other metric that the platform dictates. This is where the heart of your
+app runs. It should return as quickly as reasonably possible, but it's not a
+"run one memcpy and that's all the time you have" sort of thing. The app
+should do any game updates, and render a frame of video. If it returns < 0,
+SDL will call SDL_AppQuit and terminate the process with an exit code that
+reports an error to the platform. If it returns > 0, the app calls
+SDL_AppQuit and terminates with an exit code that reports success to the
+platform. If it returns 0, then SDL_AppIterate will be called again at some
+regular frequency. The platform may choose to run this more or less (perhaps
+less in the background, etc), or it might just call this function in a loop
+as fast as possible. You do not check the event queue in this function
+(SDL_AppEvent exists for that).
+
+Next:
+
+```c
+int SDL_AppEvent(const SDL_Event *event);
+```
+
+This will be called whenever an SDL event arrives, on the thread that runs
+SDL_AppIterate.  Your app should also not call SDL_PollEvent, SDL_PumpEvent,
+etc, as  SDL will manage all this for you. Return values are the same as from
+SDL_AppIterate(), so you can terminate in response to SDL_EVENT_QUIT, etc.
+
+
+Finally:
+
+```c
+void SDL_AppQuit(void);
+```
+
+This is called once before terminating the app--assuming the app isn't being
+forcibly killed or crashed--as a last chance to clean up. After this returns,
+SDL will call SDL_Quit so the app doesn't have to (but it's safe for the app
+to call it, too). Process termination proceeds as if the app returned normally
+from main(), so atexit handles will run, if your platform supports that.
+