Why am I still getting 'undefined reference' linker errors when using SDL2?

Question

I've already looked at every other page on stack overflow directly relating to this error.

I am doing everything I could, but I am still getting this error

undefined reference to `SDL_Init'

This is the build log:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /C C:/TDM-GCC-64/bin/mingw32-make.exe -j4 SHELL=cmd.exe -e -f  Makefile
"----------Building project:[ testproject - Debug ]----------"
mingw32-make.exe[1]: Entering directory 'C:/Users/Andre/Documents/CodeLiteWorkspace/testproject'
C:/TDM-GCC-64/bin/g++.exe -o ./Debug/testproject @"testproject.txt" -L.
./Debug/main.cpp.o:main.cpp:(.text+0x43): undefined reference to `SDL_Init'
collect2.exe: error: ld returned 1 exit status
mingw32-make.exe[1]: *** [Debug/testproject] Error 1
testproject.mk:82: recipe for target 'Debug/testproject' failed
mingw32-make.exe[1]: Leaving directory 'C:/Users/Andre/Documents/CodeLiteWorkspace/testproject'
mingw32-make.exe: *** [All] Error 2
Makefile:4: recipe for target 'All' failed
====2 errors, 0 warnings====

These are the build options I'm using

-std=c++11;-IC:\SDL2\include -LC:\SDL2\lib -w -Wl,-subsystem,windows -lmingw32 -lSDL2main -lSDL2

And I know that everything (compiler and library files) are all 64-bit binaries. I've found out that it gives me the same error but instead of SDL_Init it says WinMain if I were to use the normal int main() entry function, so now I am using int WinMain() , which removed that error. So now my code simply consists of

extern "C"{
    #include <SDL2/SDL.h>
}

int WinMain(){
    SDL_Init( SDL_INIT_EVERYTHING );
    return 0;
}

and if I comment out the SDL_Init function the program has no build errors but doesn't do anything.

Does anyone know if this has to do with the fact that I'm using a slightly different compiler? Also, I'm not sure, but from the build log it looks like it's not actually using the build options I supplied it (I'm using an IDE so the program manages that). Lastly, if anyone knows why it wants me to use WinMain and not the regular main function, and tell me what to change to fix that, that would be appreciated.

makefile:

##
## Auto Generated makefile by CodeLite IDE
## any manual changes will be erased      
##
## Debug
ProjectName            :=testproject
ConfigurationName      :=Debug
WorkspacePath          :=C:/Users/Andre/Documents/CodeLiteWorkspace
ProjectPath            :=C:/Users/Andre/Documents/CodeLiteWorkspace/testproject
IntermediateDirectory  :=./Debug
OutDir                 := $(IntermediateDirectory)
CurrentFileName        :=
CurrentFilePath        :=
CurrentFileFullPath    :=
User                   :=Andrew900460
Date                   :=20/09/2018
CodeLitePath           :="C:/Program Files/CodeLite"
LinkerName             :=C:/TDM-GCC-64/bin/g++.exe
SharedObjectLinkerName :=C:/TDM-GCC-64/bin/g++.exe -shared -fPIC
ObjectSuffix           :=.o
DependSuffix           :=.o.d
PreprocessSuffix       :=.i
DebugSwitch            :=-g 
IncludeSwitch          :=-I
LibrarySwitch          :=-l
OutputSwitch           :=-o 
LibraryPathSwitch      :=-L
PreprocessorSwitch     :=-D
SourceSwitch           :=-c 
OutputFile             :=$(IntermediateDirectory)/$(ProjectName)
Preprocessors          :=
ObjectSwitch           :=-o 
ArchiveOutputSwitch    := 
PreprocessOnlySwitch   :=-E
ObjectsFileList        :="testproject.txt"
PCHCompileFlags        :=
MakeDirCommand         :=makedir
RcCmpOptions           := 
RcCompilerName         :=C:/TDM-GCC-64/bin/windres.exe
LinkOptions            :=  
IncludePath            :=  $(IncludeSwitch). 
IncludePCH             := 
RcIncludePath          := 
Libs                   := 
ArLibs                 :=  
LibPath                := $(LibraryPathSwitch). 

##
## Common variables
## AR, CXX, CC, AS, CXXFLAGS and CFLAGS can be overriden using an environment variables
##
AR       := C:/TDM-GCC-64/bin/ar.exe rcu
CXX      := C:/TDM-GCC-64/bin/g++.exe
CC       := C:/TDM-GCC-64/bin/gcc.exe
CXXFLAGS := -std=c++11 -IC:\SDL2\include -Dmain=SDL_main -LC:\SDL2\lib -w -Wl,-subsystem,windows -lmingw32 -lSDL2main -lSDL2 -mwindows  $(Preprocessors)
CFLAGS   := -g -O0 -Wall  $(Preprocessors)
ASFLAGS  := 
AS       := C:/TDM-GCC-64/bin/as.exe


##
## User defined environment variables
##
CodeLiteDir:=C:\Program Files\CodeLite
Objects0=$(IntermediateDirectory)/main.cpp$(ObjectSuffix) 



Objects=$(Objects0) 

##
## Main Build Targets 
##
.PHONY: all clean PreBuild PrePreBuild PostBuild MakeIntermediateDirs
all: $(OutputFile)

$(OutputFile): $(IntermediateDirectory)/.d $(Objects) 
    @$(MakeDirCommand) $(@D)
    @echo "" > $(IntermediateDirectory)/.d
    @echo $(Objects0)  > $(ObjectsFileList)
    $(LinkerName) $(OutputSwitch)$(OutputFile) @$(ObjectsFileList) $(LibPath) $(Libs) $(LinkOptions)

MakeIntermediateDirs:
    @$(MakeDirCommand) "./Debug"


$(IntermediateDirectory)/.d:
    @$(MakeDirCommand) "./Debug"

PreBuild:


##
## Objects
##
$(IntermediateDirectory)/main.cpp$(ObjectSuffix): main.cpp $(IntermediateDirectory)/main.cpp$(DependSuffix)
    $(CXX) $(IncludePCH) $(SourceSwitch) "C:/Users/Andre/Documents/CodeLiteWorkspace/testproject/main.cpp" $(CXXFLAGS) $(ObjectSwitch)$(IntermediateDirectory)/main.cpp$(ObjectSuffix) $(IncludePath)
$(IntermediateDirectory)/main.cpp$(DependSuffix): main.cpp
    @$(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) $(IncludePCH) $(IncludePath) -MG -MP -MT$(IntermediateDirectory)/main.cpp$(ObjectSuffix) -MF$(IntermediateDirectory)/main.cpp$(DependSuffix) -MM main.cpp

$(IntermediateDirectory)/main.cpp$(PreprocessSuffix): main.cpp
    $(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) $(IncludePCH) $(IncludePath) $(PreprocessOnlySwitch) $(OutputSwitch) $(IntermediateDirectory)/main.cpp$(PreprocessSuffix) main.cpp


-include $(IntermediateDirectory)/*$(DependSuffix)
##
## Clean
##
clean:
    $(RM) -r ./Debug/

Answer 1

You've added linking options to CXXFLAGS - where they don't belong - but not to LibPath , Libs or LinkOptions . So you have linker options specified at compilation phase (which does nothing, as no linking is performed), but don't have them on linking phase.

"Logically" correct setting would be

Libs:=-lmingw32 -lSDL2main -lSDL2
LibPath:=-LC:\SDL2\lib -L.
LinkOptions:=-Wl,-subsystem,windows -mwindows

(not sure SDL2main should be there as it is not clear if you use it, as you have WinMain and not main / SDL_main )

Also, you literally asked for problems with -w option, so you shouldn't be surprised. If you don't want extra problems, don't prevent compiler to help you, and even better - ask for more of its help with at least -Wall .