al_init(3)

💅 al_init(3) — Allegro 5 API, bestie 💅

Okay so this page is from the Library Functions Manual, and it’s the al_init(3) page for the Allegro 5 API. Short page, big main-character energy. 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

al_init — Allegro 5 API

💖 SYNOPSIS 💖

#include <allegro5/allegro.h>

#define al_init()    (al_install_system(ALLEGRO_VERSION_INT, atexit))

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So al_init is literally like al_install_system(3), except it automatically passes in the version — the ALLEGRO_VERSION_INT one — and uses the atexit function that’s visible in the current binary. Convenient macro behavior? Obsessed. 💖

⚠️ Important note, bestie: it is typically wrong to call al_init anywhere except the final game binary. In particular, do not call it inside a shared library unless you know what you’re doing. In those cases, it is better to call al_install_system either with a NULL atexit_ptr, or with a pointer to atexit provided by the user of this shared library. No cap, this is the part to remember. 🫶

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• al_install_system(3) — the referenced icon, periodt. 💅

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💖 from the Allegro reference manual, al_init(3) — and the footer didn’t give us a date, so no invented date bestie. Mwah! 💅✨