SDL 2.0.16 Is On The Way With Better Wayland Support, Improved PipeWire Integration

SDL 2.0.16 is being prepared for release as the successor to SDL 2.0.14. Particularly for Linux users this SDL 2.0.16 update is significant with some key enhancements for this library that is common to multi-platform games and part of the Steam runtime.

Exciting us the most with SDL 2.0.16 is that the Wayland support is "greatly improved" and additionally there is support for audio input/output using Pipewire. The native PipeWire support is great now that Fedora Workstation and others are beginning to ship it by default as an alternative to the likes of PulseAudio. 2021 is certainly the year PipeWire is beginning to see some healthy adoption and ready to take on Linux audio/video stream management. Among other Wayland improvements with SDL 2.0.16 is support for client-side decorations.

SDL 2.0.16 also has new APIs such as for flashing the window to get the user's attention, support for the Amazon Luna game controller, rumble support for the Google Stadia controller when using the HIDAPI driver, analog rumble support for the Nintendo Switch Pro controllers, and more. SDL2 on Android also now supports audio output and capture using AAudio.

More details on all of the changes coming with the imminent SDL 2.0.16 release can be found via GitHub.