The sdl12-compat is a SDL 1.2 compatibility layer implementation atop SDL 2.0 . This sdl12-compat project allows for old, out-of-date games and other applications relying on the old SDL 1.2 interface to in turn run via the modern SDL2 library for better compatibility with input devices, Wayland support (assuming no direct X11 hard dependencies), support for PipeWire audio, improved input controls, and various other enhancements only found in SDL 2.0 and not the unmaintained SDL 1.2.

After the initial release earlier this year for improving vintage Linux gaming on modern desktops , sdl12-compat is out with a new pre-release. sdl12-compat 1.2.54 is the pre-release that will eventually be christened as v1.2.56.

SDL12-COMPAT enables many old Linux games to run atop SDL2 via this abstraction/portability layer.

Many more vintage SDL 1.2 games and apps are now running with this compatibility layer:

OpenXcom
DOSBox
Awesomenauts
Frogatto
mplayer
Multiwinia
tucnak
schismtracker
BasiliskII
Linapple
netsurf-framebuffer
BIT.TRIP Runner2
Many, many others!

This release also has many fixes, SDL2's OpenGL 2D renderer now works for more software, improved audio handling, various API fixes, and a lot of other fixes. In fact, all the "FIXME" comments within the sdl12-compat code-base are now resolved.

More details on this sdl12-compat pre-release via GitHub .