Why do I get "SDL2.dll not found" error when loading .png files with SDL3 and SDL2_image library

Question

To load .png file to window using SDL3 and SDL2_image library, I downloaded the following code from the link below:

https://lazyfoo.net/tutorials/SDL/06_extension_libraries_and_loading_other_image_formats/sdl3-06_extension_libraries_and_loading_other_image_formats.zip

#include <SDL3/SDL.h>
#include <SDL3/SDL_main.h>
#include <SDL3_image/SDL_image.h>
#include <string>

//Screen dimension constants
const int SCREEN_WIDTH = 640;
const int SCREEN_HEIGHT = 480;

//Starts up SDL and creates window
bool init();

//Loads media
bool loadMedia();

//Frees media and shuts down SDL
void close();

//Loads individual image
SDL_Surface* loadSurface( std::string path );

//The window we'll be rendering to
SDL_Window* gWindow = NULL;

//The surface contained by the window
SDL_Surface* gScreenSurface = NULL;

//Current displayed PNG image
SDL_Surface* gPNGSurface = NULL;

bool init()
{
    //Initialization flag
    bool success = true;

    //Initialize SDL
    if( !SDL_Init( SDL_INIT_VIDEO ) )
    {
        SDL_Log( "SDL could not initialize! SDL Error: %s\n", SDL_GetError() );
        success = false;
    }
    else
    {
        //Create window
        gWindow = SDL_CreateWindow( "SDL Tutorial", SCREEN_WIDTH, SCREEN_HEIGHT, 0 );
        if( gWindow == NULL )
        {
            SDL_Log( "Window could not be created! SDL Error: %s\n", SDL_GetError() );
            success = false;
        }
        else
        {
            //Initialize PNG loading
            int imgFlags = IMG_INIT_PNG;
            if( !( IMG_Init( imgFlags ) & imgFlags ) )
            {
                SDL_Log( "SDL_image could not initialize! SDL_image Error: %s\n", SDL_GetError() );
                success = false;
            }
            else
            {
                //Get window surface
                gScreenSurface = SDL_GetWindowSurface( gWindow );
            }
        }
    }

    return success;
}

bool loadMedia()
{
    //Loading success flag
    bool success = true;

    //Load PNG surface
    gPNGSurface = loadSurface( "loaded.png" );
    if( gPNGSurface == NULL )
    {
        SDL_Log( "Failed to load PNG image!\n" );
        success = false;
    }

    return success;
}

void close()
{
    //Free loaded image
    SDL_DestroySurface( gPNGSurface );
    gPNGSurface = NULL;

    //Destroy window
    SDL_DestroyWindow( gWindow );
    gWindow = NULL;

    //Quit SDL subsystems
    IMG_Quit();
    SDL_Quit();
}

SDL_Surface* loadSurface( std::string path )
{
    //The final optimized image
    SDL_Surface* optimizedSurface = NULL;

    //Load image at specified path
    SDL_Surface* loadedSurface = IMG_Load( path.c_str() );
    if( loadedSurface == NULL )
    {
        SDL_Log( "Unable to load image %s! SDL_image Error: %s\n", path.c_str(), SDL_GetError() );
    }
    else
    {
        //Convert surface to screen format
        optimizedSurface = SDL_ConvertSurface( loadedSurface, gScreenSurface->format );
        if( optimizedSurface == NULL )
        {
            SDL_Log( "Unable to optimize image %s! SDL Error: %s\n", path.c_str(), SDL_GetError() );
        }

        //Get rid of old loaded surface
        SDL_DestroySurface( loadedSurface );
    }

    return optimizedSurface;
}

int main( int argc, char* args[] )
{
    //Start up SDL and create window
    if( !init() )
    {
        SDL_Log( "Failed to initialize!\n" );
    }
    else
    {
        //Load media
        if( !loadMedia() )
        {
            SDL_Log( "Failed to load media!\n" );
        }
        else
        {
            //Main loop flag
            bool quit = false;

            //Event handler
            SDL_Event e;

            //While application is running
            while( !quit )
            {
                //Handle events on queue
                while( SDL_PollEvent( &e ) != 0 )
                {
                    //User requests quit
                    if( e.type == SDL_EVENT_QUIT )
                    {
                        quit = true;
                    }
                }

                //Apply the PNG image
                SDL_BlitSurface( gPNGSurface, NULL, gScreenSurface, NULL );

                //Update the surface
                SDL_UpdateWindowSurface( gWindow );
            }
        }
    }

    //Free resources and close SDL
    close();

    return 0;
}

To setup SDL3 and SDL_Image library:

1. I downloaded and setup SDL3-devel-3.1.6-mingw.zip file from the link below for SDL3 installation:

https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL/releases/tag/preview-3.1.6

2. I downloaded and setup SDL2_image-devel-2.8.2-mingw.zip file from the link below for SDL_image installation:

https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL_image/releases

3. I copied the following directories from SDL2_image-2.8.2 under SDL3 directory.

686-w64-mingw32 x86_64-w64-mingw32 cmake

4. I created a directory named "SDL3_image" under "SDL3\686-w64-mingw32\include" directory and copied the file from the link below "SDL_image.h" to this directory.

https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL_image/blob/main/include/SDL3_image/SDL_image.h

For project settings in CodeBlocks 20.03 32 bit:

1. Project Build options

2. I copied the files below to the .exe file directory.

SDL3.dll SDL2_image.dll

The program compiles without any problems, but when I run it, it gives the error "SDL2.dll not found".

The examples except loading .png files with SDL3 work fine. Could there be a bug in loading the SDL3_image library or what am I missing?

Both settings below have the same functionality and give "undefined reference to 'IMG_Init'" error message

Build log

Answer 1

SDL2_image, as the name implies, is for SDL2, not for SDL3.

It seems a version of SDL_image for SDL3 wasn't released yet, but but they do support SDL3 in their main branch. So you'll have to build SDL_image from source.