Adding PixelRAM to a project

The distributable library is exactly two files:

pixelram.c
pixelram.h

A project can vendor those files directly or download a pinned release from GitHub.

Makefile download

PIXELRAM_VERSION := v0.1.22
PIXELRAM_BASE := https://raw.githubusercontent.com/specht/pixelram/$(PIXELRAM_VERSION)
PIXELRAM_DIR := vendor/pixelram

$(PIXELRAM_DIR)/pixelram.c:
	mkdir -p $(PIXELRAM_DIR)
	curl -fsSL $(PIXELRAM_BASE)/pixelram.c -o $@

$(PIXELRAM_DIR)/pixelram.h:
	mkdir -p $(PIXELRAM_DIR)
	curl -fsSL $(PIXELRAM_BASE)/pixelram.h -o $@

Then make your executable depend on both files and compile pixelram.c together with your program.

Use a release tag such as v0.1.22, not main, in teaching material. A pinned tutorial should keep compiling even after PixelRAM evolves.

Platform dependency

PixelRAM keeps raylib out of the public header, but pixelram.c uses raylib internally as its platform backend. A native project therefore needs a compatible raylib development setup; a WebAssembly project needs raylib built for Emscripten as well as Asyncify at link time.

Hackschule Workspace already provides that toolchain, so student programs only include pixelram.h and compile pixelram.c with their own source.

Why the implementation is one C file

The source file includes the platform backend and all built-in palette data. That makes distribution intentionally boring: no package manager, git submodule, generated source directory, or runtime assets are required by student projects.

The repository itself contains the palette source and generator so the built-in collection remains maintainable, but users of a release only need the two library files.