Why is my OpenGL version always 2.1 on Mac OS X?

Question

I'm using GLFW 3.0 on Mac OS X 10.8, graphic card is Intel HD Graphics 5000

And my OpenGL API version is 2.1, aquired by

glfwGetWindowAttrib(window, GLFW_CONTEXT_VERSION_MAJOR);
glfwGetWindowAttrib(window, GLFW_CONTEXT_VERSION_MINOR);

Compiling options:

g++ ... -framework OpenGL -framework Cocoa -framework IOKit ...

Headers:

#include <GLFW/glfw3.h>
#include <GL/glu.h>

The version is always 2.1, unlike the reported 3.2. My OS has been upgraded to 10.9, and OpenGL version is still 2.1.

It still cannot compile GLSL 3.3, while Apple says it supports 4.1. How do I access higher versions of the library?

Answer 1

You need to add both "forward_compat" and "core_profile" hints before creating the window.

glfwWindowHint(GLFW_CONTEXT_VERSION_MAJOR, 3);
glfwWindowHint(GLFW_CONTEXT_VERSION_MINOR, 3);
glfwWindowHint(GLFW_OPENGL_PROFILE, GLFW_OPENGL_CORE_PROFILE);
glfwWindowHint(GLFW_OPENGL_FORWARD_COMPAT, GL_TRUE);
glfwCreateWindow(640, 480, "Hello World", NULL, NULL );