difference between freeglut.h and glut.h

Question

can somebody please explain what is the difference between freeglut.h and glut.h

Answer 1

freeglut.h is from freeglut, an open-source alternative to the OpenGL Utility Toolkit (GLUT) library. According to their site:

In December 1999, Mr. Pawel Olzsta started work on an open-source clone of the GLUT library. This open-source clone, which does not use any of the GLUT source code, has evolved into the present freeglut library. This documentation specifies the application program interface to the freeglut library.

The Background section goes on to highlight differences between the libraries.

Alternatively, glut.h is from the original version of the GLUT library.

Answer 2

The difference is that glut stagnated some time ago (1999) and to continue the project, a guy called Pawel W. Olszta lauched freeGlut, an alternative to the now deprecated library. You can easly find this information arroud though.