GtkGLArea

static gboolean
render (GtkGLArea *area, GdkGLContext *context)
{
  // inside this function it's safe to use GL; the given
  // GdkGLContext has been made current to the drawable
  // surface used by the `GtkGLArea` and the viewport has
  // already been set to be the size of the allocation

  // we can start by clearing the buffer
  glClearColor (0, 0, 0, 0);
  glClear (GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT);

  // draw your object
  // draw_an_object ();

  // we completed our drawing; the draw commands will be
  // flushed at the end of the signal emission chain, and
  // the buffers will be drawn on the window
  return TRUE;
}

void setup_glarea (void)
{
  // create a GtkGLArea instance
  GtkWidget *gl_area = gtk_gl_area_new ();

  // connect to the "render" signal
  g_signal_connect (gl_area, "render", G_CALLBACK (render), NULL);
}

static void
on_realize (GtkGLarea *area)
{
  // We need to make the context current if we want to
  // call GL API
  gtk_gl_area_make_current (area);

  // If there were errors during the initialization or
  // when trying to make the context current, this
  // function will return a GError for you to catch
  if (gtk_gl_area_get_error (area) != NULL)
    return;

  // You can also use gtk_gl_area_set_error() in order
  // to show eventual initialization errors on the
  // GtkGLArea widget itself
  GError *internal_error = NULL;
  init_buffer_objects (&error);
  if (error != NULL)
    {
      gtk_gl_area_set_error (area, error);
      g_error_free (error);
      return;
    }

  init_shaders (&error);
  if (error != NULL)
    {
      gtk_gl_area_set_error (area, error);
      g_error_free (error);
      return;
    }
}