Is there a way to use an application that uses OpenGL hardware acceleration on a headless machine?

Question

There is a class of applications that use opengl to provide hardware acceleration, but are not based on a graphical interface. However, it seems that in the default case, to use opengl, an X server with GLX (on the same virtual terminal) must be running in order for these applications to function.

In my particular case, we are trying to use the gstreamer gl plugins on a headless machine, but I am asking a more general question.

• Is there any way around this (esp without changing the source code)?

I tried to explore using the framebuffer kernel module, but not very far.

Answer 1

Have you tried xvfb ?

Answer 2

Mesa supports rear screen software rasterization .