How can I run an OpenGL program on a headless server?

Question

I'm working on a server application that does image processing (and in part, using freeglut). This application will be deployed on a headless server and when I run it there, I get errors saying that freeglut couldn't open a display. I figured this would be an issue, but I'm not sure how to resolve it. My server is limited in resources, so it would be good if I didn't have to install X11 and run it.

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

You could try running a VNC server or a dummy X server.

However, it may be that freeglut will connect and then immediately die because that server doesn't have any GL support.