Linux – Can’t run glxgears over ssh with X11 enabled

linuxnvidiaopenglosxx11

glxgears functions fine for me when I'm directly on the server side machine. However, when I am trying to run glxgears over SSH but I get the following failure messages: 

ssh server -Y
Warning: No xauth data; using fake authentication data for X11 forwarding.
$ glxinfo | grep OpenGL 
Error: couldn't find RGB GLX visual or fbconfig 
$ glxgears
Error: couldn't get an RGB, Double-buffered visual

Here's some relevant info from my xorg log:

# cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep glx
[1795257.035] (II) "glx" will be loaded by default.
[1795257.035] (II) LoadModule: "glx"
[1795257.036] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/nvidia/xorg/libglx.so
[1795257.043] (II) Module glx: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation

Server Machine is a CentOS 6.9 desktop with an Nvidia Geforce GTS 450. I have nvidia drivers (Nvidia 375.51) provided by kmod-nvidia from the epel repo. I also have mesa libraries installed for OpenGL.

I am SSH'ing from a macOS Sierra 10.12.5 with an Nvidia Geforce GT 750M. Drivers seem to be NVIDIA-10.17.5.

I noticed the above commands work when the client computer has similar Nvidia graphics drivers (Nvidia 375.*). Unfortunately, I can't do this from my mac because the graphics card is not compatible with those graphics drivers.

Best Answer

I have had a problem running an OpenGL application over X11 - essentially there is a clash of drivers.

I fixed my problem by installing VirtualGL (http://www.virtualgl.org) - you need to install it on the server and the client and use their commands to run the SSH session but it is working well for me.

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