OpenGL Support

[ruffsl]

As mentioned by @3XX0 in #7 , OpenGL is not supported with the current framework, yet there is an ongoing discussion internally in Nvidia to enable it. This issues serves as a means for users to track progress or propose recommendations. May want to ask @jfrazelle for some ideas, I know she's experimented a good deal in OpenGL support for docker containers.

[jessfraz]

I would love to help I used to have a Mac w Linux but don't anymore so I'm unsure how much help I can be with testing but I can give ideas has to how to have libs installed in a container and devices to mount

[flx42]

Thank you, @jfrazelle!
We definitely have the right people here to help us understand the different components of the graphics stack, but we will probably need some help in understanding how it can fit with Docker.

We haven't started working on this, I will update this issue when we do.

[ruffsl]

@flx42 or @3XX0 , could you elaborate on the reasons behind this OpenGL issue. What details are currently missing or not supported that prevents even an traditional apt-get installed application within the container from using OpenGL. I admit I'm a bit unaware of inner workings of the graphics stack here, and am still curious.

[3XX0]

We have a basic plan on how things should work but quite frankly it's not a priority for us internally at the moment and it might take some time to implement.

Dealing with OpenGL is tedious and doing it cleanly with proper buildtime/runtime separation is tricky. You have to take into account things like direct/indirect rendering, GLX/EGL, GL extensions and dispatching. Also our drivers change quickly and it's hard to keep up with their underlying OpenGL implementation.
If you are curious, https://github.com/NVIDIA/libglvnd provides some more information on how those things could be solved.

[3XX0]

Actually, @jfrazelle I would love your insights on this one moby/moby#23917
We could probably add some GLX/X11 magic in there as well.

[silgon]

Hello guys. I got a problem related to this issue today. I have the nvidia installed in my computer, more specifically the version 352.63. Below you'll find my workaround, maybe it could be useful for you.

# variable with all the needed values for libgl and to be accessed through LD_LIBRARY_PATH
DOCKER_VISUAL_NVIDIA="-e DISPLAY -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix --device /dev/nvidia0 --device /dev/nvidiactl -v /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libXau.so.6.0.0:/external_libs/libXau.so.6.0.0 -v /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libXdmcp.so.6:/external_libs/libXdmcp.so.6 -v /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libXext.so.6:/external_libs/libXext.so.6 -v /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libXdmcp.so.6.0.0:/external_libs/libXdmcp.so.6.0.0 -v /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libX11.so.6.3.0:/external_libs/libX11.so.6.3.0 -v /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libxcb.so.1:/external_libs/libxcb.so.1 -v /usr/lib/nvidia-352/libGL.so.352.63:/external_libs/libGL.so.352.63 -v /usr/lib/nvidia-352/libnvidia-glcore.so.352.63:/external_libs/libnvidia-glcore.so.352.63 -v /usr/lib/nvidia-352/libGL.so.1:/external_libs/libGL.so.1 -v /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libXext.so.6.4.0:/external_libs/libXext.so.6.4.0 -v /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libxcb.so.1.1.0:/external_libs/libxcb.so.1.1.0 -v /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libX11.so.6:/external_libs/libX11.so.6 -v /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libXau.so.6:/external_libs/libXau.so.6 -v /usr/lib/nvidia-352/tls/libnvidia-tls.so.352.63:/external_libs/libnvidia-tls.so.352.63 --env=LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/external_libs"
# run the program
docker run --rm $DOCKER_VISUAL_NVIDIA -e QT_X11_NO_MITSHM=1 -v $HOME/.ros:$HOME/.ros:rw -v $HOME/.gazebo:$HOME/.gazebo:rw osrf/ros:kinetic-desktop-full roslaunch gazebo_ros empty_world.launch

The folders $HOME/.ros and $HOME/.gazebo are needed by the simulator (you can create empty folders mkdir $HOME/.ros $HOME/.gazebo). If you want to try the code, please change the 352 and 352.63 to your version of nvidia drivers before running the code (verify the declaration of the DOCKER_VISUAL_NVIDIA variable), it should work. I spent half a day trying to get this to work because I didn't know it was a problem with nvidia operating libgl. This example is based on this website and it uses a container of the open source robotics foundation. @ruffsl may be intereseted, or maybe he already have another workaround.

[Kaixhin]

If anyone is looking here for solutions then I have a supposedly working setup documented here (tested quickly with glxgears and gazebo). Still haven't found an OpenGL over VNC solution for remote access though...

[3XX0]

Checkout the opengl branch, we have OpenGL over VNC there through VirtualGL.

[Kaixhin]

@3XX0 Thanks for the tip - any pointers on how to set up a VNC server in a Docker container once VirtualGL has been installed? I haven't had any luck adapting the containers I've used before - seems more complex than just adding vglrun beforehand.

[3XX0]

It all depends on what you are trying to do. Generally I would recommend putting the VNC server on your host alongside the X server (at least that's how I did it). You can point the VirtualGL containers at whatever you like using DISPLAY, VGL_CLIENT and VGL_DISPLAY.

See here and there to see how it works (just imagine containers on top of that).