How do I test OpenCL on GPU when logged in remotely on Mac?

Question

My OpenCL program can find the GPU device when I am logged in at the console, but not when I am logged in remotely with ssh. Further, if I run the program as root in the ssh session, the program can find the GPU.

The computer is a Snow Leopard Mac with a GeForce 9400 GPU.

If I run the program (see below) from the console or as root, the output is as follows (notice the "GeForce 9400" line):

2 devices found
Device #0 name = GeForce 9400
Device #1 name = Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     P8700  @ 2.53GHz

but if it is just me, over ssh, there is no GeForce 9400 entry:

1 devices found
Device #0 name = Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     P8700  @ 2.53GHz

I would like to test my code on the GPU without having to be root. Is that possible? Simplified GPU finding program below:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <OpenCL/opencl.h>

int main(int argc, char** argv) {
    char dname[500];
    size_t namesize;
    cl_device_id devices[10];
    cl_uint num_devices;
    int d;

    clGetDeviceIDs(0, CL_DEVICE_TYPE_ALL, 10, devices, &num_devices);
    printf("%d devices found\n", num_devices);
    for (d = 0; d < num_devices; ++d) {
        clGetDeviceInfo(devices[d], CL_DEVICE_NAME, 500, dname, &namesize);
        printf("Device #%d name = %s\n", d, dname);
    }
    return 0;
}

EDIT: I found essentially the same question being asked on nvidia's forums. Unfortunately, the only answer was of the form "this is the wrong forum".

Answer 1

I expect the GPU resource is owned by the desktop session (which is always present, even if to show the login screen), which is why it is not available to remote sessions. Forcing the issue by changing permissions is subverting the system and is bound to lead to problems.

Have you tried running Screen Sharing to remotely access the Mac rather than ssh? That way you can run the app on the desktop as normal, and see your results (potentially with some latency, depending on your network connection).