My goal is to be able to compile c++ programs using opengl on redhat9.

I have only been using linux for a few months, writing programs for my data structures class.
I want to eventually get rid of my windows computer and move to linux, this is a tough move.

I am trying to setup glux-3.7 and in the linux readme file it reads:

Makefile -- Makefile required to build ELF library, belongs in the $GLUT_HOME/lib/glut/. directory.

what does "$GLUT_HOME/lib/glut/." directory mean?
is there some file that contains a "path" list?

later it reads:

Change into $GLUT_HOME/lib/glut/. and make a backup copy of
the Makefile. Now, take the Makefile out of the archive and
replace the old one.

Does this mean goto that directory? If so, where is it? Do I need to set it up?

Are you using Mesa for OpenGL?

Mesa should now be installed. Change to the glut subdirectory under the directory where Mesa was unpacked. This directory is referred to as $GLUT_HOME in the readme files and such.

This is froma the website:
http://www.gantless.com/computer.html#opengl

Glut stands for 'OpenGL Utility Toolkit'
Here is a site on installing glut if you don't have it.
http://www.lighthouse3d.com/opengl/glut/

Try using the find command to locate a directory called glut.
find / -type d -name glut

ok I installed mesa but I got the following error:

mkdir ${INCLUDE_DIR}
mkdir: cannot create directory `/usr/local/include': File exists
mkdir ${INCLUDE_DIR}/GL
mkdir ${LIB_DIR}
mkdir: cannot create directory `/usr/local/lib': File exists
cp -f ${TOP}/include/GL/*.h ${INCLUDE_DIR}/GL
cp: cannot stat `./include/GL/*.h': No such file or directory
cp -fd ${TOP}/lib*/lib* ${LIB_DIR}
cp: cannot stat `./lib*/lib*': No such file or directory

echo "Done."
Done.

Does this mean it did not install correctly?

If $GLUT_HOME is the Mesa-6.2 directory, where should I move these files?

Well, I decided to try the SDL and that seems to have installed. However, when I run the testgl program, this is the response I get:

./testgl
No OpenGL support on this system

I have the NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-6111-pkg1.run nvidia driver installed for my Geforce FX5200.
I downloaded the nvidia kernel and glx, glx needs the kernel to install, and the kernel file...:

rpm -ivh NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2880.rh72up.i386.rpm
error: Failed dependencies:
kernel = 2.4.7-10 is needed by NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2880.rh72up

Am I using the wrong NVIDIA_kernel file? I have apt-get installed, hehe, not sure if that helps, but I installed some stuff with it easily. Also, I have not compiled my redhat9 kernel from source as I don't understand why this is done, if that is causing a problem. Thanks for any help, I want to do some graphic programming.