http://www.sgi.com/tech/openGL/mjk.xlib/subsection3_3_5.html (Silicon Surf Promotional CD, 01/1995)
Graphics programs often need to display text. You can use X font rendering routines or you can use the GLX glXUseXFont routine to create display lists out of X fonts.
Neither of these methods of font rendering may be flexible enough for a program desiring stroke or scalable fonts or having sophisticated font needs. In the future, an OpenGL font manager will be available to meet these needs. In the meantime, you can use glXUseXFont or X font rendering or roll your own font support. An easy way to do this is to convert each glyph of your font into a display list. Rendering text in the font becomes a matter of executing the display list corresponding to each glyph in the string to display.