diff --git a/modules/gfx/tests/test_gfx_node.cc b/modules/gfx/tests/test_gfx_node.cc
index 8a7059f8db459e16d765f634799626fc4d41b214..95e7e222f0080ac809034726e7561e76ad50856c 100644
--- a/modules/gfx/tests/test_gfx_node.cc
+++ b/modules/gfx/tests/test_gfx_node.cc
@@ -20,8 +20,6 @@
 /*
   Author: Marco Biasini
  */
-#include <ost/string_ref.hh>
-#include <ost/platform.hh>
 #include <ost/gfx/gfx_node.hh>
 #include <ost/gfx/gfx_object.hh>
 #include <ost/gfx/scene.hh>
@@ -33,28 +31,6 @@ using boost::unit_test_framework::test_suite;
 using namespace ost;
 using namespace ost::gfx;
 
-// small RAII class to setup environment for unit tests. even though we don't
-// use any of the rendering functionality, we still need to initialize an 
-// offscreen buffer on mac to avoid segfaults.
-struct GfxTestEnv {
-  GfxTestEnv()
-  {
-#if defined(__APPLE__)    
-    // we know OST_ROOT is set for unit tests
-    SetPrefixPath(getenv("OST_ROOT"));
-    Scene::Instance().StartOffscreenMode(100, 100);
-#endif
-  }
-  
-  ~GfxTestEnv()
-  {
-#if defined(__APPLE__)
-    Scene::Instance().StopOffscreenMode();
-#endif
-  }
-
-};
-
 
 struct Observer : public SceneObserver {
   Observer(): added_count(0),removed_count(0) {}
@@ -134,7 +110,6 @@ BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(gfx_node_remove_all)
 
 BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(is_attached_to_scene) 
 {
-  GfxTestEnv env;
   Scene::Instance().RemoveAll();  
   GfxNodeP n1(new GfxNode("1"));
   GfxNodeP n2(new GfxNode("2"));
@@ -152,7 +127,6 @@ BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(is_attached_to_scene)
 
 BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(observe_added_removed)
 {
-  GfxTestEnv env;
   Observer o1;
   Scene::Instance().RemoveAll();
   Scene::Instance().AttachObserver(&o1);