06-20-2022 01:51 AM
Hi Team,
We are wondering if there is a recommended way to install the chromium browser and chrome driver on Databricks Runtime 10.4 and above ?
I have been through the site and have come across several links to this effect, but they all seem to be installing the Chromium Browser from the official Canonical PPA (ppa:canonical-chromium-builds/stage)
FYI - Please use the contents in link at your own risk -
(https://community.databricks.com/s/question/0D53f00001qEWtxCAG/chromedriver-installation-in-databricks)
From my understanding, the DBX runtime 10.4 is based on Ubuntu 20.04 - focal for which builds do not seem to be available in that PPA. Maybe because Ubuntu moved from official deb to installing Chromium as a snap ?
So questions are as follows
06-20-2022 04:41 AM
Hello @Bharath Kumar Ramachandran
You should be able to use the methods defined here
https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-install-chromium-web-browser-on-ubuntu-20-04/
Section: Installing Chromium with apt
Per this documentation
It supports a number of browsers (Google Chrome 12+, Internet Explorer 7,8,9,10, Safari 5.1+, Opera 11.5, Firefox 3+) and operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux/Unix).
06-20-2022 05:18 AM
Thank you @Arvind Ravish for your response.
As mentioned in my post, Chromium is no longer available as a deb in the ubuntu archives. The link you had shared is a little old.
When I search in the Databricks Terminal, we receive results showing Chromium Browser as snap and not as a deb. Hence the question.
/databricks/driver# apt search chromium-browser
Sorting... Done
Full Text Search... Done
chromium-browser/focal-updates 1:85.0.4183.83-0ubuntu0.20.04.2 amd64
Transitional package - chromium-browser -> chromium snap
chromium-browser-l10n/focal-updates 1:85.0.4183.83-0ubuntu0.20.04.2 all
Transitional package - chromium-browser-l10n -> chromium snap
Would be really nice if Databricks can provide a recommended way to handle this, since this is a very common use case and there are so many such questions around this topic in our community forums itself...
Also regarding the other browsers, since we are using databricks, requirement is limited to linux and open source browsers only. I hear that not many websites are tested with firefox, hence a little hesitant there...
Thank you...
06-27-2022 11:43 PM
Hi @Kaniz Fatma , Thank you so much for your response.
I have already been through the link you had shared.
It seems to be installing google-chrome directly from the Google Servers.
But I have been told that google-chrome is proprietary and chromium-browser is open source. Usage of proprietary software in code might cause license issues or some other issues such as telemetry etc. right ? Hence I was looking for some way we could use the open source version i.e. Chromium on which chrome is based on.
Is there a databricks hosted repository available for such use cases or does selenium work with the snap version of chromium-browser ? I hope I am not the only DBX user using DBX runtime 10.4 and trying to use chromium-browser...
Update:
Have tried installing `chromium-browser` and `chromium-chromedriver` through init scripts, but they are not working since the snap processes are not available. Directly trying `snap install chromium` is also not working...
Thank you for all the help.
07-05-2022 07:02 AM
Hi @Bharath Kumar Ramachandran please refer to askUbuntu here. The Chromium browser is only available as a snap in 19.10 and above. If you don't want to install the Chromium snap package, see How to install Chromium without snap?
07-05-2022 11:47 PM
Hi @Prabakar Ammeappin ,
Thank you very much for your response.
yes you are correct, Chromium became a snap in 19.10. Databricks runtimes 9.1 and 10.4 both have the Ubuntu version of 20.04.
I am ok with using the snap version of Chromium, but it is not installing properly...
When I try to install using the below command in DBX runtime 10.4 through init script...
apt update
apt install chromium-browser chromium-chromedriver
The following additional packages will be installed:
apparmor liblzo2-2 snapd squashfs-tools udev
Suggested packages:
apparmor-profiles-extra apparmor-utils zenity | kdialog
The following NEW packages will be installed:
apparmor chromium-browser chromium-chromedriver liblzo2-2 snapd
squashfs-tools udev
0 upgraded, 7 newly installed, 0 to remove and 24 not upgraded.
Need to get 36.3 MB of archives
The init script is completing, but we have log that says as follows.
=> Installing the chromium snap
==> Checking connectivity with the snap store
===> System doesn't have a working snapd, skipping
Also Chromium is not working, when I search for it using which chromium or which chromium-browser, it does not show up.
Is there any other way to get the snap installed and working first before installing ?
07-05-2022 11:52 PM
Hi @Prabakar Ammeappin ,
I have also gone through the other options of installing Chromium without a snap. But we are finding the options either too complex or not from an official source. I found the following options from the link you had shared. Which option would Databricks recommend ?
07-06-2022 04:43 AM
Hi @Bharath Kumar Ramachandran considering the options I would prefer either to go with Option 1 or 4.
Option 2 is unofficial and I won't consider going for it. It's always better to use the official one as we can trust the provider.
Option 3 should be good but as there is a doubt with the licensing then I would not take a risk. If you want to go with this option then do all possible research w.r.t the license part and then go for it.
07-06-2022 06:39 AM
Hi @Prabakar Ammeappin
Thank you for your response.
We will try options 01 and 04, however can you please let us know why the snap install is not working. We are using DBX runtime 10.4.
apt update
apt install chromium-browser chromium-chromedriver
snapd is not working as expected.
Please see my response from earlier.
It would be preferable and safe to use the options available in the Ubuntu repos by default instead of bringing in additional repos from outside.
07-15-2022 05:23 PM
Hi @Bharath Kumar Ramachandran i need to test this and shall get back to you with my findings or a workaround.
07-17-2022 11:50 PM
Thank you @Prabakar Ammeappin
Using the Ubuntu sources would be the best case scenario since we can be sure about the authenticity of the source.
07-28-2022 03:24 AM
Hi @Prabakar Ammeappin ,
Just wanted to check if you got a chance to test the Chromium Snap Install issue ?
07-07-2022 03:16 AM
Chromium can be installed using the Software application and via the command line.
Installing Chromium using Software (GUI)
Regards,
Willjoe
08-25-2022 01:54 AM
Hi there @Bharath Kumar Ramachandran
Hope all is well! Just wanted to check in if you were able to resolve your issue and would you be happy to share the solution or mark an answer as best? Else please let us know if you need more help.
We'd love to hear from you.
Thanks!
08-25-2022 02:50 AM
Hi @Vidula Khanna, We still have not identified a way to install Open Source Chromium Browser in DBX runtime 10.4.
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