A step-by-step guide to install Headless Chromium on Ubuntu and CentOS.
What is Headless Chrome?
Headless Chrome is like running a chrome browser without UI (browser) i.e., it is running in a headless environment, which is very useful for running automated tests.
So, what does headless Chrome unlock for us?
One of the most exciting things is the ability to test the latest and greatest web platform features like ES6 modules, service workers, and streams. With headless chrome, you can write apps and test those apps with up-to-date rendering. The other thing that it unlocks is these awesome functionalities like network throttling, device emulation, and code coverage.
With headless chrome, you can perform tests without even writing a line of code, isn’t that cool!
You can just execute them through the command line. Below are some of the popularly used flags.
--screenshot #to take a screenshot
--print-to-pdf #converting <a href="https://geekflare.com/webpage-to-pdf-tools/">webpage to PDF</a>
--dump-dom #dump DOM (document object model) dataNote – this is different from the Chromium browser.
Chromium Installation on Ubuntu
Step 1: Update Ubuntu
In the beginning, update the packages in Ubuntu.
geekflare@geekflare:~$ sudo apt-get update
Hit:1 https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Hit:2 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic-security InRelease
Hit:3 http://ppa.launchpad.net/ansible/ansible/ubuntu cosmic InRelease
Hit:5 http://apt.puppetlabs.com bionic InRelease
Ign:6 http://pkg.jenkins.io/debian-stable binary/ InRelease
Hit:7 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic InRelease
Hit:8 http://ppa.launchpad.net/canonical-chromium-builds/stage/ubuntu cosmic InRelease
Hit:9 http://pkg.jenkins.io/debian-stable binary/ Release
Hit:10 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic-updates InRelease
Hit:11 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic-backports InRelease
Hit:4 https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt kubernetes-xenial InRelease
Reading package lists... DoneStep 2: Install Dependencies
Install these dependencies which are required for the installation.
geekflare@geekflare:~$ sudo apt-get install -y libappindicator1 fonts-liberation
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
fonts-liberation is already the newest version (1:1.07.4-7).
fonts-liberation set to manually installed.
The following package was automatically installed and is no longer required:
chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove it.
The following additional packages will be installed:
libdbusmenu-gtk4 libindicator7
Suggested packages:
indicator-application
The following NEW packages will be installed:
libappindicator1 libdbusmenu-gtk4 libindicator7
0 upgraded, 3 newly installed, 0 to remove and 238 not upgraded.
Need to get 68.2 kB of archives.
After this operation, 280 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic/universe amd64 libdbusmenu-gtk4 amd64 16.04.1+18.10.20180917-0ubuntu1 [27.1 kB]
Get:2 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic/universe amd64 libindicator7 amd64 16.10.0+18.04.20180321.1-0ubuntu1 [21.7 kB]
Get:3 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu cosmic/universe amd64 libappindicator1 amd64 12.10.1+18.04.20180322.1-0ubuntu1 [19.4 kB]
Fetched 68.2 kB in 1s (61.1 kB/s)
Selecting previously unselected package libdbusmenu-gtk4:amd64.
(Reading database ... 318270 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libdbusmenu-gtk4_16.04.1+18.10.20180917-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libdbusmenu-gtk4:amd64 (16.04.1+18.10.20180917-0ubuntu1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libindicator7.
Preparing to unpack .../libindicator7_16.10.0+18.04.20180321.1-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libindicator7 (16.10.0+18.04.20180321.1-0ubuntu1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libappindicator1.
Preparing to unpack .../libappindicator1_12.10.1+18.04.20180322.1-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libappindicator1 (12.10.1+18.04.20180322.1-0ubuntu1) ...
Setting up libindicator7 (16.10.0+18.04.20180321.1-0ubuntu1) ...
Setting up libdbusmenu-gtk4:amd64 (16.04.1+18.10.20180917-0ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.28-0ubuntu1) ...
Setting up libappindicator1 (12.10.1+18.04.20180322.1-0ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.28-0ubuntu1) ...
libappindicator1: This library is used to export menu by an application into a panel
fonts-liberation: This library has similar font metrics as Arial, Times and CourierThere might be cases where few dependencies would be missing to install chrome. So, run the command below, it will install all the missing dependencies required to install chromium.
geekflare@geekflare:~$ sudo apt-get install -f
The following additional packages will be installed:
at-spi2-core cpp cpp-7 dconf-gsettings-backend dconf-service gcc-7-base glib-networking glib-networking-common
glib-networking-services gsettings-desktop-schemas libappindicator3-1 libasound2 libasound2-data libatk-bridge2.0-0
libatspi2.0-0 libauthen-sasl-perl libcairo-gobject2 libcolord2 libdata-dump-perl libdbusmenu-gtk3-4 libdconf1
libdrm-amdgpu1 libdrm-intel1 libdrm-nouveau2 libdrm-radeon1 libencode-locale-perl libepoxy0 libfile-basedir-perl
libfile-desktopentry-perl libfile-listing-perl libfile-mimeinfo-perl libfont-afm-perl libfontenc1 libgl1
libgl1-mesa-dri libgl1-mesa-glx libglapi-mesa libglvnd0 libglx-mesa0 libglx0 libgtk-3-0 libgtk-3-bin libgtk-3-common
libhtml-form-perl libhtml-format-perl libhtml-parser-perl libhtml-tagset-perl libhtml-tree-perl libhttp-cookies-perl
libhttp-daemon-perl libhttp-date-perl libhttp-message-perl libhttp-negotiate-perl libice6 libindicator3-7
libio-html-perl libio-socket-ssl-perl libipc-system-simple-perl libisl19 libjson-glib-1.0-0 libjson-glib-1.0-common
liblcms2-2 libllvm9 liblwp-mediatypes-perl liblwp-protocol-https-perl libmailtools-perl libmpc3 libnet-dbus-perl
libnet-http-perl libnet-smtp-ssl-perl libnet-ssleay-perl libnspr4 libnss3 libpciaccess0 libproxy1v5 librest-0.7-0
libsensors4 libsm6 libsoup-gnome2.4-1 libsoup2.4-1 libtie-ixhash-perl libtimedate-perl libtry-tiny-perl liburi-perl
libwayland-client0 libwayland-cursor0 libwayland-egl1 libwww-perl libwww-robotrules-perl libx11-protocol-perl
libx11-xcb1 libxaw7 libxcb-dri2-0 libxcb-dri3-0 libxcb-glx0 libxcb-present0 libxcb-shape0 libxcb-sync1 libxft2
libxkbcommon0 libxml-parser-perl libxml-twig-perl libxml-xpathengine-perl libxmu6 libxpm4 libxshmfence1 libxss1 libxt6
libxtst6 libxv1 libxxf86dga1 libxxf86vm1 perl-openssl-defaults x11-common x11-utils x11-xserver-utils xdg-utils
Suggested packages:
cpp-doc gcc-7-locales indicator-application libasound2-plugins alsa-utils libdigest-hmac-perl libgssapi-perl colord
gvfs liblcms2-utils libcrypt-ssleay-perl lm-sensors libauthen-ntlm-perl libunicode-map8-perl libunicode-string-perl
xml-twig-tools mesa-utils nickle cairo-5c xorg-docs-core
The following NEW packages will be installed:
at-spi2-core cpp cpp-7 dconf-gsettings-backend dconf-service gcc-7-base glib-networking glib-networking-common
glib-networking-services gsettings-desktop-schemas libappindicator3-1 libasound2 libasound2-data libatk-bridge2.0-0
libatspi2.0-0 libauthen-sasl-perl libcairo-gobject2 libcolord2 libdata-dump-perl libdbusmenu-gtk3-4 libdconf1
libdrm-amdgpu1 libdrm-intel1 libdrm-nouveau2 libdrm-radeon1 libencode-locale-perl libepoxy0 libfile-basedir-perl
libfile-desktopentry-perl libfile-listing-perl libfile-mimeinfo-perl libfont-afm-perl libfontenc1 libgl1
libgl1-mesa-dri libgl1-mesa-glx libglapi-mesa libglvnd0 libglx-mesa0 libglx0 libgtk-3-0 libgtk-3-bin libgtk-3-common
libhtml-form-perl libhtml-format-perl libhtml-parser-perl libhtml-tagset-perl libhtml-tree-perl libhttp-cookies-perl
libhttp-daemon-perl libhttp-date-perl libhttp-message-perl libhttp-negotiate-perl libice6 libindicator3-7
libio-html-perl libio-socket-ssl-perl libipc-system-simple-perl libisl19 libjson-glib-1.0-0 libjson-glib-1.0-common
liblcms2-2 libllvm9 liblwp-mediatypes-perl liblwp-protocol-https-perl libmailtools-perl libmpc3 libnet-dbus-perl
libnet-http-perl libnet-smtp-ssl-perl libnet-ssleay-perl libnspr4 libnss3 libpciaccess0 libproxy1v5 librest-0.7-0
libsensors4 libsm6 libsoup-gnome2.4-1 libsoup2.4-1 libtie-ixhash-perl libtimedate-perl libtry-tiny-perl liburi-perl
libwayland-client0 libwayland-cursor0 libwayland-egl1 libwww-perl libwww-robotrules-perl libx11-protocol-perl
libx11-xcb1 libxaw7 libxcb-dri2-0 libxcb-dri3-0 libxcb-glx0 libxcb-present0 libxcb-shape0 libxcb-sync1 libxft2
libxkbcommon0 libxml-parser-perl libxml-twig-perl libxml-xpathengine-perl libxmu6 libxpm4 libxshmfence1 libxss1 libxt6
libxtst6 libxv1 libxxf86dga1 libxxf86vm1 perl-openssl-defaults x11-common x11-utils x11-xserver-utils xdg-utils
0 upgraded, 117 newly installed, 0 to remove and 58 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 40.7 MB of archives.
After this operation, 369 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
Fetched 40.7 MB in 4s (9470 kB/s)
Extracting templates from packages: 100%Step 3: Download Chrome
Download the google chrome stable package for the Ubuntu system.
geekflare@geekflare:~$ wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb
--2020-01-15 13:58:41-- https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb
Resolving dl.google.com (dl.google.com)... 172.217.163.78, 2404:6800:4007:80c::200e
Connecting to dl.google.com (dl.google.com)|172.217.163.78|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 62204098 (59M) [application/x-debian-package]
Saving to: ‘google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb’
google-chrome-stable_current_amd64. 100%[=================================================================>] 59.32M 11.1MB/s in 29s
2020-01-15 13:59:10 (2.04 MB/s) - ‘google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb’ saved [62204098/62204098]Step 4: Install Chrome
Install the stable package.
geekflare@geekflare:~$ sudo dpkg -i google-chrome*.deb
Selecting previously unselected package google-chrome-stable.
(Reading database ... 318285 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking google-chrome-stable (79.0.3945.117-1) ...
Setting up google-chrome-stable (79.0.3945.117-1) ...
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/google-chrome-stable to provide /usr/bin/x-www-browser (x-www-browser) in auto mode
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/google-chrome-stable to provide /usr/bin/gnome-www-browser (gnome-www-browser) in auto mode
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/google-chrome-stable to provide /usr/bin/google-chrome (google-chrome) in auto mode
Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.13.3-11ubuntu2) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.23-3ubuntu2) ...
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.60ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.8.4-2) ...Step 5: Check Chrome Version
To confirm the installation has finished successfully, check the Google Chrome version.
geekflare@geekflare:~$ google-chrome-stable -version
Google Chrome 79.0.3945.117Optional: Run Chrome Headless
Let me show you an example of running chrome in headless mode.
I will run chrome in headless mode, and all the content of https://gf.dev/ will be saved as a pdf file.
geekflare@geekflare:~$ google-chrome-stable --headless --disable-gpu --print-to-pdf https://gf.dev/
[0115/140930.772108:INFO:headless_shell.cc(620)] Written to file output.pdf.You can see a file output.pdf
geekflare@geekflare:~$ ls -l out*
-rw------- 1 geekflare geekflare 80799 Jan 15 14:09 output.pdf
geekflare@geekflare:~$ Next, I will show you how to do the same setup in the CentOS system.
Chromium Installation on CentOS
Step 1: Update CentOS
Update the CentOS system with the below command.
[geekflare@geekflare ~]$ sudo yum updateStep 2: Create Chrome Repository
Add google chrome repository to the system. Create a file google-chrome.repo inside /etc/yum.repos.d/ and add the details below.
[geekflare@geekflare ~]$ sudo gedit /etc/yum.repos.d/google-chrome.repo
[google-chrome]
name=google-chrome
baseurl=http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/rpm/stable/$basearch
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pubStep 3: Install Chrome
Run the yum command below to install the google chrome on the CentOS system.
[geekflare@geekflare ~]$ sudo yum install google-chrome-stable
Last metadata expiration check: 0:04:04 ago on Wed 22 Jan 2020 01:06:24 PM EST.
Dependencies resolved.
================================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
================================================================================
Installing:
google-chrome-stable x86_64 79.0.3945.130-1 google-chrome 60 M
Installing dependencies:
libXScrnSaver x86_64 1.2.3-1.el8 AppStream 31 k
libappindicator-gtk3 x86_64 12.10.0-19.el8 AppStream 43 k
libdbusmenu x86_64 16.04.0-12.el8 AppStream 140 k
libdbusmenu-gtk3 x86_64 16.04.0-12.el8 AppStream 41 k
libindicator-gtk3 x86_64 12.10.1-14.el8 AppStream 70 k
liberation-fonts noarch 1:2.00.3-4.el8 BaseOS 19 k
liberation-serif-fonts noarch 1:2.00.3-4.el8 BaseOS 607 k
Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install 8 Packages
Total download size: 60 M
Installed size: 213 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
(1/8): libXScrnSaver-1.2.3-1.el8.x86_64.rpm 146 kB/s | 31 kB 00:00
(2/8): libappindicator-gtk3-12.10.0-19.el8.x86_ 171 kB/s | 43 kB 00:00
(3/8): libdbusmenu-gtk3-16.04.0-12.el8.x86_64.r 691 kB/s | 41 kB 00:00
(4/8): libindicator-gtk3-12.10.1-14.el8.x86_64. 558 kB/s | 70 kB 00:00
(5/8): liberation-fonts-2.00.3-4.el8.noarch.rpm 74 kB/s | 19 kB 00:00
(6/8): liberation-serif-fonts-2.00.3-4.el8.noar 1.3 MB/s | 607 kB 00:00
(7/8): libdbusmenu-16.04.0-12.el8.x86_64.rpm 121 kB/s | 140 kB 00:01
(8/8): google-chrome-stable-79.0.3945.130-1.x86 8.4 MB/s | 60 MB 00:07
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 6.5 MB/s | 60 MB 00:09
warning: /var/cache/dnf/google-chrome-eb0d6f10ccbdafba/packages/google-chrome-stable-79.0.3945.130-1.x86_64.rpm: Header V4 DSA/SHA1 Signature, key ID 7fac5991: NOKEY
google-chrome 49 kB/s | 10 kB 00:00
Importing GPG key 0x7FAC5991:
Userid : "Google, Inc. Linux Package Signing Key <linux-packages-keymaster@google.com>"
Fingerprint: 4CCA 1EAF 950C EE4A B839 76DC A040 830F 7FAC 5991
From : https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Key imported successfully
Importing GPG key 0xD38B4796:
Userid : "Google Inc. (Linux Packages Signing Authority) <linux-packages-keymaster@google.com>"
Fingerprint: EB4C 1BFD 4F04 2F6D DDCC EC91 7721 F63B D38B 4796
From : https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Key imported successfully
Running transaction check
Transaction check succeeded.
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded.
Running transaction
Preparing : 1/1
Installing : libdbusmenu-16.04.0-12.el8.x86_64 1/8
Installing : libdbusmenu-gtk3-16.04.0-12.el8.x86_64 2/8
Installing : liberation-serif-fonts-1:2.00.3-4.el8.noarch 3/8
Installing : liberation-fonts-1:2.00.3-4.el8.noarch 4/8
Installing : libindicator-gtk3-12.10.1-14.el8.x86_64 5/8
Installing : libappindicator-gtk3-12.10.0-19.el8.x86_64 6/8
Installing : libXScrnSaver-1.2.3-1.el8.x86_64 7/8
Running scriptlet: google-chrome-stable-79.0.3945.130-1.x86_64 8/8
Installing : google-chrome-stable-79.0.3945.130-1.x86_64 8/8
Running scriptlet: google-chrome-stable-79.0.3945.130-1.x86_64 8/8
Redirecting to /bin/systemctl start atd.service
Verifying : libXScrnSaver-1.2.3-1.el8.x86_64 1/8
Verifying : libappindicator-gtk3-12.10.0-19.el8.x86_64 2/8
Verifying : libdbusmenu-16.04.0-12.el8.x86_64 3/8
Verifying : libdbusmenu-gtk3-16.04.0-12.el8.x86_64 4/8
Verifying : libindicator-gtk3-12.10.1-14.el8.x86_64 5/8
Verifying : liberation-fonts-1:2.00.3-4.el8.noarch 6/8
Verifying : liberation-serif-fonts-1:2.00.3-4.el8.noarch 7/8
Verifying : google-chrome-stable-79.0.3945.130-1.x86_64 8/8
Installed:
google-chrome-stable-79.0.3945.130-1.x86_64
libXScrnSaver-1.2.3-1.el8.x86_64
libappindicator-gtk3-12.10.0-19.el8.x86_64
libdbusmenu-16.04.0-12.el8.x86_64
libdbusmenu-gtk3-16.04.0-12.el8.x86_64
libindicator-gtk3-12.10.1-14.el8.x86_64
liberation-fonts-1:2.00.3-4.el8.noarch
liberation-serif-fonts-1:2.00.3-4.el8.noarch
Complete!Step 4: Check Chrome Version
To confirm the installation has finished successfully, check the google chrome version.
[geekflare@geekflare ~]$ google-chrome -version
Google Chrome 79.0.3945.130Optional: Run Chrome Headless
Let me show you an example of running chrome in headless mode on CentOS.
I will take the example of capturing a screenshot. This command below will run chrome in headless mode, and all the content of https://www.chromestatus.com/ will be saved as a pdf file.
[geekflare@geekflare ~]$ google-chrome-stable --headless --disable-gpu --print-to-pdf https://www.chromestatus.com/
[0122/131602.193881:INFO:headless_shell.cc(620)] Written to file output.pdf.The output.pdf file got created which has all the content of https://www.chromestatus.com/
[geekflare@geekflare ~]$ ls -l
total 61208
drwxr-xr-x. 2 geekflare geekflare 6 Sep 25 11:49 Desktop
drwxr-xr-x. 2 geekflare geekflare 6 Sep 25 11:49 Documents
drwxr-xr-x. 2 geekflare geekflare 6 Sep 25 11:49 Downloads
-rw-rw-r--. 1 geekflare geekflare 180 Jan 22 13:05 google-chrome.repo
-rw-------. 1 geekflare geekflare 146776 Jan 22 13:16 output.pdfThat was all about how to install Chrome on Ubuntu & CentOS and run it in the headless mode.