chrome failed to start: exited abnormally in docker container on macos - docker

Question

On my Mac, I built image with FROM selenium/standalone-chrome-debug:3.4.0-chromium in Dockerfile.
When I run my app in the container, I got:
org.openqa.selenium.WebDriverException: unknown error: Chrome failed to start: exited abnormally
(Driver info: chromedriver=2.29.461571 (8a88bbe0775e2a23afda0ceaf2ef7ee74e822cc5),platform=Linux 4.19.76-linuxkit x86_64) (WARNING: The server did not provide any stacktrace information)
Command duration or timeout: 60.13 seconds
Build info: version: 'unknown', revision: 'unknown', time: 'unknown'
System info: host: 'a45e0250acbf', ip: '172.17.0.2', os.name: 'Linux', os.arch: 'amd64', os.version: '4.19.76-linuxkit', java.version: '1.8.0_121'
Driver info: driver.version: ChromeDriver
Image built in Jenkins with same Dockerfile run same application, it has no issue. Both chromedriver=2.29.461571.
I have setup remote debug and want to debug on my macos before I push to Jenkins/linux, but blocked by this chrome failed to start: exited abnormally in container on macos.
Why this happens on my macos but not in Jenkins/Linux and how to fix it?

Answer 1

This error message...
org.openqa.selenium.WebDriverException: unknown error: Chrome failed to start: exited abnormally
(Driver info: chromedriver=2.29.461571 (8a88bbe0775e2a23afda0ceaf2ef7ee74e822cc5),platform=Linux 4.19.76-linuxkit x86_64) (WARNING: The server did not provide any stacktrace information)
Command duration or timeout: 60.13 seconds
Build info: version: 'unknown', revision: 'unknown', time: 'unknown'
System info: host: 'a45e0250acbf', ip: '172.17.0.2', os.name: 'Linux', os.arch: 'amd64', os.version: '4.19.76-linuxkit', java.version: '1.8.0_121'
Driver info: driver.version: ChromeDriver
...implies that the ChromeDriver was unable to initiate/spawn a new Browsing Context i.e. Chrome Browser session.
Your main issue is the incompatibility between the version of the binaries you are using as follows:
You are using chromedriver=2.29
Release Notes of chromedriver=2.29 clearly mentions the following :
Supports Chrome v56-58
Presumably you are using the latest chrome=85.0
Release Notes of ChromeDriver v85.0 clearly mentions the following :
Supports Chrome version 85
So there is a clear mismatch between ChromeDriver v2.40 and the Chrome Browser v85.0
Solution
Ensure that:
JDK is upgraded to current levels JDK 8u252.
Selenium is upgraded to current released Version 3.141.59.
ChromeDriver is updated to current ChromeDriver v85.0 level.
Chrome is updated to current Chrome Version 85.0 level. (as per ChromeDriver v85.0 release notes)
If your base Web Client version is too old, then uninstall it and install a recent GA and released version of Web Client.
Clean your Project Workspace through your IDE and Rebuild your project with required dependencies only.
Take a System Reboot.
Execute your #Test as non-root user.
Always invoke driver.quit() within tearDown(){} method to close & destroy the WebDriver and Web Client instances gracefully.