PR #39219 split run_browser_install_with_timeout into a thin wrapper that
delegates to a new run_with_timeout helper (and parameterized the timeout
binary as $timeout_bin for macOS gtimeout support), but did not update
tests/test_install_sh_browser_install.py. The behavioral harness extracted
only the now-empty wrapper, so the install command never ran (runs==[]),
failing all 8 behavioral cases; two text assertions also still expected the
old literal 'timeout' invocation.
Fix the stale test: extract run_with_timeout alongside the wrapper, and match
the $timeout_bin-parameterized GNU-timeout strings. Behavior unchanged.
Follow-up on #54032 for #35166:
- Gate the PLAYWRIGHT_HOST_PLATFORM_OVERRIDE retry on the host being an apt
release newer than Playwright recognizes (Ubuntu >24.04 / Debian >13) via
playwright_host_unrecognized(), instead of retrying on ANY install failure.
A network/disk/permission failure on a supported host now surfaces unchanged
rather than getting a mismatched-glibc build forced onto it.
- detect_os() now captures DISTRO_VERSION from os-release.
- Fold in the interruptibility fix (was PR #35304, self-closed): wrap the
download in 'timeout --foreground -k 10' (probed, with plain-timeout
fallback) so a terminal Ctrl+C reaches the child and a wedged download is
force-killed after the deadline.
- Add behavioral tests that source the helpers and assert the retry fires only
on Ubuntu 26.04 / Debian 14, not on supported hosts, non-apt distros,
native-success, operator-pinned override, or unsupported arch.
On apt releases newer than the bundled Playwright recognizes (Ubuntu 26.04,
Debian 14, and future distros), 'npx playwright install --with-deps chromium'
hangs uninterruptibly at 'Installing Playwright Chromium with system
dependencies' because Playwright's resolver maps the host to a platform with
no download build (#35166).
Wrap every installer Playwright call in run_playwright_install(), which tries
the native install first and, only if it fails or times out, retries once with
PLAYWRIGHT_HOST_PLATFORM_OVERRIDE pinned to the newest known build
(ubuntu24.04-<arch>). This is the escape hatch Playwright's maintainers bless
for unrecognized platforms (microsoft/playwright#33434).
Try-native-first (not a hardcoded distro/version table) is deliberate:
- Self-correcting — when Playwright already supports the host (e.g. Ubuntu
26.04 on Playwright >=1.61) the first attempt succeeds and the override is
never applied, so we never force a mismatched-glibc build onto a release
Playwright handles correctly (microsoft/playwright#35114).
- Zero-maintenance — new distro releases work the moment Playwright adds them.
- Covers Debian 14+ and future releases, not just Ubuntu 26.04.
An operator-set PLAYWRIGHT_HOST_PLATFORM_OVERRIDE is always respected (applied
to the first attempt; retry skipped). Non-x64/arm64 arches have no fallback
build and skip the retry.
Refs #35166
Replace the old "skips download when a system browser exists" assertions with
tests for the new behavior:
- no PATH scan for browser command names, and the "use the system browser" path
is gone;
- find_system_browser consults only an explicit AGENT_BROWSER_EXECUTABLE_PATH
override (which still skips the bundled download);
- strip_snap_browser_override runs on both install paths and a /snap/* path is
rejected, so already-affected installs auto-recover on update.
The Debian/Ubuntu branch of install_node_deps() ran 'npx playwright install
--with-deps chromium' unconditionally. Playwright invokes sudo interactively
to apt-install Chromium's system libraries, which blocks the installer for
non-sudo users (systemd service accounts, unprivileged operator users) on
an unsatisfiable password prompt.
Changes:
- install.sh: gate --with-deps behind a sudo capability check on the apt
branch (matches the existing Arch/pacman branch pattern). Non-sudo users
fall back to 'npx playwright install chromium' alone and the installer
prints the exact 'sudo npx playwright install-deps chromium' command an
administrator can run separately.
- install.sh: add --skip-browser (alias --no-playwright) to skip the
Playwright step entirely for headless installs that don't need browser
automation. Mirrors the existing --no-venv / --skip-setup shape.
- installation.md: add a 'Non-Sudo / System Service User Installs' section
covering the admin/service-user split, the --skip-browser flag, and the
~/.local/bin PATH gotcha (the root cause of the 'No module named dotenv'
error users hit when running the repo source 'hermes' script with system
Python instead of the venv launcher).
- test_install_sh_browser_install.py: regression coverage for the
--skip-browser flag and the sudo-gate on the apt branch.
Reported by @ssilver in Discord.
