[BUG] Running Playwright on Firefox inside a Docker container always hangs forever

[eduter]

Context:

• Playwright Version: 1.25.0 (but I tried on 1.24.2 and I get the same behavior)
• Operating System: Ubuntu inside WSL 2 (Win 10)
• Node.js version: v16.16.0
• Browser: Firefox

Code Snippet

I've created a repo for reproducing the bug:
https://github.com/eduter/playwright-firefox-docker

Describe the bug

It starts the container and tries to run the example test on Firefox, but then just hangs forever like this:

playwright-ff  | > playwright test example --project=firefox
playwright-ff  |
playwright-ff  | 
playwright-ff  | Running 1 test using 1 worker
playwright-ff  |
                 [1/1] [firefox] › example.spec.ts:3:1 › homepage has Playwright
 in title and get started link linking to the intro page

[rwoll]

Thanks for the repro. I'm able to also reproduce on Docker for Linux in a default GitHub Codespace.

I cleaned up some of the Docker bits in the repro, and the issue looks to be narrowed down to permission-related when using a volume mount.

With DEBUG set to pw:browser, the relevant error looks to be: pw:browser [pid=256][err] Error: Access was denied while trying to open files in your profile directory.

This only occurs if the commented out volume mount is used (https://github.com/rwoll/user-repro-playwright-firefox-docker)

@aslushnikov Do you know what constraints there are on using docker volume mounts and FF?

/cc @eatonjl in case this ends up being helpful in your investigation of #16099

[mxschmitt]

Assigning to 1.26 so we file it upstream or look into it.

[hex0cter]

I got it on mcr.microsoft.com/playwright:v1.25.0-focal too. Is it still a problem on the latest version?

[aslushnikov]

@hex0cter the issue with firefox misbehaving with mounts in docker should be filed upstream to Firefox; I'll appreciate if someone will build a small repro and file it to Mozilla folks for them to take a look.

[stevebaxter]

This isn't working for me either with the plain mcr.microsoft.com/playwright:v1.29.2-focal docker image under Jenkins - trying to run a FF test just hangs forever. Chromium and Webkit are fine.

This is what I get with DEBUG=pw:browser:

17:46:54    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m<launching> /ms-playwright/firefox-1369/firefox/firefox -no-remote -headless -profile /tmp/playwright_firefoxdev_profile-awi58P -juggler-pipe -silent �[30m+0ms�[0m
17:46:54    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m<launched> pid=726 �[30m+5ms�[0m
17:46:54    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][err] *** You are running in headless mode. �[30m+20ms�[0m
17:46:54    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][out] Crash Annotation GraphicsCriticalError: |[0][GFX1-]: glxtest: libpci missing (t=0.0475178) [GFX1-]: glxtest: libpci missing �[30m+28ms�[0m
17:46:54    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][out] Crash Annotation GraphicsCriticalError: |[0][GFX1-]: glxtest: libpci missing (t=0.0475178) |[1][GFX1-]: glxtest: Unable to open a connection to the X server (t=0.0475758) [GFX1-]: glxtest: Unable to open a connection to the X server �[30m+0ms�[0m
17:46:54    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][out] Crash Annotation GraphicsCriticalError: |[0][GFX1-]: glxtest: libpci missing (t=0.0475178) |[1][GFX1-]: glxtest: Unable to open a connection to the X server (t=0.0475758) |[2][GFX1-]: No GPUs detected via PCI (t=0.0475894) [GFX1-]: No GPUs detected via PCI �[30m+1ms�[0m
17:46:54    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][err] Unable to revert mtime: /ms-playwright/firefox-1369/firefox/fonts �[30m+32ms�[0m
17:46:54    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][err] JavaScript error: resource://gre/modules/XULStore.jsm, line 58: Error: Can't find profile directory. �[30m+70ms�[0m
17:46:54    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][err] JavaScript error: resource://gre/modules/XULStore.jsm, line 58: Error: Can't find profile directory. �[30m+1ms�[0m
17:46:54    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][err] JavaScript error: resource://gre/modules/XULStore.jsm, line 58: Error: Can't find profile directory. �[30m+2ms�[0m
17:46:54    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][err] JavaScript error: resource://gre/modules/XULStore.jsm, line 58: Error: Can't find profile directory. �[30m+2ms�[0m
17:46:54    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][err] JavaScript error: resource://gre/modules/XULStore.jsm, line 58: Error: Can't find profile directory. �[30m+4ms�[0m
17:46:54    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][out] Crash Annotation GraphicsCriticalError: |[0][GFX1-]: glxtest: libpci missing (t=0.0475178) |[1][GFX1-]: glxtest: Unable to open a connection to the X server (t=0.0475758) |[2][GFX1-]: No GPUs detected via PCI (t=0.0475894) |[3][GFX1-]: RenderCompositorSWGL failed mapping default framebuffer, no dt (t=0.164347) [GFX1-]: RenderCompositorSWGL failed mapping default framebuffer, no dt �[30m+5ms�[0m
17:48:05    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][err]  �[30m+60s�[0m
17:48:05    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][err] (firefox-default:726): dconf-CRITICAL **: 17:47:54.718: unable to create directory '/.cache/dconf': Permission denied.  dconf will not work properly. �[30m+0ms�[0m
17:48:05    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][err]  �[30m+0ms�[0m
17:48:05    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][err] (firefox-default:726): dconf-CRITICAL **: 17:47:54.718: unable to create directory '/.cache/dconf': Permission denied.  dconf will not work properly. �[30m+1ms�[0m
17:48:05    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][err]  �[30m+0ms�[0m
17:48:05    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][err] (firefox-default:726): dconf-CRITICAL **: 17:47:54.718: unable to create directory '/.cache/dconf': Permission denied.  dconf will not work properly. �[30m+0ms�[0m
17:48:05    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][err]  �[30m+1ms�[0m
17:48:05    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][err] (firefox-default:726): dconf-CRITICAL **: 17:47:54.718: unable to create directory '/.cache/dconf': Permission denied.  dconf will not work properly. �[30m+0ms�[0m
17:48:05    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][err]  �[30m+0ms�[0m
17:48:05    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][err] (firefox-default:726): dconf-CRITICAL **: 17:47:54.719: unable to create directory '/.cache/dconf': Permission denied.  dconf will not work properly. �[30m+1ms�[0m
17:48:05    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][err]  �[30m+172ms�[0m
17:48:05    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][err] (firefox-default:726): dconf-CRITICAL **: 17:47:54.893: unable to create directory '/.cache/dconf': Permission denied.  dconf will not work properly. �[30m+0ms�[0m
17:48:05    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][err]  �[30m+0ms�[0m
17:48:05    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][err] (firefox-default:726): dconf-CRITICAL **: 17:47:54.893: unable to create directory '/.cache/dconf': Permission denied.  dconf will not work properly. �[30m+0ms�[0m
17:48:05    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][err]  �[30m+0ms�[0m
17:48:05    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][err] (firefox-default:726): dconf-CRITICAL **: 17:47:54.893: unable to create directory '/.cache/dconf': Permission denied.  dconf will not work properly. �[30m+0ms�[0m
17:48:05    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][err]  �[30m+0ms�[0m
17:48:05    �[30;1mpw:browser �[0m[pid=726][err] (firefox-default:726): dconf-CRITICAL **: 17:47:54.893: unable to create directory '/.cache/dconf': Permission denied.  dconf will not work properly. �[30m+1ms�[0m

I was hoping the default PW Docker image wouldn't need customising to make it work!

[stevebaxter]

Ah, I suspect it's the same as this issue #13716. I was able to work around this using a customised Dockerfile:

# Use the Playwright Docker image, this has all the right dependencies
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/playwright:v1.29.2-focal

# Run as a specific user to work around problems with FireFox, see https://github.com/microsoft/playwright/issues/16491#issuecomment-1384375026
ENV RUNASUSER jenkins
ENV USERHOME /home/${RUNASUSER}
RUN groupadd -g 1001 -r ${RUNASUSER} && useradd --no-log-init -m -r -g ${RUNASUSER} -u 1001 ${RUNASUSER}
USER ${RUNASUSER}
WORKDIR ${USERHOME}

This sets up the right environment for the user so everything works.

[aslushnikov]

Summary: this is a Firefox upstream bug, it should be reported upstream to Firefox bug tracker. Closing since there's no action item for Playwright team here.

[stevebaxter]

@aslushnikov - is there an argument to set up the Playwright Docker image to make sure this works though?

[andrehil]

@aslushnikov I'm having the same issue when running v1.36.2-focal in OCP.
I agree with @stevebaxter that it should work out of the box.