How to run nightmare correctly (shell, VM)?

[R0byn]

Hi,
that's not really an issue I think but don't know where else to ask:
Coming from phantomjs (but with poor general knowledge) I tried to run the Yahoo search example in a shell, on Windows, connected to an Ubuntu Server on which nightmare resides, the Ubuntu server runs in a VM. Result: No errors, but also no console output. Only the simplest hello-world-output worked.
After hours of research I found issues regarding nightmare & vfb on Ubuntu Server. So I thought it might be a good idea to try the thing with Ubuntu Desktop VM.
Again on Windows I fired up the shell, connected to the Ubuntu VM, tried the Yahoo Search example - nothing.
Then tried the example in a shell on the Ubuntu Desktop - voila! Worked! :-)
Now please let me understand why it seems to work only in a shell on the Ubuntu Desktop but not in a remote shell? What can I do to get it to work in a remote shell? Thanx!
EDIT: Actually in the long term I would like to get my project to work on the Ubuntu server, without any onscreen user interactions.

[jekku]

Quick question, what does the config say? Are you setting 'show' to true? Because I'm using nightmare for tests, and is being pushed to a CI (Which is similarly, a shell ONLY env). And it works.

[R0byn]

With show: false it's the same: works on the Desktop but not in the remote shell.

[jekku]

Understood. In the CI containers, I think they install Xfce / X server - something that has display capabilities. Try installing them to the shell OS and then run the nightmare script. This is called 'headless running'

You can also check:

#224

I suggest this issue to be closed @rosshinkley

[R0byn]

Hmm... so in my case it would require to install Xfce or something similar on the Ubuntu server, right?
Is there a way to get nightmare scripts running with this combination, while developing:

• nightmare and nodejs reside on Ubuntu server with Xfce
• Putty shell (connected to that Ubuntu server) is executed on Windos
• want to manually test nightmare scripts in that Putty shell

[rosshinkley]

@R0byn as @jekku mentioned, give #224 a read.

So starting from the top, explaining what you're seeing:

Result: No errors, but also no console output.

In the future, try running with DEBUG=nightmare*,electron* or DEBUG=*. That will yield more verbose, useful output.

Then tried the example in a shell on the Ubuntu Desktop - voila! Worked! :-)

This is because when you're under an Ubuntu desktop, you're running an X session of some flavor, meaning there's a framebuffer running. Electron requires a framebuffer to be running to work properly.

... and is being pushed to a CI (Which is similarly, a shell ONLY env).

Most (all?) of the CI solutions I've seen have a framebuffer of some flavor running (usually xvfb).

Is there a way to get nightmare scripts running with this combination

Yes. Install Xvfb, read through #224 and the suggestions there. You can either have Xvfb always running or use xvfb-run to manage starting/stopping the service for you. Your setup under that scenario should work fine.

I'm going to merge this into #224 and close this issue.