Use python selenium on headless linux server

Question

I have a Linux server which can only be controlled via CLI. It doesn't have any browser installed, mainly because it is not needed and because unless it's lynx or a derivative, it is going to install x-server, which I don't want.

I know I can run Chrome and Firefox with the headless option, but it still requires to be installed.

Is there any way I can run selenium on that server without having to install one of the "main" browsers, or will I have to switch to another library (urllib, requests) if I want to programatically browse the web?

if dynamic page use selenium + browser else beautifulsoup.

ewwink
– ewwink

2018-12-01 09:53:08 +00:00
Commented Dec 1, 2018 at 9:53 — ewwink
– ewwink, Commented Dec 1, 2018 at 9:53
You can run selenium in a docker container

Artemij Rodionov
– Artemij Rodionov

2018-12-01 17:13:03 +00:00
Commented Dec 1, 2018 at 17:13 — Artemij Rodionov
– Artemij Rodionov, Commented Dec 1, 2018 at 17:13
I believe phantomJS doesn't require X, but the others do.

pguardiario
– pguardiario

2018-12-01 22:45:43 +00:00
Commented Dec 1, 2018 at 22:45 — pguardiario
– pguardiario, Commented Dec 1, 2018 at 22:45

Himanshu Poddar · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-10 15:37:42Z

1

You can use phantomJS which is headless-selenium for your purpose.

Download phantomJS

wget https://bitbucket.org/ariya/phantomjs/downloads/phantomjs-2.1.1-linux-x86_64.tar.bz2

Untar it

tar xvjf phantomjs-2.1.1-linux-x86_64.tar.bz2

Move or copy it into the binary executable directory

cp phantomjs-2.1.1-linux-x86_64/bin/phantomjs /usr/bin/

import the selenium webdriver

from selenium import webdriver
wd = webdriver.PhantomJS()

connect to the website

wd.get("https://www.website-url.com")

edited Dec 10, 2018 at 15:37

answered Dec 3, 2018 at 9:42

Himanshu Poddar

7,90116 gold badges60 silver badges120 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

6 Comments

Corey Goldberg Over a year ago

phantomjs is no longer maintained ad deprecated within selenium

Corey Goldberg Over a year ago

your example never uses chrome_options it creates

Himanshu Poddar Over a year ago

@CoreyGoldberg I know it has been deprecated but the OP wanted solution that could solve his problem for now. The solution is correct anyways. If the solution does not meet expectation in the long run does that mean you will downvote it?? In that case you should downvote all python 2 solution of problems.

Corey Goldberg Over a year ago

it was deprecated long before the question was asked

Hamperfait Over a year ago

I have used PhantomJS, but as @CoreyGoldberg stated, it's been long deprecated and is unmantained. In the end I used a regular browser and installed X. Thanks anyway for the solution.

|

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Use python selenium on headless linux server

1 Answer 1

6 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

6 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related