[🐛 Bug]: Selenium/geckodriver/Firefox not working on RHEL (Python)

[gf-salomao]

What happened?

(sorry if this is not the right place to post)
webdriver.Firefox( ) command is not working using Selenium, geckodriver and Firefox on Red Hat Enterprise Linux release 8.5 (Ootpa). I searched and this error is usually a version problem, but versions are compatible following this link

OS: Red Hat Enterprise Linux release 8.5 (Ootpa)
Selenium version: 4.8.0
geckodriver version: 0.33.0
Firefox version: 102.13.0esr

Python version: 3.8.16

How can we reproduce the issue?

By simply using:

>>> from selenium import webdriver
>>> driver = webdriver.Firefox()

Relevant log output

>>> from selenium import webdriver
>>> driver = webdriver.Firefox()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/selenium/webdriver/firefox/webdriver.py", line 196, in __init__
    super().__init__(command_executor=executor, options=options, keep_alive=True)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/webdriver.py", line 286, in __init__
    self.start_session(capabilities, browser_profile)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/webdriver.py", line 378, in start_session
    response = self.execute(Command.NEW_SESSION, parameters)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/webdriver.py", line 440, in execute
    self.error_handler.check_response(response)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/errorhandler.py", line 245, in check_response
    raise exception_class(message, screen, stacktrace)
selenium.common.exceptions.WebDriverException: Message: Process unexpectedly closed with status 1

Operating System

Red Hat Enterprise Linux release 8.5 (Ootpa)

Selenium version

4.8.0

What are the browser(s) and version(s) where you see this issue?

Mozilla Firefox 102.13.0esr

What are the browser driver(s) and version(s) where you see this issue?

geckodriver 0.33.0

Are you using Selenium Grid?

no

[github-actions]

@gf-salomao, thank you for creating this issue. We will troubleshoot it as soon as we can.

---

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Thank you!

[titusfortner]

Can you update to Selenium 4.11
Lots of changes and we can't investigate old versions.

[gf-salomao]

Can you update to Selenium 4.11 Lots of changes and we can't investigate old versions.

Just update to version 4.11.2:

[root@remote ~]# pip3.8 show selenium
Name: selenium
Version: 4.11.2
Summary: None
Home-page: https://www.selenium.dev
Author: None
Author-email: None
License: Apache 2.0
Location: /usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages
Requires: trio-websocket, trio, certifi, urllib3
Required-by: Energy-Lib
[root@remote ~]# python3.8
Python 3.8.16 (default, May 31 2023, 12:44:21) 
[GCC 8.5.0 20210514 (Red Hat 8.5.0-18)] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> from selenium import webdriver
>>> driver = webdriver.Firefox()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/selenium/webdriver/firefox/webdriver.py", line 67, in __init__
    super().__init__(command_executor=executor, options=options)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/webdriver.py", line 206, in __init__
    self.start_session(capabilities)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/webdriver.py", line 290, in start_session
    response = self.execute(Command.NEW_SESSION, caps)["value"]
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/webdriver.py", line 345, in execute
    self.error_handler.check_response(response)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/selenium/webdriver/remote/errorhandler.py", line 229, in check_response
    raise exception_class(message, screen, stacktrace)
selenium.common.exceptions.WebDriverException: Message: Process unexpectedly closed with status 1

[titusfortner]

Now can you please turn on logging and send us all the details?
https://www.selenium.dev/documentation/webdriver/troubleshooting/logging/

[gf-salomao]

It seems to be a problem on initializing geckodriver?

Here is the log:

Executing process: /usr/local/lib/python3.8/site-packages/selenium/webdriver/common/linux/selenium-manager --browser firefox --debug --output json
Checking geckodriver in PATH
Running command: geckodriver --version
Output: "geckodriver 0.33.0 (a80e5fd61076 2023-04-02 18:31 +0000)\n\nThe source code of this program is available from\ntesting/geckodriver in https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central.\n\nThis program is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public License 2.0.\nYou can obtain a copy of the license at https://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/."
Running command: which geckodriver
Output: "/usr/local/bin/geckodriver"
Found geckodriver 0.33.0 in PATH: /usr/local/bin/geckodriver
firefox detected at /usr/bin/firefox
Using shell command to find out firefox version
Running command: /usr/bin/firefox -v
Output: "Mozilla Firefox 102.13.0esr"
Detected browser: firefox 102.13.0
Required driver: geckodriver 0.33.0
Driver path: /usr/local/bin/geckodriver
Browser path: /usr/bin/firefox
Using driver at: /usr/local/bin/geckodriver
Started executable: `/usr/local/bin/geckodriver` in a child process with pid: 2279253

[titusfortner]

What comes after this? It's failing for driver = webdriver.Firefox() so we should see what the command to/from the driver is.

[x86Gr]

Using
OS Debian 12.1
Python 3.11.2
Firefox 102.14.0 ESR
Geckodriver 0.33.0
Selenium 4.10.0 works fine, but from 4.11.0 onwards it breaks something and the log shows

"Exception trying to discover geckodriver version: error sending request for url (https://github.com/mozilla/geckodriver/releases/latest): error trying to connect: dns error: failed to lookup address information: Try again

selenium and geckodriver are installed in a venv

[titusfortner]

@x86Gr are you behind a proxy or otherwise can not access the internet?
Was Selenium downloading the driver for you in 4.10, or do you have it on the computer in a directory on PATH?

[x86Gr]

@x86Gr are you behind a proxy or otherwise can not access the internet? Was Selenium downloading the driver for you in 4.10, or do you have it on the computer in a directory on PATH?

The system has a vanilla connection to the internet and everything resolves and downloads. Selenium used geckodriver on path, i think i've been using them since Debian 11.6 with python 3.9.2 geckodriver 0.32.0 and selenium 4.6.0, never had an issue both online and offline. Basically the system opens Firefox in kiosk mode and receives status data from another process, then displays the current status page using marionette commands

[titusfortner]

Selenium 4.6+ manages downloads of drivers, so it needs to look online for updates.
The change in Selenium 4.11 is that it also looks on PATH for drivers.

@bonigarcia if the driver is on PATH and there is no internet for some reason, it should still locate the driver on PATH? Is this the same issue as what you fixed for IE?

[bonigarcia]

if the driver is on PATH and there is no internet for some reason, it should still locate the driver on PATH?

Yes, the latest versions of Selenium Manager always return the driver PATH (if available) as result.driver_path, and, in that case, it is not throwing errors, even without an Internet connection. Here is an example of the execution when the driver is in the PATH and with no Internet connection (notice there is a WARN but not an ERROR):

> selenium-manager --browser firefox --debug

DEBUG   Found geckodriver 0.32.0 in PATH: C:\Users\boni\Documents\bat\geckodriver.exe
DEBUG   firefox detected at C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
DEBUG   Running command: wmic datafile where name='C:\\Program Files\\Mozilla Firefox\\firefox.exe' get Version /value
DEBUG   Output: "\r\r\n\r\r\nVersion=117.0.0.8615\r\r\n\r\r\n\r\r\n\r"
DEBUG   Detected browser: firefox 117.0.0.8615
WARN    Exception trying to discover geckodriver version: error sending request for url (https://github.com/mozilla/geckodriver/releases/latest): error trying to connect: dns error: No such host is known. (os error 11001)
INFO    Driver path: C:\Users\boni\Documents\bat\geckodriver.exe
INFO    Browser path: C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe

Is this the same issue as what you fixed for IE?

No, that was related to the local metadata.