Chrome freezes on windows when opened with WWW::Mechanize::Chrome

[bakiperl]

My WMC scripts have suddenly stopped working on windows, but they still work fine on Linux. I am not sure if it was caused by the windows updates or the recent module updates. I hope Corion can check this.
Here is a simple script that causes the freezing of the browser. It has been tested on 3 different machines and the result is the same.

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;
use warnings;
use 5.012;
use WWW::Mechanize::Chrome;

use Log::Log4perl ':easy';

Log::Log4perl->easy_init($TRACE);

my $mech = WWW::Mechanize::Chrome->new(
    headless => 0,
);

use Data::Dumper;

my $res = $mech->get('https://egp.rutgers.edu/wmc.html');
say Dumper $mech->getResourceTree_future()->get;

$mech->sleep (20);

[Discipulus]

Hello bakiperl,

some time ago I was suggested to have a different browser especially installed for mechanize things, so you dont run in the problem you encountered. Chromium is a valuable choice and keep it away from your PATH

In the program then..

my $url = 'perlmonks.org';

my $chromium_path = "C:/_CHROMIUM/Chrome-bin/chrome.exe"; 
my $chromium_arg = "--remote-debugging-port=9222";         # dont reme
+mber if needed, but useful to know :)

####################################

my $mech = WWW::Mechanize::Chrome->new(
    mute_audio => 1,
    autoclose => 0,
    incognito => 0,
    launch_exe    => $chromium_path,
);
$mech->get( $url );

L*

[stevieb]

my $chromium_arg = "--remote-debugging-port=9222"; # dont remember if needed, but useful to know :)

Letting you know... it isn't needed. The setup works fine by default without that added argument.

I just installed the distribution, and I'm so thankful I saw your post first as I'm grateful I don't need to actually install a Google product. Chromium works perfectly!

[bakiperl]

Stevieb,
I took your advice and I switched to Chromium to avoid the annoying google chrome auto-update.
FYI, Chromium version 94.0... has also caused the freezing of the browser. So I am going to hold on to version 93.0. for now.
Thank you.

[Corion]

I cannot reproduce the problem using your code. As you have the $TRACE output enabled, maybe you can show the output up to the point where the program "freezes".

[bakiperl]

Corion,
It turns out that the recent google chrome updates are the cause of the problem. The newer version stops responding immediately after you execute the script.
I downgraded chrome to an earlier version and things are back running normally.

[stevieb]

Would you please share the Chrome versions in question here? Both the last one that appears to work and the one that you believe broke things?

I use Corion's distribution here from time-to-time, and am about to deploy it for some tests at work in the coming week or so. I'd like to do some testing on the issue before I have our guys deploying software.

[bakiperl]

Corion,
Just in case this can help tracking the issue that is causing chrome/chromium version 94. and 95. to freeze, I added the launch_arg option and the result is shown below:


my $mech = WWW::Mechanize::Chrome->new(
    headless => 0,
    launch_arg => [ " --enable-logging", "--v=1" ]
);

chrome_bebug.log file


[10576:11820:1029/142219.260:ERROR:chrome_browser_main_extra_parts_met
+rics.cc(230)] crbug.com/1216328: Checking Bluetooth availability star
+ted. Please report if there is no report that this ends.
[10576:11820:1029/142219.260:ERROR:chrome_browser_main_extra_parts_met
+rics.cc(233)] crbug.com/1216328: Checking Bluetooth availability ende
+d.

[Corion]

This must be some weird difference between our setups, since I do not get any kind of Chrome freeze with that on either Linux or Windows.

Maybe if you launch Chrome with a completely fresh profile (without any plugins), something different shows up?

use File::Temp 'tempdir';
my $mech = WWW::Mechanize::Chrome->new(
    headless => 0,
    data_directory => tempdir(CLEANUP => 1 ),
    launch_arg => [ " --enable-logging", "--v=1" ]
);

[Bod]

Can I ask what Perl you are running on Windows?

I have tried to install WWW::Mechanize::Chrome several times on Strawberry Perl v32. Every time it has failed. Last evening I tried on a clean install of Strawberry Perl. It failed again, hanging on one of the tests (I can't recall which one and I am nowhere near that machine atm). It seems it has failed tests on Windows with Perl v32 so I was planning to get a Raspberry Pi 3 mostly to run WWW::Mechanize::Chrome.

But...you must have WWW::Mechanize::Chrome running on Windows...

[bakiperl]

Bod,
I am using Strawberry Perl (v5.32.1). Try cpanm -v --force WWW::Mechanize::Chrome to install WMC for strawberry Perl. The issue is discussed here: 11126245

[Bod]

I am using Strawberry Perl (v5.32.1)

So we are using the same version...

Try cpanm -v --force WWW::Mechanize::Chrome to install WMC for strawberry Perl

That's pretty much what I tried when cpanm WWW::Mechanize::Chrome failed.
I've just tried again on a different machine and it hangs in the same place...

t/50-gh63-encode-response-content.t ........... 2/4

Here are the preceding lines if it helps with diagnosis.

Read more... (8 kB)

[wireb]

I am hitting a similar hang on multiple computers all running windows and the latest Chrome.
Was this ever solved?

My specific setup:
Version 95.0.4638.69 (Official Build) (64-bit) <- program was working prior to this release / update
WWW::Mechanize::Chrome is up to date. (0.68)
This is perl 5, version 30, subversion 3 (v5.30.3) built for MSWin32-x64-multi-thread

Dissolved my script down to the following that will cause a recreate. Typically stops responding after loading CNN during the sleep delay.
Note if you remove the delays you can get a few more of the pages to load but eventually the hang returns.



####################################################################
# This is a test of WWW::Mechanize::Chrome
####################################################################

use strict;
use warnings;
use File::Path;
use Log::Log4perl qw(:easy);        # used by WWW::Mechanize::Chrome
use WWW::Mechanize::Chrome;

my $chrome = "";
my $page = "";

Log::Log4perl->easy_init($TRACE);  # Set priority of root logger to ER
+ROR

# clean up data_directory to start fresh each time. 
mkdir("/temp/");
rmtree("/temp/mechaChrome/");
mkdir("/temp/mechaChrome/");

$chrome = WWW::Mechanize::Chrome->new(
    #autoclose => 0,        # when script is complete close the browse
+r (default yes)
    data_directory => '/temp/mechaChrome/',    # this fixes the "Do yo
+u maybe have a non-debug instance of Chrome already running?" timeout
+ error by forcing a new instance of chrome.
    start_url => 'https:\\www.cnn.com',
    launch_arg => [ " --enable-logging", "--v=1" ]
);


print("sleeping\n");
sleep(30);

print("Load reddit\n");
$page = $chrome->get("https://www.reddit.com/");

print("sleeping\n");
sleep(30);

print("Load slashdot\n");
$page = $chrome->get("https://slashdot.org/");

print("sleeping\n");
sleep(30);


print("Script done\n");
exit(0);


I have the trace output from the command prompt not sure if there is a second file anywhere I should grab for debug. (added the launch_arg => " --enable-logging", "--v=1" but not sure where that output goes)
Is there a preferred place to paste the output? (it's quite large)

Thanks,
Wire