Script to build (and update) headless Chromium on Ubuntu

build_chromium_headless.sh

#!/usr/bin/env zsh

# This script checks out the latest chromium and builds the headless
# version of it. When the chromium source is already present, the
# repository is updated.
# 
# A .tar.gz is created in $DIR containing the headless_shell binary,
# this binary runs chromium. The resulting binary should be quite
# portable given that the (few) dependencies are installed on the target
# machine.
# 
# This script has been tested on:
# - Ubuntu 14.04 (Trusty)
# 
# WARNING! Building Chromium requires root privileges and installs many
# packages via apt, avoid doing this on production systems. A throw-away
# VM or docker container is probably for the best.
# 
# README (doesn't contain much):
# https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/lkgr/headless/README.md

BUILD_CONFIG='
import("//build/args/headless.gn")
is_debug=false
symbol_level=0
enable_nacl=false
remove_webcore_debug_symbols=true
'

DIR=~/chromium

[[ -d $DIR ]] || mkdir $DIR
[[ -d $DIR/depot_tools ]] || {
	git clone https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/tools/depot_tools.git $DIR/depot_tools
}
(cd $DIR/depot_tools; git pull)

PATH=$PATH:$DIR/depot_tools

(cd $DIR;
	# Fetch the chromium repository without history.
	[[ -d src ]] || {
		fetched=1
		fetch --no-history --nohooks chromium  # Run hooks later.
	}

	cd src
	[[ $fetched = 1 ]] || {
		# Update repository if already fetched.
		git rebase-update
		gclient sync
	}
	./build/install-build-deps.sh --no-prompt  # Must run before runhooks.
	gclient runhooks

	# Configure the build.
	[[ -d out/Headless ]] && rm -r out/Headless
	mkdir -p out/Headless
	print $BUILD_CONFIG > out/Headless/args.gn
	gn gen out/Headless

	# Start the build.
	ninja -j 8 -C out/Headless headless_shell

	[[ -f $DIR/ChromiumHeadless.tar.gz ]] && rm $DIR/ChromiumHeadless.tar.gz
	tar -cvzf $DIR/ChromiumHeadless.tar.gz out/Headless
)

print
print "Created $DIR/ChromiumHeadless.tar.gz"
print "    tar -xvzf $DIR/ChromiumHeadless.tar.gz"
print "    ./out/Headless/headless_shell --headless --disable-gpu --remote-debugging-address=0.0.0.0 --remote-debugging-port=9222"
print
print "Remember to: apt install libexpat1 libfontconfig1 libfreetype6 libnspr4 libnss3 libpng12-0"
print