Kiosked Electron running on Ubuntu Core powered by a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B for

snapcraft.yaml

# Taken from https://forum.snapcraft.io/t/greatly-simplified-electron-kiosk-snaps/21303
# Modified to work with https://launchpad.net and to explicitly build for `arm64` architectures (Pi-3-B)
name: electron-hello-world-kiosk
version: '0.1'
summary: Hello World Electron app for a Kiosk
description: |
  Simple Hello World Electron app as an example of a HTML5 Kiosk
base: core18
confinement: strict
grade: devel
compression: lzo

architectures:
  - build-on: arm64
    run-on: arm64

apps:
  electron-hello-world-kiosk:
    daemon: simple
    extensions: [ gnome-3-28 ]
    restart-condition: always
    command: snap/command-chain/desktop-launch xwayland-kiosk-launch $SNAP/electron-helloworld/electron-quick-start --no-sandbox
    plugs:
      - browser-support
      - network
      - network-bind
      - opengl
      - pulseaudio
      - wayland

layout:
  /usr/share/fonts:
    bind: $SNAP/usr/share/fonts

environment:
  XWAYLAND_FULLSCREEN_WINDOW_HINT: window_role="browser-window"

parts:
  electron-helloworld:
    plugin: nil
    source: https://github.com/electron/electron-quick-start.git
    override-build: |
      # Configuration to let `snapcraft remote-build` process work using Launchpad.net
      if [ -n "$http_proxy" ]; then
        export ELECTRON_GET_USE_PROXY=1
        export GLOBAL_AGENT_HTTP_PROXY="${http_proxy}"
        export GLOBAL_AGENT_HTTPS_PROXY="${http_proxy}"
      fi &&

      # Configuration for non-elevated build permissions
      npm config set scripts-prepend-node-path true
      npm config set unsafe-perm true

      npm install electron-packager      
      ./node_modules/.bin/electron-packager . --overwrite \
          --platform=linux --output=release-build --prune=true
      cp -v -R ./electron-quick-start-linux-* $SNAPCRAFT_PART_INSTALL/electron-helloworld
    stage-packages:
      - libnspr4
      - libnss3
    build-snaps:
      - node/14/stable

  xwayland-kiosk-helper:
    plugin: cmake
    source: https://github.com/MirServer/xwayland-kiosk-helper.git
    build-packages: [ build-essential ]
    stage-packages: [ xwayland, i3, libegl1-mesa, libgl1-mesa-glx ]

This has been tested on a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B. I'm sure other boards, assuming they run a arm64 chip, will work with no modification.

To-Use:

Assuming you've installed Ubuntu Core on your Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi Imager provides it for easy-setup.

Your device will be the Raspberry Pi running Ubuntu Core. Your machine will be what is used to build the Snap.

1. On your device, you'll need to install mir-kiosk by running snap install mir-kiosk.
2. Build the Snap, either on your machine or using Launchpad.
   • You'll want to build on a machine which uses the same chip (arm64) as your device. I'm sure this can be accomplished using the Snapcraft's --destructive-mode option, I have yet to try it using this method.
3. The successfully built Snap can be uploaded to your device, an ambiguous process. The following would upload to a device's default home-directory scp ./path/to/electron-*.snap device-user@device-ip:~.
4. Once uploaded, use ssh to access your device remotely.
5. Installing the Snap is as easy as snap install --dangerous ./path/to/electron-*.snap

(Assuming you used the default electron-quick-start repository to build from) When connected to a display, you should see the "Hello World!" greeting of your Electron app. Quitting the application, by any means (forcefully, closing the window, restarting the device) will cause the device to reboot directly to this application.