Installing the screenshot factory on Linux

This page has been updated to work with Browsershots 0.4.

Install prerequisites

sudo apt-get install tightvncserver xfonts-base netpbm xautomation scrot subversion

Get the screenshot factory source code

svn checkout http://svn.browsershots.org/trunk/shotfactory/

Adjust config files

Change the file ~/.vnc/xstartup to the following three lines. This will set a white background and then run nothing except the window manager. Be sure to remove any reference to xterm because it gets in the way.

#!/bin/sh
xsetroot -solid "#FFFFFF"
x-window-manager &

Run

cd shotfactory
screen -L python shotfactory.py

See InstallFactory for registration and troubleshooting tips.

More useful packages

You will want to run a lightweight window manager because it will be restarted for each screenshot request. I don't recommend gnome-session because it uses a lot of memory. If you want nice rounded title bars, you can also install ubuntu-artwork.

sudo apt-get install metacity ubuntu-artwork

The firefox package on Ubuntu suggests these font packages (as of 2007-12-01):

sudo apt-get install latex-xft-fonts ttf-kochi-gothic ttf-kochi-mincho ttf-thryomanes ttf-baekmuk ttf-arphic-gbsn00lp ttf-arphic-bsmi00lp ttf-arphic-gkai00mp ttf-arphic-bkai00mp

If you want to run Flash 9, simply install the following package:

sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree

It's also fun to track the system status graphically. Install Munin somewhere and add all your screenshot factory machines to /etc/munin/munin.conf. Then do this on your screenshot factory:

sudo apt-get install lm-sensors smartmontools
sudo apt-get install munin-node