Core dumps on headless server (16.04)

[Thomas d'Otreppe]

1) Ubuntu: 16.04 server (headless, no X)
2) Package version: phantomjs 2.1.1+dfsg-1

3) I'm expecting it to work (not crash) and run a script.
4) On an up to date system, it crashes and dumps core, even when simply running 'phantomjs' in a command line (it doesn't matter if run with sudo or without):
QXcbConnection: Could not connect to display
PhantomJS has crashed. Please read the bug reporting guide at
<http://phantomjs.org/bug-reporting.html> and file a bug report.
Aborted (core dumped)

It doesn't even work when providing a script to run.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Falk Nisius (falknisius)]

Perhaps it depends on https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=808242.

as workaround can be:
- compile from source for headless usage
- install xvfb and use 'xvfb-run phantomjs' to wrap it in an xserver

[goldcove (goldcove)]

According to issue #14330 @ phantomjs this is due to a bug in the deb:
https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/issues/14330

A third workaround is to use the static binary from http://phantomjs.org/download.html

[Thomas d'Otreppe (thomas-dotreppe)]

goldcove, I'm sorry I should have mentioned that. The binary from phantomjs doesn't have this issue as you say. However, it has another issue (that has been resolved in their repository after the release): we cannot set the DPI (and it works fine with the deb) which means you might have to rework the html being converted/printed to PDF to adjust sizes.

[J Logan (sgtbakerrahulnet)]

Another workaround for this is to use the 'offscreen' platform. For example:

QT_QPA_PLATFORM=offscreen phantomjs rasterize.js 2i8zaNg04d9B41Zir2kT3J/output.html 2i8zaNg04d9B41Zir2kT3J.png

[Phill (phill.l)]

https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/issues/14330 was a bit sparse on details but https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/issues/14240 indicates that the problem is usually caused by distro's compiling against their own QT instead of the one bundled with phantomjs. Does anyone have the skills the verify this?