No way to read WEBDRIVER_URL with the 'pip install' method

[smtdev]

Describe the bug
I have installed everything in the following way:

• changedetection.io: using 'pip install [...]' as per the documentation and running the command changedetection.io -d /opt/changedetection -p 5000
• Selenium Server: installing xvfb, java, chromedriver and running the command /usr/bin/xvfb-run /usr/bin/java -Dwebdriver.chrome.driver=/usr/bin/chromedriver -jar /opt/selenium/selenium-server-standalone.jar to start the Selenium Server on the machine.

Both services are working individually, meaning I can access Selenium through http://ip:4444/wd/hub and changedetection through http://ip:5000 but there is no way to tell changedetection.io to read the WEBDRIVER_URL environment variable, which contains the Selenium URL, even though it's already loaded in the 'env'. I suspect that a default http://browser-chrome:4444/wd/hub text is hardcoded for non-docker installation methods (screenshot below).

Version
v0.40.1.1

To Reproduce

Steps to reproduce the behavior:
1.- Install changedetection as the way I described above
2.- Set WEBDRIVER_URL environment variable at host level
3.- Edit any monitored website and switch the fetch method to WebDriver Chrome/Javascript
4.- See error

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Expected behavior
To be able to fetch by the chosen method.

Screenshots

Desktop (please complete the following information):

• OS: Debian 11
• Browser: Chrome
• Driver: chromedriver

Additional context
I did not test it yet, but it could happen with PLAYWRIGHT env variable too.

[dgtlmoon]

Looks like it sorta works because it knows that the hostname for the chrome is browser-chrome so maybe its some other issue?

[smtdev]

Looks like it sorta works because it knows that the hostname for the chrome is browser-chrome so maybe its some other issue?

Thing is that my hostname is not that one. I've found a hardcoded WEBDRIVER_URL variable inside content_fetcher.py. Shouldn't be an IP/hostname configured by the owner? In my case it should be http://localhost:4444/wd/hub, as both Selenium and changedetection are running on the same host.

Edit: I didn't notice that os.getenv method sets a default value (browser-chrome in this case) if the environment variable does not exist. So, the question at hand is why the environment variable is not being found...

[smtdev]

I have solved it by following the steps below:

• Run systemctl edit [service_name]
• It will create a new directory /etc/system/systemd/[service_name].service.d with a new file inside named override.conf.
• You must then add your desired environment variables as below:

[Service]
Environment="WEBDRIVER_URL=http://[IP/HOST]:4444/wd//hub"

• Run systemctl daemon-reload
• Run systemctl restart [service_name]
• DONE!

[dgtlmoon]

yeah, i didnt think it was a bug in changedetection, more just some setup flow :) we have a specific automated test for that env var, thanks for the nice systemd config! maybe it should go in the wiki perhaps!

[smtdev]

yeah, i didnt think it was a bug in changedetection, more just some setup flow :) we have a specific automated test for that env var, thanks for the nice systemd config! maybe it should go in the wiki perhaps!

Yes. It could be a clever idea to point this out in the Wiki. I've tested Playwright using the same method and it worked too!