Docker + node.js: can't spawn phantomjs (ENOENT) - node.js

Question

I'm running a node.js application that uses the html-pdf module, which in turn relies on phantomjs, to generate PDF files from HTML. The app runs withing a Docker container.
Dockerfile:
FROM node:8-alpine
WORKDIR /mydirectory
# [omitted] git clone, npm install etc....
RUN npm install -g html-pdf --unsafe-perm
VOLUME /mydirectory
ENTRYPOINT ["node"]
Which builds an image just fine.
app.js
const witch = require('witch');
const pdf = require('html-pdf');
const phantomPath = witch('phantomjs-prebuilt', 'phantomjs');
function someFunction() {
pdf.create('some html content', { phantomPath: `${this._phantomPath}` });
}
// ... and then some other stuff that eventually calls someFunction()
And then call docker run <the image name> app.js
When someFunction gets called, the following error message is thrown:
Error: spawn /mydirectory/node_modules/phantomjs-prebuilt/lib/phantom/bin/phantomjs ENOENT
This happens both when deploying the container on a cloud linux server or locally on my machine.
I have tried adding RUN npm install -g phantomjs-prebuilt --unsafe-perms to the Dockerfile, to no avail (this makes docker build fail because the installation of html-pdf cannot validate the installation of phantomjs)
I'm also obviously not a fan of using the --unsafe-perms argument of npm install, so if anybody has a solution that allows bypassing that, it would be fantastic.
Any help is greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

This is what ended up working for me, in case this is helpful to anyone:
FROM node:8-alpine
WORKDIR /mydirectory
# [omitted] git clone, npm install etc....
ENV PHANTOMJS_VERSION=2.1.1
ENV NPM_CONFIG_PREFIX=/home/node/.npm-global
ENV PATH=$PATH:/home/node/.npm-global/bin
RUN apk update && apk add --no-cache fontconfig curl curl-dev && \
cd /tmp && curl -Ls https://github.com/dustinblackman/phantomized/releases/download/${PHANTOMJS_VERSION}/dockerized-phantomjs.tar.gz | tar xz && \
cp -R lib lib64 / && \
cp -R usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu /usr/lib && \
cp -R usr/share /usr/share && \
cp -R etc/fonts /etc && \
curl -k -Ls https://bitbucket.org/ariya/phantomjs/downloads/phantomjs-${PHANTOMJS_VERSION}-linux-x86_64.tar.bz2 | tar -jxf - && \
cp phantomjs-2.1.1-linux-x86_64/bin/phantomjs /usr/local/bin/phantomjs
USER node
RUN npm install -g html-pdf
VOLUME /mydirectory
ENTRYPOINT ["node"]

Answer 2

I had a similar problem, only workaround for me was to download and copy a phantom manualy. This is my example from docker file, it should by the last thing before EXPOSE comand. Btw I use a node:10.15.3 image.
RUN wget -O /tmp/phantomjs-2.1.1-linux-x86_64.tar.bz2 https://bitbucket.org/ariya/phantomjs/downloads/phantomjs-2.1.1-linux-x86_64.tar.bz2
RUN mkdir /tmp/phantomjs && mkdir -p /usr/local/lib/node_modules/phantomjs/lib/phantom/
RUN tar xvjf /tmp/phantomjs-2.1.1-linux-x86_64.tar.bz2 -C /tmp/phantomjs
RUN mv /tmp/phantomjs/phantomjs-2.1.1-linux-x86_64/* /usr/local/lib/node_modules/phantomjs/lib/phantom/
RUN rm -rf /tmp/phantomjs-2.1.1-linux-x86_64.tar.bz && rm -rf /tmp/phantomjs
Don't forget to update your paths. It's only workaround, I didn't have time to figure it out yet.

Answer 3

I came to this question in March 2021 and had the same issue dockerizing highcharts: it worked on my machine but failed on docker run (same spawn phantomjs error). In the end, the solution was to find a FROM node version that worked. This Dockerfile works using the latest Node docker image and almost latest highcharts npm version (always pick up specific npm versions):
FROM node:15.12.0
ENV ACCEPT_HIGHCHARTS_LICENSE YES
# see available versions of highcharts at https://www.npmjs.com/package/highcharts-export-server
RUN npm install highcharts-export-server#2.0.30 -g
EXPOSE 7801
# run the container using: docker run -p 7801:7801 -t CONTAINER_TAG
CMD [ "highcharts-export-server", "--enableServer", "1" ]