This project is no longer maintained and part of my source code "attic". Feel free to use it though, works fine.
These scripts install google-chrome with the deprecated and with the ( no longer available through normal way of installing ) persistent background script available. This took a lot of work to get right, and i am no longer using it in my private project so here you go. This is tested on ubuntu server with a tightvnc server running using localhost:1. This fully installs google-chrome along with a custom plugin.
These scripts were ran using vagrant, cut-pasted:
chrome.vm.provision :shell, :path => "provision/ubuntu-chrome-google.sh"
chrome.vm.provision :shell, :path => "provision/ubuntu-project-bot-chrome-plugin.sh", :args => "/opt/shared/bot-chrome-plugin"
/opt/shared/bot-chrome-plugin/ would be your plugin source folder.
Automatically installs google-chrome from Google's repositories, and makes sure it does not pop up with its "first run" dialog the first time you run it.
#!/bin/sh
# ----------------------------
# google chrome
# ----------------------------
wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add -
sudo cat <<EOF >> /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
EOF
sudo apt-get -y update
sudo apt-get -y install google-chrome-stable
export DISPLAY=localhost:1
mkdir -p 'chrome/First Run'
google-chrome --user-data-dir=chrome --ingocnito &
Waits for chrome to create its folder structure, then kills it, packs the extension and inserts a special plugin manifest file into the user's Preferences file.
#!/bin/sh
# ----------------------------
# bot-chrome-plugin
# ----------------------------
#
# trivia:
#
# the "extension id" is the sha256 of an rsa public key, encoded in an alternative base 16 using a-p as opposed to 0-f.
# to get the id programmatically, you can use this:
# openssl rsa -pubout -outform DER < bot-chrome-plugin.pem | sha256sum | head -c32 | tr 0-9a-f a-p
# this also means that the extension id is not an really an id of the extension, but an update authentication mechanism.
# meaning we can use any bullshit extension id, and as long as it is in the alternative base16 ( a-p vs 0-f ) it'll work.
# ( see https://code.google.com/p/chrome-browser/source/browse/trunk/src/chrome/common/extensions/extension.cc )
# fix for "error while loading shared libraries: libudev.so.0"
# ( not tested if this error also happens during a vagrant installation, but this fixed a development environment )
ln -s /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libudev.so.1 /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libudev.so.0
export DISPLAY=localhost:1
while [ ! -f ./chrome/Default/Preferences ]
do
sleep 1
done
sudo killall chrome
# generate .crx and .pem file, they'll be at $1.crx and $1.pem
# not that it really matters, the .crx is actually just a .zip file and them .pem file is only for the extension id.
google-chrome --pack-extension=$1 --no-message-box --user-data-dir=chrome
# now it is up to us to edit /home/vagrant/chrome/Default/Preferences
# find-replace one of the default plugin lines with our config + the line we would otherwise replace:
sed -i 's#"mfehgcgbbipciphmccgaenjidiccnmng#\
"khcecimilnhmlkfbnbkhipgnhkpjnecd": {\
"active_permissions": {\
"api": [ "activeTab", "tabs", "alarms", "background" ],\
"explicit_host": [ "<all_urls>", "chrome://favicon/*" ],\
"scriptable_host": [ "<all_urls>" ]\
},\
"creation_flags": 38,\
"from_bookmark": false,\
"from_webstore": true,\
"granted_permissions": {\
"api": [ "activeTab", "tabs", "alarms" ],\
"explicit_host": [ "<all_urls>", "chrome://favicon/*" ],\
"scriptable_host": [ "<all_urls>" ]\
},\
"initial_keybindings_set": true,\
"install_time": "13036541413460503",\
"location": 4,\
"newAllowFileAccess": true,\
"path": "/opt/shared/bot-chrome-plugin",\
"state": 1,\
"was_installed_by_default": true\
},\
"mfehgcgbbipciphmccgaenjidiccnmng#' ./chrome/Default/Preferences
nohup google-chrome --user-data-dir=chrome --ingocnito &
Most important from this is that to have a persiting background script, you'll need to add it as a permission and mark it as installed from the webstore. The key that you use does not matter, as long as you are not going to legitimately update it from Google's web store.