Classic Confinement for RTILA

store-requests
#1

Hello,

RTILA is a tool that automates web-based tasks and extracts data from websites. It relies on launching external instances of Chrome to interact with web pages and perform automated actions. However, due to the strict confinement enforced by Snapcraft Store, we have encountered limitations in fully utilizing RTILA’s capabilities, even when attempting to leverage plugs such as system-files and system-backup.

In our efforts to overcome these limitations, we have already tried using the system-backup interface with the wrapping root path “/var/lib/snapd/hostfs” to gain the necessary access. Additionally, we have added read-only paths for the Chrome executable to system-files. Despite these attempts, we are still unable to achieve the level of functionality required for RTILA.

Thank you for your attention and support!

#2

Hello,

I wanted to provide an update and further clarification regarding RTILA’s confinement in the Snapcraft Store.

To summarize:

  • We initially used strict confinement for RTILA, but encountered limitations with launching external instances of Chrome.
  • As a result, we have switched to classic confinement to fully leverage the required functionality.
  • You can now find RTILA listed with classic confinement at snapcraft.io/rtila.
  • We have also created a demo showcasing RTILA’s capabilities on a different platform, which you can watch on YouTube: RTILA Demo.

We appreciate the ongoing support and contributions from the community as we strive to explore potential alternatives for achieving our goals within the confines of strict confinement.

Thank you.

#3

Hi @rtila

Classic confinement is not granted lightly, and unfortunately I’m not sure that I see which category rtila might fit into here: Process for reviewing classic confinement snaps.

Are you able to provide more details about the aspects of rtila’s capabilities/functionality that aren’t working?

#4

Hi @rtila, without further information we can’t progress this request.

#5

Dear @dclane and team

Sorry for the delay and allow me to complement the messages of my colleague

Under the strict confinement our Software IS NOT able to launch an external instance of chrome/browser.

We received the following Errors/Suggestions:

  1. adjust snap to ship ‘chrome’ >>> This is not working out
  2. adjust program to use relative paths if the snap already ships ‘chrome’ >>> This works for us but it requires the classic confinement

Unless there are other guidance/resources on how to launch browser instances under the strict confinement mode, we would like to request to be approved/allowed under the classic confinement please.

And we are aware of and ready to deal with the caveats of the Classic confinement.

Let us know if this is enough clarification or if you need more details.

You can download the software from our GitHub repository here: https://github.com/IKAJIAN/rtila-releases/releases/tag/v6.0.2 And you can use a free license offer we have right here: https://rtila.com/downloads/rtila-studio-lifetime-deal/

Thank you in advance

Mohamed

#6

To launch an external browser, simply plug the desktop interface and then call xdg-open https://... with the appropriate URL.

#7

Dear @alexmurray

Thank you for the suggestion.

We can indeed use the desktop interface and then call xdg-open https://… with the appropriate URL, but this is not enough and not the issue per say. We actually need to launch a controlled browser instance not just open urls in a browser.

We need this to be able to provide our web browser automation solution.

#8

well, from a developer POV this simply means adding two lines to some part of your snapcraft.yaml:

    stage-snaps:
      - chromium/latest/stable

indeed it grows the size of your snap and if you want to participate in security updates you need to frequently re-build (which is automatable), but would give you the same chromium as shipped on the desktop fully accessible without much extra work …

#9

Dear @ogra yes this is not too much of a trade off indeed.

We will try to ship it with chrome and get back to you.

thank you for the guidance