The upgrade_kiosk() path deleted node_modules then ran npm install but
never checked the binary or set chrome-sandbox permissions — so every
upgrade produced a blank screen.
Changes:
- Extract electron binary verification, fallback downloads, and
chrome-sandbox chmod 4755 into a shared install_electron_binary()
function called by both step 17/27 (fresh install) and step 5/6
(upgrade_kiosk) so neither path can silently skip the permission fix
- Add repair_electron() function: stops display, re-runs
install_electron_binary, restarts lightdm — no SSH needed
- Wire repair_electron as Advanced menu option 12 "Fix Blank Screen"
https://claude.ai/code/session_01EyjEQLWbTXcZgbMDarf7NU
The ~120MB Electron binary download was silently failing because npm's
default 60s fetch timeout is too short on slower connections.
Changes to step 17/27:
- Set npm fetch-timeout to 600s and retries to 5 before running npm install
- If binary still missing after npm install, retry via install.js with
ELECTRON_FORCE_DOWNLOAD=true
- If still missing, fall back to direct wget download of the exact
versioned zip from GitHub releases (300s timeout, 3 tries, shows progress)
- Exit 1 with clear message if all three attempts fail
- Log chrome-sandbox permission step for visibility
https://claude.ai/code/session_01EyjEQLWbTXcZgbMDarf7NU
/home/kiosk/ has 750 permissions so the install user can't read inside
it. The -f check and both jq reads were running as the current user and
failing silently, causing the false "config.json not found" error.
Changed:
[[ ! -f "$config_file" ]] → sudo test -f "$config_file"
jq -r ... "$config_file" → sudo -u kiosk jq -r ... "$config_file"
jq ... > "$tmp" → sudo -u kiosk jq ... > "$tmp" && sudo mv
https://claude.ai/code/session_01EyjEQLWbTXcZgbMDarf7NU
npm install returns 0 even when Electron's postinstall binary download
fails, leaving node_modules/electron/dist/electron missing and causing
a blank screen with no useful error.
After npm install, explicitly check for the binary. If absent, retry
via ELECTRON_FORCE_DOWNLOAD=true node install.js. If still missing,
print a clear error and exit 1 instead of silently continuing to a
broken install.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01EyjEQLWbTXcZgbMDarf7NU
New file ubuntu-based-kiosk-v1.0.2.sh containing all changes made
since v1.0.1:
- Authelia auto-login addon (Addons → 5): AES-256 encrypted credentials,
startup API auth, full Dockerized server-side setup printed on save
- Fix: PipeWire .config dirs created as root caused Permission denied
at step [5.5/27] on fresh Ubuntu 24.04 minimal installs
- README install commands now pull latest script dynamically via
GitHub contents API (no more hardcoded version numbers)
SCRIPT_VERSION and VERSION constants updated to 1.0.2.
README changelog and current version updated to 1.0.2.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01EyjEQLWbTXcZgbMDarf7NU
After configure_authelia() saves credentials, it now prints the full
Dockerized Authelia server-side checklist: argon2 hash generation
command, users.yml kiosk user template, configuration.yml session
duration and access_control rules, and a docker compose restart step.
README gains a new Authentication section under Optional Add-ons
covering the same steps in Markdown with a table comparing Authelia
SSO vs HTTP Basic Auth (both can coexist).
Also clarifies that the Authelia password is encrypted at rest and
not stored in plain text.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01EyjEQLWbTXcZgbMDarf7NU
Adds an Authelia Auto-Login addon (Addons menu → 5) that:
- Prompts for Authelia URL, username, and password
- Encrypts the password with AES-256-CBC keyed from /etc/machine-id
via scrypt (the encrypted blob is machine-specific and useless elsewhere)
- Stores autheliaURL, autheliaUsername, autheliaEncryptedPassword in config.json
On every kiosk startup, main.js decrypts the password and calls
Authelia's /api/firstfactor with keepMeLoggedIn:true before any
BrowserViews are created. Electron's session.defaultSession handles
the Set-Cookie response automatically, so all sites load already
authenticated.
To set up credentials via SSH:
ssh user@kiosk
./ubuntu-based-kiosk-v*.sh → Addons → 5. Authelia Auto-Login
https://claude.ai/code/session_01EyjEQLWbTXcZgbMDarf7NU
sudo mkdir -p created the .config/pipewire/pipewire.conf.d directories
owned by root, causing the subsequent sudo -u kiosk tee to fail with
"Permission denied" at step [5.5/27] on a fresh install.
Switching to sudo -u kiosk mkdir -p ensures the directories are owned
by the kiosk user before the tee writes into them.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01EyjEQLWbTXcZgbMDarf7NU
Quick Install section now queries the GitHub contents API to find and
download the latest ubuntu-based-kiosk-v*.sh script dynamically, so the
README never needs a manual version bump when a new release is pushed.
Post-install "run again" references use `ls ubuntu-based-kiosk-v*.sh | sort -V | tail -1`
for the same reason.
Also bumps version references from 1.0.0 → 1.0.1, Electron 41 → 42,
Node.js 20 → 22, and adds the v1.0.1 changelog entry.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01EyjEQLWbTXcZgbMDarf7NU
NetBird v0.60 changed SSH to JWT/IdP-based auth by default.
Using --disable-ssh-auth keeps access controlled purely by NetBird
ACL policies (machine-level, like pre-v0.60 behaviour) without
requiring an identity provider or OIDC flow.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01M3tiofbGfmTddeMcXr8nXr
All 6 popup BrowserWindows (lockout, prompt, pause, pin, keyboard ×2)
now use contextIsolation:true + popup-preload.js instead of the
deprecated nodeIntegration:true pattern. A new popup-preload.js file
exposes crypto.hashPassword, fs.readPin, ipcRenderer.send/on/once to
the renderer via contextBridge. All affected HTML files updated to use
window.electronAPI.* instead of direct require('electron') calls.
The popup-preload.js heredoc is also added to the upgrade extract_file
list so upgrades re-extract it correctly.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01M3tiofbGfmTddeMcXr8nXr
BrowserView has been deprecated since Electron 29 and will be removed
in a future major release. This beta migrates all usage to the
WebContentsView API introduced in Electron 28.
Changes in main.js:
- Import WebContentsView instead of BrowserView
- Add bringViewToTop() helper (remove+re-add as last child = on top)
- createWindow: new WebContentsView / contentView.addChildView
- attachView: contentView.removeChildView + bringViewToTop
- showLockoutScreen: contentView.removeChildView for all views
- unlockScreen: bringViewToTop to restore hidden view
- returnToTabs: bringViewToTop instead of setTopBrowserView
- showHiddenTab: bringViewToTop instead of setTopBrowserView
v1.0.0 is kept unchanged. The legacy update_mainjs_keyboard() patch
function is guarded by a grep check that prevents it running against
the new WebContentsView-based main.js.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01M3tiofbGfmTddeMcXr8nXr
No breaking changes affecting the kiosk app between these versions:
- BrowserView still present (deprecated but not removed until future release)
- WebContentsView destroyed-event change does not apply (app uses BrowserView)
- Session.clearStorageData quotas removal not used
- PDF OOPIF change not relevant
https://claude.ai/code/session_01M3tiofbGfmTddeMcXr8nXr
- Bump version references from 0.9.9.1/0.9.8 to 1.0.0
- Update script filename to ubuntu-based-kiosk-v1.0.0.sh throughout
- Add v1.0.0 changelog entries (upgrade fix, sudo/timezone fixes)
- Preserve prior version history (v0.9.9.1, v0.9.8) as changelog
- Update Claude model reference to Sonnet 4.6
- Update last-updated date
https://claude.ai/code/session_01M3tiofbGfmTddeMcXr8nXr
Two issues caused the timezone step to fail on first run:
1. Sudo credential cache (default 15 min) can expire during the long
apt install step before configure_timezone runs. Added `sudo -v`
immediately after the install confirmation prompt to prime the cache
as late as possible, just before the first long-running step.
2. `sudo timedatectl set-timezone` can fail with "Access denied" if
polkit/D-Bus is not yet fully ready in the install environment.
Added a direct fallback (ln -sf localtime + tee /etc/timezone)
that bypasses D-Bus entirely.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01M3tiofbGfmTddeMcXr8nXr
On Ubuntu 22.04+, useradd creates home directories with 750 permissions,
so the non-root user running the script cannot traverse /home/kiosk to
check file existence with [[ -s ]]. sudo tee (running as root) writes the
files successfully, but the bash test always returned false, falsely
reporting all extractions as failed.
Switch to `sudo test -s` to match the pattern already used elsewhere in
the script (line ~10320) when checking files under /home/kiosk.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01M3tiofbGfmTddeMcXr8nXr
- Rename install_kiosk_v0.9.9.1.sh to ubuntu-based-kiosk.sh
- Update all repository URLs from ubk to ubuntu-based-kiosk
- Remove UBK abbreviation from documentation and script headers
- Update installation instructions in Readme.md
- Power menu: Send IPC to views[] instead of mainWindow.webContents
(preload.js runs in BrowserViews, not mainWindow)
- Export: Add chmod 777 to temp dir, use sudo for all file operations,
use sudo tar and fix archive ownership
- Import: Use sudo tar, add proper permissions to temp directory
- PIN entry window: auto-closes after 30 seconds of inactivity
- Pause dialog: auto-closes after 30 seconds of inactivity
- Power menu: converted from native dialog to custom overlay with
30-second timeout (lockout mode still uses native dialog)
- Nav menu already had 30-second timeout
All modal windows and overlays now automatically dismiss after
30 seconds to prevent screens being left open indefinitely.
- Power button now starts hidden and appears on user interaction
- Auto-hides after 5 seconds of inactivity (matching nav button)
- Increased size to 60px with 3px border for consistency
- Removed hover transitions for simpler, consistent behavior
- Add red power icon button in top-right corner of UI
- Click power button triggers showPowerMenu via IPC
- Add EPIPE error suppression for stdout/stderr (no more error dialogs)
- Fix display on/off scripts: add XAUTHORITY, hardcode kiosk user
- Add logging to display scripts for debugging
- Simplified power button script runs as root from acpid
- No longer needs DISPLAY/XAUTHORITY (just sends signal)
- Finds all Electron processes and sends SIGUSR1 to each
- Updated ACPI event handlers to call /usr/local/bin/kiosk-power-button.sh
- Updated test-power-button to actually trigger and test
- Upgrade function now installs simplified handler
When pressing Ctrl or Alt on the virtual keyboard, the literal text
"Control" or "Alt" was being inserted into text fields. Now these
modifier keys are properly ignored since they don't function as
standalone keys in input fields.
- Create kiosk directory if it doesn't exist before extraction
- Use 'sudo tee' instead of 'sudo -u kiosk tee' for reliable writes
- Add line numbers to output for debugging
- chown at end fixes permissions
The awk-based extraction had variable scoping issues when run
as a nested function. Switch to grep for finding line numbers
and sed for extraction - more reliable approach.
- Replace sed with awk for more reliable heredoc extraction
- Add debug output showing script path
- Fix restart to use lightdm instead of non-existent kiosk.service
- Kill electron process before upgrade, check electron after
- Add script path validation before extraction
- Silent upgrade: extracts app files from script without user input
- Import now shows numbered list, user can select by number
- Improved power button handler with better Electron process detection
- SIGUSR1 now primary method for power menu (more reliable)
- Upgrade automatically regenerates power button handler
- Added XAUTHORITY export for X11 authentication
Claude