puppeteer with chromium on Linux fails and causes "Internal Error: need an svg element"

[ondrej-such]

Bug description

Rendering any quarto file with mermaid diagram to pdf results in internal error.

ERROR: Internal Error: need an svg element

Error: Internal Error: need an svg element

Steps to reproduce

Run quarto render essential.qmd --to pdf

A minimal file is the following

# Essential binary classification


```{mermaid diag1}
%%| label: fig-bias-dataset-model
%%| fig-cap: Two key prerequisities for development of a classification model
flowchart LR


X(Dataset) --> Y("classification model")
Z(Inductive bias) --> Y
```

Expected behavior

No error should happen.

Actual behavior

(base) ondrej@smicro:~$ quarto render essential.qmd --to pdf
ERROR: Internal Error: need an svg element

Error: Internal Error: need an svg element
at resolveSize (file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:83711:15)
at async makePng (file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:84047:57)
at async makeDefault (file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:84097:24)
at async Object.cell (file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:84120:20)
at async Promise.all (index 0)
at async Object.document (file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:57716:25)
at async handleLanguageCells (file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:57687:42)
at async file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:86617:61
at async withTimingAsync (file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:19633:25)
at async renderFiles (file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:86616:25)

Your environment

• quarto : 1.3.433
• OS: Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS
• R: 4.3.1

Quarto check output

(base) ondrej@smicro:~$ quarto check

[✓] Checking versions of quarto binary dependencies...
Pandoc version 3.1.1: OK
Dart Sass version 1.55.0: OK
[✓] Checking versions of quarto dependencies......OK
[✓] Checking Quarto installation......OK
Version: 1.3.433
Path: /opt/quarto/bin

[✓] Checking basic markdown render....OK

[✓] Checking Python 3 installation....OK
Version: 3.8.5 (Conda)
Path: /home/ondrej/miniconda3/bin/python
Jupyter: (None)

  Jupyter is not available in this Python installation.
  Install with conda install jupyter

  There is an unactivated Python environment in torch1. Did you forget to activate it?

[✓] Checking R installation...........OK
Version: 4.3.1
Path: /usr/lib/R
LibPaths:
- /home/ondrej/R/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-library/4.3
- /usr/local/lib/R/site-library
- /usr/lib/R/site-library
- /usr/lib/R/library
knitr: 1.43
rmarkdown: 2.6

[✓] Checking Knitr engine render......OK

[ondrej-such]

The same source works fine on Windows, quarto version 1.3.450

Output:
C:\Users\Ondrej\Downloads>quarto render essential.qmd --to pdf

processing file: essential.qmd

output file: essential.knit.md

pandoc
to: latex
output-file: essential.tex
standalone: true
pdf-engine: xelatex
variables:
graphics: true
tables: true
default-image-extension: pdf

metadata
documentclass: scrartcl
classoption:
- DIV=11
- numbers=noendperiod
papersize: letter
header-includes:
- '\KOMAoption{captions}{tableheading}'
block-headings: true

running xelatex - 1
This is XeTeX, Version 3.141592653-2.6-0.999994 (MiKTeX 22.8.28) (preloaded format=xelatex.fmt)
restricted \write18 enabled.
entering extended mode

running xelatex - 2
This is XeTeX, Version 3.141592653-2.6-0.999994 (MiKTeX 22.8.28) (preloaded format=xelatex.fmt)
restricted \write18 enabled.
entering extended mode

Output created: essential.pdf

[ondrej-such]

Upgrading to 1.3.450 on Ubuntu did not help.

(base) ondrej@smicro:/tmp$ sudo dpkg -i quarto-1.3.450-linux-amd64.deb
(Reading database ... 321918 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack quarto-1.3.450-linux-amd64.deb ...
Unpacking quarto (1.3.450) over (1.3.433) ...
Setting up quarto (1.3.450) ...
(base) ondrej@smicro:/tmp$ cd ~
(base) ondrej@smicro:~$ quarto render essential.qmd --to pdf
ERROR: Internal Error: need an svg element

Error: Internal Error: need an svg element
at resolveSize (file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:83711:15)
at async makePng (file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:84047:57)
at async makeDefault (file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:84097:24)
at async Object.cell (file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:84120:20)
at async Promise.all (index 0)
at async Object.document (file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:57716:25)
at async handleLanguageCells (file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:57687:42)
at async file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:86617:61
at async withTimingAsync (file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:19633:25)
at async renderFiles (file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:86616:25)
(base) ondrej@smicro:~$

[cscheid]

Are you able to try rendering this again after installing google chrome? We've had a recurring source of issues where quarto can't locate a web browser in order to be able to extract the dynamically-generated figure from the webpage.

You also have a minor issue in your syntax:

# Essential binary classification


```{mermaid diag1}
%%| label: fig-bias-dataset-model
%%| fig-cap: Two key prerequisities for development of a classification model
flowchart LR


X(Dataset) --> Y("classification model")
Z(Inductive bias) --> Y
```

The {mermaid diag1} syntax is specific to knitr and not supported in quarto. It might not be hurting here but it's not something that quarto is designed to handle.

[mcanouil]

Note that Quarto can help you install a headless version of Chrome, see https://quarto.org/docs/authoring/diagrams.html#chrome-install.

quarto tools install chromium

[ondrej-such]

Reinstalling chromium did not help.

(base) ondrej@smicro:~$ quarto tools uninstall chromium
? Are you sure you'd like to remove chromium? (Y/n) › Yes

Uninstalling chromium
[✓] Removing Chromium...
Uninstallation successful
(base) ondrej@smicro:$ quarto tools install chromium
Installing chromium
[✓] Downloading Chromium 869685
[✓] Installing Chromium 869685
Installation successful
(base) ondrej@smicro:$ quarto render essential.qmd --to pdf
ERROR: Internal Error: need an svg element

Error: Internal Error: need an svg element
at resolveSize (file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:83711:15)
at async makePng (file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:84047:57)
at async makeDefault (file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:84097:24)
at async Object.cell (file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:84120:20)
at async Promise.all (index 0)
at async Object.document (file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:57716:25)
at async handleLanguageCells (file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:57687:42)
at async file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:86617:61
at async withTimingAsync (file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:19633:25)
at async renderFiles (file:///opt/quarto/bin/quarto.js:86616:25)
(base) ondrej@smicro:~$

[cscheid]

Thanks for following up. Do you have access to Google Chrome itself (instead of chromium through our tools)?

[ondrej-such]

Installing google-chrome indeed prevents the internal bug. I used

wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb

After installing it via dpkg -i , the error does not reproduce.

(base) ondrej@smicro:~$ quarto render essential.qmd --to pdf
pandoc
to: latex
output-file: essential.tex
standalone: true
pdf-engine: xelatex
variables:
graphics: true
tables: true
default-image-extension: pdf

metadata
documentclass: scrartcl
classoption:
- DIV=11
- numbers=noendperiod
papersize: letter
header-includes:
- '\KOMAoption{captions}{tableheading}'
block-headings: true

running xelatex - 1
This is XeTeX, Version 3.141592653-2.6-0.999993 (TeX Live 2022/dev/Debian) (preloaded format=xelatex)
restricted \write18 enabled.
entering extended mode

running xelatex - 2
This is XeTeX, Version 3.141592653-2.6-0.999993 (TeX Live 2022/dev/Debian) (preloaded format=xelatex)
restricted \write18 enabled.
entering extended mode

Output created: essential.pdf

(base) ondrej@smicro:~$

[cscheid]

Thanks for confirming! We've never been able to track down precisely why some installs of chromium on Linux cause puppeteer to fail.

I'm going to keep this open, but unfortunately I don't have any better workaround to offer right now.