This page has been updated to work with Browsershots 0.4.

Install prerequisites

sudo apt-get install tightvncserver xfonts-base netpbm xautomation scrot subversion

Get the screenshot factory source code

svn checkout http://svn.browsershots.org/trunk/shotfactory/

Adjust config files

Change the file ~/.vnc/xstartup to the following three lines. This will set a white background and then run nothing except the window manager. Be sure to remove any reference to xterm because it gets in the way. If you have never run tightvncserver before, this file will not yet exist - run it once to automatically generate the file, and then make the change.

#!/bin/sh
xsetroot -solid "#FFFFFF"
x-window-manager &

If the file doesn't have any effect, make sure it's executable:

chmod a+x ~/.vnc/xstartup

Run

cd shotfactory
screen -L python shotfactory.py

See InstallFactory for registration and troubleshooting tips.

More useful packages

You will want to run a lightweight window manager because it will be restarted for each screenshot request. I don't recommend gnome-session because it uses a lot of memory. If you want nice rounded title bars, you can also install ubuntu-artwork.

sudo apt-get install metacity ubuntu-artwork

The firefox package on Ubuntu suggests these font packages (as of 2007-12-01):

sudo apt-get install latex-xft-fonts ttf-kochi-gothic ttf-kochi-mincho ttf-thryomanes ttf-baekmuk ttf-arphic-gbsn00lp ttf-arphic-bsmi00lp ttf-arphic-gkai00mp ttf-arphic-bkai00mp

If you want to run Flash 9, simply install the following package:

sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree

It's also fun to track the system status graphically. Install Munin somewhere and add all your screenshot factory machines to /etc/munin/munin.conf. Then do this on each screenshot factory:

sudo apt-get install lm-sensors smartmontools
sudo apt-get install munin-node