I noticed this interesting behavior while experimenting with Chrome in headless mode on my Linux distribution. When trying to launch Chrome headlessly, I discovered some unexpected insights:
First, I couldn't find Chrome under its typical package name in my distribution. Eventually, I discovered it was running as "x-www-browser", which seemed unusual.
When executing x-www-browser --headless, I received a TensorFlow Lite notice along with several warning messages about Vulkan and WebGL attempting to load in the browser (which failed since I was running Chrome in a virtual machine).
What really puzzles me is why a web browser seemingly needs machine learning libraries like TensorFlow Lite and graphics technologies like WebGL and Vulkan just to run properly in headless mode. These are sophisticated technologies typically associated with AI processing and 3D graphics rendering - not what you'd expect as core dependencies for basic browser functionality, especially in a headless environment without UI.
I'm curious: Is this TensorFlow Lite integration standard in mainstream Chrome browsers? What exactly is Chrome trying to accomplish with these libraries when running headlessly? Are these components actually necessary for Chrome's core functionality, or are they attempting to load for some other purpose?
Also, if anyone could explain why Chrome might be aliased as "x-www-browser" in some Linux distributions, that would be helpful for my understanding.