[Public] Deploying IronPDF to AWS Lambda with Docker: "libnss3.so" & Chrome Deployment Errors

 

When deploying to AWS Lambda below error might be encountered

"IronSoftwareDeploymentException: Multiple issues occurred while trying to deploy Chrome (libnss3.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)... (Read-only file system: '/var/task/runtimes')"


Root Causes

1. Missing system libraries:

   • IronPDF’s Chrome engine depends on shared libraries such as libnss3.so, which are absent in the Lambda runtime environment.

2. Read-only file system:

   • Lambda restricts write access to certain directories (e.g., /var/task/runtimes), which causes embedded deployment to fail.

3. Missing embedded resource:

   • The error also indicates that IronPDF couldn't find Chrome.linux-x64.zip, which is a fallback mechanism for embedded deployment.

---

Solution

 

1. Disable GPU and Auto Configuration

These lines are essential to prevent IronPDF from triggering GPU initialization and from trying to auto-configure libraries in an environment where it can't:

IronPdf.Installation.ChromeGpuMode = IronPdf.Engines.Chrome.ChromeGpuModes.Disabled;
IronPdf.Installation.LinuxAndDockerDependenciesAutoConfig = false;

 

2. Prevent Automatic Downloads

 

3. Manually Install Linux Dependencies in Dockerfile

To satisfy IronPDF’s runtime requirements, add the following to your Dockerfile before building the app:

 

RUN apt-get update && \
apt-get install -y \
libnss3 \
libxss1 \
libatk1.0-0 \
libatk-bridge2.0-0 \
libcups2 \
libxcomposite1 \
libxrandr2 \
libasound2 \
libpangocairo-1.0-0 \
libgtk-3-0 \
libgbm1 \
libxdamage1 \
libnss3-tools \

Without these dependencies, Chrome cannot run even if the binaries are copied.

 

4. Avoid Writing to Read-Only Paths

IronPDF attempts to extract resources to paths like /var/task/runtimes, which is read-only in Lambda.

You must configure IronPDF to extract to a writable path, such as /tmpin the Lambda code:

 

This ensures IronPDF uses a valid, writable path during execution.

---

 

Example Dockerfile

FROM public.ecr.aws/lambda/dotnet:8
WORKDIR /var/task # install necessary packages RUN dnf update -y
RUN dnf install -y gcc-c++ pango.x86_64 libXcomposite.x86_64 libXcursor.x86_64 dbus-glib-devel
RUN dnf install -y libXdamage.x86_64 libXi.x86_64 libXtst.x86_64 cups-libs.x86_64 libXScrnSaver.x86_64
RUN dnf install -y libXrandr.x86_64 alsa-lib.x86_64 atk.x86_64 gtk3.x86_64 ipa-gothic-fonts xorg-x11-fonts-100dpi
RUN dnf install -y xorg-x11-fonts-75dpi xorg-x11-utils xorg-x11-fonts-cyrillic xorg-x11-fonts-Type1 xorg-x11-fonts-misc
RUN dnf install -y mesa-libgbm.x86_64
RUN dnf install -y nss-3.90.0-3.amzn2023.0.4.x86_64
COPY "bin/Release/lambda-publish" .

 

Final IronPDF Initialization Example

Installation.AutomaticallyDownloadNativeBinaries = false;
Installation.ChromeGpuMode = ChromeGpuModes.Disabled;
Installation.LinuxAndDockerDependenciesAutoConfig = false;
Installation.CustomDeploymentDirectory = "/tmp/ironpdf"; // Writable path in Lambda

 

Conclusion

When deploying IronPDF on AWS Lambda using Docker, ensure:

• Linux system dependencies are explicitly installed in your Dockerfile.

• You avoid any automatic binary downloads or deployment to read-only paths.

• Embedded deployment is overridden with a writable custom path like /tmp.