Why isn't snowsql opening an external browser?

Asked 17/6, 2021 at 14:57 Answered 26/3, 2024 at 21:52

I'm trying to get snowsql working locally on my machine but I cannot log into my database because it requires that I authenticate with my google account for SSO. The documentation says to use the --authenticator externalbrowser option which should open a local browser and ask me to sign on but that doesn't happen, nothing happens.

Example:

$ snowsql -o log_level=DEBUG -a <account> -u <gmail> --authenticator externalbrowser
Initiating login request with your identity provider. A browser window should have opened for you to complete the login. If you can't see it, check existing browser windows, or your OS settings. Press CTRL+C to abort and try again...

No browser windows open. Pressing CTRL+C does not abort snowsql; I must run pkill to kill it. The last of my logs show

2021-06-17 14:48:12,211 (222954/MainThread) snowflake.connector.network DEBUG        network:940  - SUCCESS
2021-06-17 14:48:12,212 (222954/MainThread) snowflake.connector.network DEBUG        network:1096 - Active requests sessions: 0, idle: 1
2021-06-17 14:48:12,212 (222954/MainThread) snowflake.connector.network DEBUG        network:642  - ret[code] = None, after post request
2021-06-17 14:48:12,212 (222954/MainThread) snowflake.connector.auth_webbrowser DEBUG auth_webbrowser:123  - step 2: open a browser
2021-06-17 14:48:12,237 (222954/MainThread) snowflake.connector.auth_webbrowser DEBUG auth_webbrowser:136  - step 3: accept SAML token

platform:

Platform is Arch Linux (kernel version 5.12.10)
Default browser is BROWSER=/usr/bin/firefox
snowsql --version says 1.2.15
Installed via snowflake-client AUR package. (Which currently says version 1.2.14 but I believe snowsql updated itself to 1.2.15.)

Spang answered 17/6, 2021 at 14:57 Comment(10)

Can you confirm that you are running the latest SnowSQL version and also provide the OS that you are running SnowSQL on? Also, what is your default browser? – Convict 17/6, 2021 at 15:33

I'm having the same problem, where does the log get saved when you use =o log_level=DEBUG? (on Windows) – Brigadier 18/6, 2021 at 8:27

@Brigadier I had to set the log path in ~/.snowsql/config to ~/.local/share/snosql.log because it was defaulting to ../snowsql.log which could be /home/snowsql.log which it couldn't write to. – Spang 21/6, 2021 at 13:57

@MikeWalton version 1.2.15, BROWSER=/usr/bin/firefox platform is Arch Linux installed using this package aur.archlinux.org/packages/snowflake-client . Which is on 1.2.14 but the snowsql binary updated itself. – Spang 21/6, 2021 at 14:0

Out of curiosity, do you see different behavior if you already have a browser session open? – Convict 21/6, 2021 at 23:4

@MikeWalton No. It doesn't matter if my browser is opened or closed. I've also tried other browsers like chromium. – Spang 22/6, 2021 at 14:38

Hmm. I'm not a Linux expert, so not sure I can assist you further. You might want to reach out to Snowflake Support and see if they have a solution for you. I'm not entirely sure that the externalbrowser supports Linux environments, but I don't know that for sure. – Convict 22/6, 2021 at 19:9

For me I had to update snowsql, and also I had to to unset BROWSER – Rectify 19/7, 2021 at 1:59

Having the same on macOS 12.3.1 (apple silicon), snowsql 1.2.21 – Ballplayer 22/4, 2022 at 11:10

Is there a Snowflake bug issue on this - that would probably have a better chance of making things work? – Ballplayer 29/4, 2022 at 10:26

See this answer for why snowsql isn't working. tl;dr it bundles it's own version of libz and doesn't use the system's version when opening your browser.

Based on that answer I concocted a little script to replace the bundled libz with the system libz. You'll need to run it whenever snowflake updates.

#!/usr/bin/env bash

VERSION=$(snowsql --version | cut -d' ' -f2)
LIBS="$HOME/.snowsql/$VERSION"
LIBZ="$LIBS/libz.so.1"
if ! [[ -L $LIBZ ]]
then
  mv -v $LIBZ{,-bak}
fi
SYSTEM=$(sudo find /usr -name libz.so* 2> /dev/null | head -n1)
ln -sfv $SYSTEM $LIBZ

Spang answered 4/5, 2022 at 15:32 Comment(1)

In my case, there is no libz.so.1 but only libz.so in the system folder. soft link libz.so to libz.so.1 works for me. ln -s /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libz.so ~/.snowsql/1.2.24/libz.so.1 – Scope 5/12, 2022 at 6:4

for me, setting the --region flag solved it, even though it's deprecated, according to the official documentation

Eyecup answered 21/6, 2022 at 11:45 Comment(0)

See this answer for why snowsql isn't working. tl;dr it bundles it's own version of libz and doesn't use the system's version when opening your browser.

Based on that answer I concocted a little script to replace the bundled libz with the system libz. You'll need to run it whenever snowflake updates.

#!/usr/bin/env bash

VERSION=$(snowsql --version | cut -d' ' -f2)
LIBS="$HOME/.snowsql/$VERSION"
LIBZ="$LIBS/libz.so.1"
if ! [[ -L $LIBZ ]]
then
  mv -v $LIBZ{,-bak}
fi
SYSTEM=$(sudo find /usr -name libz.so* 2> /dev/null | head -n1)
ln -sfv $SYSTEM $LIBZ

Spang answered 4/5, 2022 at 15:32 Comment(1)

spcvalente's solution worked for me... I have no idea why.

I added the --region us-east-1 flag and it all worked.

My full command was

snowsql -a {my account ID} -u {my user} --authenticator externalbrowser --region us-east-1

Twister answered 26/3, 2024 at 21:52 Comment(1)

Please don't add "thank you" as an answer. Instead, vote up the answers that you find helpful. - From Review – Fiduciary 30/3, 2024 at 22:51

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