[🐛 Bug]: Contained Firefox can't be used on MacOS

[bogdancondurache]

What happened?

For the project https://github.com/robocorp/rpaframework/ we're installing an isolated Firefox and adding that to the path. But because as seen here

selenium/py/selenium/webdriver/firefox/firefox_binary.py

Line 152 in dab928e

if self.platform == "darwin": # small darwin due to lower() in self.platform

the path for MacOS is hardcoded and not searched for in $PATH, Selenium will never find and use that version.

How can we reproduce the issue?

Install Firefox on MacOS in a different path. Add it to the $PATH global variable and try to use Selenium against it. Selenium will fail, not being able to find Firefox.

Relevant log output

SessionNotCreatedException: Message: Expected browser binary location, but unable to find binary

Operating System

MacOS Monterey 12.3

Selenium version

3.141.0 (but based on the code seems like it should be on all versions)

What are the browser(s) and version(s) where you see this issue?

Firefox 98, 99 and 100

What are the browser driver(s) and version(s) where you see this issue?

GeckoDriver 0.30.0

Are you using Selenium Grid?

No response

[github-actions]

@bogdancondurache, thank you for creating this issue. We will troubleshoot it as soon as we can.

---

Info for maintainers

Triage this issue by using labels.

If information is missing, add a helpful comment and then I-issue-template label.

If the issue is a question, add the I-question label.

If the issue is valid but there is no time to troubleshoot it, consider adding the help wanted label.

If the issue requires changes or fixes from an external project (e.g., ChromeDriver, GeckoDriver, MSEdgeDriver, W3C), add the applicable G-* label, and it will provide the correct link and auto-close the issue.

After troubleshooting the issue, please add the R-awaiting answer label.

Thank you!

[diemol]

You can always provide the path, if not provided, then the location you mention will be used.

- firefox_path - Path to the Firefox executable. By default, it will be detected from the standard locations.

[bogdancondurache]

@diemol Whilst I agree with you, I still think this is a bug. Why? Because some apps will be able only to setup the system properly (proper env vars, proper values and order of $PATH and so on) and not change the firefox_path value. Also, based on the docs you mentioned, by default it should be detected from the standard locations, which is clearly not the case because it is hardcoded. Hardcoding a path instead of using the usual means of finding an executable that everyone does, sounds like a bug. Specially when it's done just for MacOS.

[diemol]

Even if we rework the logic and follow your comments, or if we simply remove the path for macOS, GeckoDriver still will use this path as they know better the default locations.

Also, which are these ones?

by default it should be detected from the standard locations

[bogdancondurache]

Even if we rework the logic and follow your comments, or if we simply remove the path for macOS, GeckoDriver still will use this path as they know better the default locations.

I'm not sure the problem is in GeckoDriver. This works well on Windows and Linux because (I assume) Gecko calculates the paths properly.

Also, which are these ones?

by default it should be detected from the standard locations

Usually the convention is to take each folder from $PATH in order and try to use the binary from there, that's why the order is important. From what I see, this is done by Selenium on Linux using the which method here:

selenium/py/selenium/webdriver/firefox/firefox_binary.py

Line 211 in dab928e

def which(self, fname):

I think this should be the best approach for MacOS as well, if the binary couldn't be found in the path currently hardcoded:

selenium/py/selenium/webdriver/firefox/firefox_binary.py

Line 153 in dab928e

start_cmd = "/Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox-bin"

[diemol]

Sounds good, would you like to send us a PR? Probably @symonk and @AutomatedTester can help us to review.

[symonk]

Most certainly a pull request would be useful, I'm not on my mac right now or I would investigate, we can which firefox perhaps to derive start path if firefox is available on path but I have no idea if thats normal on OSX.

[diemol]

@bogdancondurache are you interested in sending a PR?

[bogdancondurache]

@diemol @symonk I was on vacation, here is the PR I think will fix this: #10818

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically locked since there has not been any recent activity after it was closed. Please open a new issue for related bugs.