Please set env variable CHROME_BIN

Question

> node node_modules/karma/bin/karma start test/karma.conf.js

INFO [karma]: Karma v0.12.30 server started at http://localhost:9876/
INFO [launcher]: Starting browser Chrome
ERROR [launcher]: Cannot start Chrome
    Can not find the binary google-chrome
    Please set env variable CHROME_BIN

OK, I appreciate this must be a gigantic nooby style question, but I am still in the process of attempting to migrate my life from Windows and every now and again something like this trips me up.

I am going through an Angular JS tutorial.

When attempting to run a series of test I am confronted with the above message.

The /etc/environment file now reads (note the Chromium ending):

PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games/:/usr/bin/chromium-browser:"

I then ran

source /etc/environment

Restarted terminal and attempted the tests again, but I have the same result.

What is the error really telling me? Am I meant to set a new variable named CHROME_BIN and point this to /usr/bin/chromium-browser?

Solution

Your node wants to start Chrome (or any browser) and use environment variables to set it out. Just export the variable along with the path pointing to the binary and it should work:

export CHROME_BIN=/usr/bin/chromium-browser

Now, actually it should just call sensible-browser instead of forcing you to do this.

Comments

[Admin]

Try with export CHROME_BIN=/usr/bin/chromium-browser and see if the tests run OK.