[🐛 Bug]: (regression) Selenium Manager does not use documented config file or environment variables

[dmke]

What happened?

This is a regression from #12789:

The original statement is still true:

The Selenium Manager documentation describes that the Manager's behavior can be influenced by a config file or environment variables. However, this does not appear to work.

In particular, I tried setting the browser and its path. However, I expect none of the options to work as documented, since I couldn't find any reference to ever reading env variables in the Selenium Manager source code. (I didn't explicitly look for reading the config file, but also didn't stumble upon it.)

I've noticed this in one of my Rails applications (using selenium-webdriver 4.29.1 and 4.30.1).

How can we reproduce the issue?

$ $GEM_HOME/gems/selenium-webdriver-4.30.1/bin/linux/selenium-manager --version
selenium-manager 0.4.30

$ $GEM_HOME/gems/selenium-webdriver-4.30.1/bin/linux/selenium-manager --debug
[2025-03-24T12:54:24.526Z ERROR] You need to specify a browser or driver

$ SE_BROWSER=chrome SE_BROWSER_PATH=/usr/bin/google-chrome-beta $GEM_HOME/gems/selenium-webdriver-4.30.1/bin/linux/selenium-manager --debug
[2025-03-24T12:57:34.499Z DEBUG] chromedriver not found in PATH
[2025-03-24T12:57:34.501Z DEBUG] Running command: /usr/bin/google-chrome-beta --version
[2025-03-24T12:57:34.522Z DEBUG] Output: "Google Chrome 135.0.7049.28 beta"
[2025-03-24T12:57:34.523Z DEBUG] Detected browser: chrome 135.0.7049.28
[2025-03-24T12:57:34.523Z DEBUG] Discovered chrome version (135) different to specified browser version (133)
[2025-03-24T12:57:34.524Z DEBUG] Required browser: chrome 133.0.6943.141
[2025-03-24T12:57:34.524Z DEBUG] chrome 133.0.6943.141 already exists
[2025-03-24T12:57:34.524Z DEBUG] chrome 133.0.6943.141 is available at $HOME/.cache/selenium/chrome/linux64/133.0.6943.141/chrome
[2025-03-24T12:57:34.525Z DEBUG] Required driver: chromedriver 133.0.6943.141
[2025-03-24T12:57:34.525Z DEBUG] chromedriver 133.0.6943.141 already in the cache
[2025-03-24T12:57:34.525Z INFO ] Driver path: $HOME/.cache/selenium/chromedriver/linux64/133.0.6943.141/chromedriver
[2025-03-24T12:57:34.525Z INFO ] Browser path: $HOME/.cache/selenium/chrome/linux64/133.0.6943.141/chrome

$ SE_BROWSER=chrome $GEM_HOME/gems/selenium-webdriver-4.30.1/bin/linux/selenium-manager --debug --browser-path /usr/bin/google-chrome-beta
[2025-03-24T13:00:27.327Z DEBUG] chromedriver not found in PATH
[2025-03-24T13:00:27.328Z DEBUG] Running command: /usr/bin/google-chrome-beta --version
[2025-03-24T13:00:27.348Z DEBUG] Output: "Google Chrome 135.0.7049.28 beta"
[2025-03-24T13:00:27.349Z DEBUG] Detected browser: chrome 135.0.7049.28
[2025-03-24T13:00:27.349Z DEBUG] Discovered chrome version (135) different to specified browser version (133)
[2025-03-24T13:00:27.350Z DEBUG] Required browser: chrome 133.0.6943.141
[2025-03-24T13:00:27.350Z DEBUG] chrome 133.0.6943.141 already exists
[2025-03-24T13:00:27.350Z DEBUG] chrome 133.0.6943.141 is available at $HOME/.cache/selenium/chrome/linux64/133.0.6943.141/chrome
[2025-03-24T13:00:27.351Z DEBUG] Required driver: chromedriver 133.0.6943.141
[2025-03-24T13:00:27.351Z DEBUG] chromedriver 133.0.6943.141 already in the cache
[2025-03-24T13:00:27.351Z INFO ] Driver path: $HOME/.cache/selenium/chromedriver/linux64/133.0.6943.141/chromedriver
[2025-03-24T13:00:27.351Z INFO ] Browser path: $HOME/.cache/selenium/chrome/linux64/133.0.6943.141/chrome

$# Also pinning to a particular browser version does not work:

$ SE_BROWSER=chrome SE_BROWSER_VERSION=135 $GEM_HOME/gems/selenium-webdriver-4.30.1/bin/linux/selenium-manager --debug
[2025-03-24T13:02:00.924Z DEBUG] chromedriver not found in PATH
[2025-03-24T13:02:00.924Z DEBUG] chrome detected at /usr/bin/google-chrome
[2025-03-24T13:02:00.925Z DEBUG] Running command: /usr/bin/google-chrome --version
[2025-03-24T13:02:00.948Z DEBUG] Output: "Google Chrome 134.0.6998.165 "
[2025-03-24T13:02:00.950Z DEBUG] Detected browser: chrome 134.0.6998.165
[2025-03-24T13:02:00.950Z DEBUG] Discovered chrome version (134) different to specified browser version (133)
[2025-03-24T13:02:00.950Z DEBUG] Required browser: chrome 133.0.6943.141
[2025-03-24T13:02:00.950Z DEBUG] chrome 133.0.6943.141 already exists
[2025-03-24T13:02:00.950Z DEBUG] chrome 133.0.6943.141 is available at $HOME/.cache/selenium/chrome/linux64/133.0.6943.141/chrome
[2025-03-24T13:02:00.951Z DEBUG] Required driver: chromedriver 133.0.6943.141
[2025-03-24T13:02:00.951Z DEBUG] chromedriver 133.0.6943.141 already in the cache
[2025-03-24T13:02:00.951Z INFO ] Driver path: $HOME/.cache/selenium/chromedriver/linux64/133.0.6943.141/chromedriver
[2025-03-24T13:02:00.951Z INFO ] Browser path: $HOME/.cache/selenium/chrome/linux64/133.0.6943.141/chrome

Only with CLI flag --browser-version 135, the correct browser is selected:

$ SE_BROWSER=chrome $GEM_HOME/gems/selenium-webdriver-4.30.1/bin/linux/selenium-manager --debug --browser-version 135
[2025-03-24T13:06:43.170Z DEBUG] chromedriver not found in PATH
[2025-03-24T13:06:43.170Z DEBUG] chrome detected at /usr/bin/google-chrome
[2025-03-24T13:06:43.171Z DEBUG] Running command: /usr/bin/google-chrome --version
[2025-03-24T13:06:43.191Z DEBUG] Output: "Google Chrome 134.0.6998.165 "
[2025-03-24T13:06:43.193Z DEBUG] Detected browser: chrome 134.0.6998.165
[2025-03-24T13:06:43.193Z DEBUG] Discovered chrome version (134) different to specified browser version (135)
[2025-03-24T13:06:43.194Z DEBUG] Required browser: chrome 135.0.7049.28
[2025-03-24T13:06:43.194Z DEBUG] chrome 135.0.7049.28 already exists
[2025-03-24T13:06:43.194Z DEBUG] chrome 135.0.7049.28 is available at $HOME/.cache/selenium/chrome/linux64/135.0.7049.28/chrome
[2025-03-24T13:06:43.195Z DEBUG] Required driver: chromedriver 135.0.7049.28
[2025-03-24T13:06:43.195Z DEBUG] chromedriver 135.0.7049.28 already in the cache
[2025-03-24T13:06:43.195Z INFO ] Driver path: $HOME/.cache/selenium/chromedriver/linux64/135.0.7049.28/chromedriver
[2025-03-24T13:06:43.195Z INFO ] Browser path: $HOME/.cache/selenium/chrome/linux64/135.0.7049.28/chrome

Relevant log output

See above.

Operating System

Debian 12/amd64

Selenium version

Ruby 4.30.1

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

Chrome 135.0.7049.28 (or any other)

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

ChromeDriver 135.0.7049.28 (or any other)

Are you using Selenium Grid?

No response

[github-actions]

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

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Thank you!

[bonigarcia]

I'm unable to reproduce it in Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS using Selenium Manager 0.30.0:

boni@slimbook:~/.cache/selenium/manager/0.4.30$ ./selenium-manager 
[2025-03-24T14:25:20.640Z ERROR] You need to specify a browser or driver

boni@slimbook:~/.cache/selenium/manager/0.4.30$ SE_BROWSER=chrome ./selenium-manager 
[2025-03-24T14:25:27.505Z INFO ] Driver path: /home/boni/.cache/selenium/chromedriver/linux64/134.0.6998.165/chromedriver
[2025-03-24T14:25:27.505Z INFO ] Browser path: /usr/bin/google-chrome

boni@slimbook:~/.cache/selenium/manager/0.4.30$ SE_BROWSER=chrome ./selenium-manager --debug
[2025-03-24T14:25:31.106Z DEBUG] chromedriver not found in PATH
[2025-03-24T14:25:31.106Z DEBUG] chrome detected at /usr/bin/google-chrome
[2025-03-24T14:25:31.109Z DEBUG] Running command: /usr/bin/google-chrome --version
[2025-03-24T14:25:31.177Z DEBUG] Output: "Google Chrome 134.0.6998.88 "
[2025-03-24T14:25:31.181Z DEBUG] Detected browser: chrome 134.0.6998.88
[2025-03-24T14:25:31.182Z DEBUG] Required driver: chromedriver 134.0.6998.165
[2025-03-24T14:25:31.182Z DEBUG] chromedriver 134.0.6998.165 already in the cache
[2025-03-24T14:25:31.183Z INFO ] Driver path: /home/boni/.cache/selenium/chromedriver/linux64/134.0.6998.165/chromedriver
[2025-03-24T14:25:31.183Z INFO ] Browser path: /usr/bin/google-chrome

boni@slimbook:~/.cache/selenium/manager/0.4.30$ SE_BROWSER=chrome SE_BROWSER_VERSION=135 ./selenium-manager --debug
[2025-03-24T14:26:16.741Z DEBUG] Sending stats to Plausible: Props { browser: "chrome", browser_version: "135", os: "linux", arch: "x86_64", lang: "", selenium_version: "4.30" }
[2025-03-24T14:26:16.747Z DEBUG] chromedriver not found in PATH
[2025-03-24T14:26:16.747Z DEBUG] chrome detected at /usr/bin/google-chrome
[2025-03-24T14:26:16.749Z DEBUG] Running command: /usr/bin/google-chrome --version
[2025-03-24T14:26:16.797Z DEBUG] Output: "Google Chrome 134.0.6998.88 "
[2025-03-24T14:26:16.799Z DEBUG] Detected browser: chrome 134.0.6998.88
[2025-03-24T14:26:16.799Z DEBUG] Discovered chrome version (134) different to specified browser version (135)
[2025-03-24T14:26:16.799Z DEBUG] Discovering versions from https://googlechromelabs.github.io/chrome-for-testing/known-good-versions-with-downloads.json
[2025-03-24T14:26:17.236Z DEBUG] Required browser: chrome 135.0.7049.28
[2025-03-24T14:26:17.247Z DEBUG] Acquiring lock: /home/boni/.cache/selenium/chrome/linux64/135.0.7049.28/sm.lock
[2025-03-24T14:26:17.247Z DEBUG] Downloading chrome 135.0.7049.28 from https://storage.googleapis.com/chrome-for-testing-public/135.0.7049.28/linux64/chrome-linux64.zip
[2025-03-24T14:26:46.305Z DEBUG] chrome 135.0.7049.28 is available at /home/boni/.cache/selenium/chrome/linux64/135.0.7049.28/chrome
[2025-03-24T14:26:46.306Z DEBUG] Discovering versions from https://googlechromelabs.github.io/chrome-for-testing/known-good-versions-with-downloads.json
[2025-03-24T14:26:47.059Z DEBUG] Required driver: chromedriver 135.0.7049.28
[2025-03-24T14:26:47.059Z DEBUG] Acquiring lock: /home/boni/.cache/selenium/chromedriver/linux64/135.0.7049.28/sm.lock
[2025-03-24T14:26:47.059Z DEBUG] Downloading chromedriver 135.0.7049.28 from https://storage.googleapis.com/chrome-for-testing-public/135.0.7049.28/linux64/chromedriver-linux64.zip
[2025-03-24T14:26:48.973Z INFO ] Driver path: /home/boni/.cache/selenium/chromedriver/linux64/135.0.7049.28/chromedriver
[2025-03-24T14:26:48.973Z INFO ] Browser path: /home/boni/.cache/selenium/chrome/linux64/135.0.7049.28/chrome

boni@slimbook:~/.cache/selenium/manager/0.4.30$ SE_BROWSER=chrome SE_BROWSER_VERSION=135 ./selenium-manager --version
selenium-manager 0.4.30

boni@slimbook:~/.cache/selenium/manager/0.4.30$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:	Ubuntu
Description:	Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS
Release:	24.04
Codename:	noble

Can you confirm that you are not using the configuration file (se-config.toml, in the cache)?

[dmke]

Can you confirm that you are not using the configuration file (se-config.toml, in the cache)?

Well, the ~/.cache/selenium/se-config.toml only contains a comment:

# browser-version = "132"

Where can I get a different version of the selenium-manager binary (mine basically came from gem install selenium-webdriver)?

[bonigarcia]

The latest binaries can be found here:

0.4.30: https://github.com/SeleniumHQ/selenium_manager_artifacts/releases/tag/selenium-manager-7ec0311
0.4.29: https://github.com/SeleniumHQ/selenium_manager_artifacts/releases/tag/selenium-manager-14ef6b5
0.4.28: https://github.com/SeleniumHQ/selenium_manager_artifacts/releases/tag/selenium-manager-a0ced92
0.4.27: https://github.com/SeleniumHQ/selenium_manager_artifacts/releases/tag/selenium-manager-694e399

[dmke]

Thanks, I'll try those and report back (likely tomorrow though).

[bonigarcia]

In any case, in these traces of you:

$ SE_BROWSER=chrome SE_BROWSER_VERSION=135 $GEM_HOME/gems/selenium-webdriver-4.30.1/bin/linux/selenium-manager --debug
[2025-03-24T13:02:00.924Z DEBUG] chromedriver not found in PATH
[2025-03-24T13:02:00.924Z DEBUG] chrome detected at /usr/bin/google-chrome
[2025-03-24T13:02:00.925Z DEBUG] Running command: /usr/bin/google-chrome --version
[2025-03-24T13:02:00.948Z DEBUG] Output: "Google Chrome 134.0.6998.165 "
[2025-03-24T13:02:00.950Z DEBUG] Detected browser: chrome 134.0.6998.165
[2025-03-24T13:02:00.950Z DEBUG] Discovered chrome version (134) different to specified browser version (133)

The relevant part is specified browser version (133).

It seems that the specified browser version was 133, even your env says 135. Maybe the toml config file specified browser version 133 (since the config file is honored before the envs).

[dmke]

Hm. Today, I get the following:

$ SE_BROWSER=chrome SE_BROWSER_VERSION=135 $GEM_HOME/gems/selenium-webdriver-4.30.1/bin/linux/selenium-manager --debug
[2025-03-25T14:07:16.009Z DEBUG] Sending stats to Plausible: Props { browser: "chrome", browser_version: "135", os: "linux", arch: "x86_64", lang: "", selenium_version: "4.30" }
[2025-03-25T14:07:16.012Z DEBUG] chromedriver not found in PATH
[2025-03-25T14:07:16.012Z DEBUG] chrome detected at /usr/bin/google-chrome
[2025-03-25T14:07:16.013Z DEBUG] Running command: /usr/bin/google-chrome --version
[2025-03-25T14:07:16.079Z DEBUG] Output: "Google Chrome 134.0.6998.165 "
[2025-03-25T14:07:16.080Z DEBUG] Detected browser: chrome 134.0.6998.165
[2025-03-25T14:07:16.080Z DEBUG] Discovered chrome version (134) different to specified browser version (135)
[2025-03-25T14:07:16.080Z DEBUG] Discovering versions from https://googlechromelabs.github.io/chrome-for-testing/known-good-versions-with-downloads.json
[2025-03-25T14:07:16.404Z DEBUG] Required browser: chrome 135.0.7049.28
[2025-03-25T14:07:16.412Z DEBUG] chrome 135.0.7049.28 already exists
[2025-03-25T14:07:16.412Z DEBUG] chrome 135.0.7049.28 is available at $HOME/.cache/selenium/chrome/linux64/135.0.7049.28/chrome
[2025-03-25T14:07:16.412Z DEBUG] Discovering versions from https://googlechromelabs.github.io/chrome-for-testing/known-good-versions-with-downloads.json
[2025-03-25T14:07:16.750Z DEBUG] Required driver: chromedriver 135.0.7049.28
[2025-03-25T14:07:16.758Z DEBUG] chromedriver 135.0.7049.28 already in the cache
[2025-03-25T14:07:16.758Z INFO ] Driver path: $HOME/.cache/selenium/chromedriver/linux64/135.0.7049.28/chromedriver
[2025-03-25T14:07:16.758Z INFO ] Browser path: $HOME/.cache/selenium/chrome/linux64/135.0.7049.28/chrome

Everything looks as it should... 👀

Not sure what has changed: the se-config.toml still only contains a comment, and I did not change the selenium-manager binary.

I guess I'll mark this issue as resolved. Sorry for the noise.

[github-actions]

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