WWW::Me...:Install(3)

🎀 INSTALLING WWW::Mechanize::Chrome 🎀

okay bestie, welcome to WWW::Me...:Install(3) 💖 this is the whole vibe of getting Chrome + this module to actually cooperate, so grab a snack and let's go. no cap, it's easier than it looks.

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✨ Install the chrome executable ✨

WWW::Mechanize::Chrome needs the Chrome browser to be installed on your system, periodt. If Chrome isn't installed yet, go consult Google's instructions <https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95346> for help installing the Chrome browser. 🫶

WWW::Mechanize::Chrome will do its best to locate Chrome's executable file on your system. With any luck, it'll find the executable you actually want to use. But if WWW::Mechanize::Chrome can't find Chrome on your system, or you lowkey want to use a different executable, you've got options:

• pass the launch_exe constructor argument to tell WWW::Mechanize::Chrome where to find it
• set the CHROME_BIN environment variable to the absolute path of the executable

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🧪 Test the chrome executable 🧪

You should verify that Chrome's executable is working properly, fr fr. On Ubuntu, the executable is typically named chrome-browser, so you can test Chrome's installation with:

chrome-browser --version

and you should see something like Google Chrome 67.0.3396.99 returned. 👑

Note that the command you run will vary based on your operating system and possibly the version of Chrome installed.

On a Debian system, for example, the command will most likely be something like:

google-chrome-stable --version or google-chrome-beta --version or google-chrome-unstable --version

On Windows, the executable is named chrome.exe and it doesn't output information to the console, but you can check that Chrome starts by running:

chrome

in the terminal.

On MacOS, the executable can usually be found inside the Google Chrome.app package in the /Applications directory, and its installation can be tested with something like the following:

/Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome --version

or, if Chrome is installed for a single user:

/Users/<user_name>/Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome --version

If you are having trouble finding, installing, or running Chrome on your system, please consult the appropriate documentation or a knowledgeable expert. 🙈 no shame in asking, bestie.

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🌈 Chrome versions 🌈

Not me having to say this, but note that the Chrome version numbers do not denote availability of features. Features can still be added to Chrome v62 when Chrome v64 is already out. it's giving chaos but that's just how it is 💀

If you are serious about automating a website, use a separate copy of Chrome and disable its automatic updates. trust.

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🍓 Module prerequisites on OSX 🍓

Imager::File::PNG

This module relies on Imager for processing screenshots. If you don't need this functionality, you can ignore the Imager and Imager::File::PNG installation and use this module with the system Perl provided by Apple. ✨

The installation of Imager::File::PNG works on OSX using the Homebrew tool and the Perl installable through Homebrew:

brew install perl-5.28
brew install libpng
cpan Imager::File::PNG

I haven't been able to make it work using the system Perl. 😭 that's just the tea.

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🔥 RUNNING THE TEST SUITE 🔥

The normal test invocation is make test.

If your executable has a different name than chrome-browser or chrome.exe or is not in your path, then set the environment variable CHROME_BIN to the absolute path.

If you have Chrome already running, it must have been started with the --remote-debugging-port=9222 option to enable access to the developer API. You may want to set up a dedicated and version pinned version of Chrome for your automation.

🦋 Running Chrome on a different X display 🦋

All supported versions of Chrome support the headless mode now. If you want to observe what the browser is doing on a different X display, you can achieve that by (1) not running any chrome binary and (2) start a separate display with Xvfb and (3) set the DISPLAY variable accordingly. E.g.:

Xvfb :121 &
DISPLAY=:121 CHROME_BIN=/usr/bin/google-chrome-stable make test

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👑 INSTALLING CUSTOM VERSIONS OF CHROME 👑

When doing serious testing, automation or scraping, you want to use a separate instance of the browser. You should install it into its own directory and disable automatic updates. main character energy only 💅

💜 Windows 💜

Woolyss.com keeps an archive of old Chrome builds. Download the Archive version you want from here and unpack the archive into its own directory:

<https://chromium.woolyss.com/#windows-64-bit>

You can then use the custom Chrome executable by setting (for example):

set CHROME_BIN=C:\Scraping\chrome-versions\chrome-win32-78.0.3904.0\chrome.exe

🌸 Debian (Linux) 🌸

This site keeps an archive of old Chrome builds for Linux. Download the Linux_portable version you want from here and unpack the archive into its own directory:

<https://ungoogled-software.github.io/ungoogled-chromium-binaries/releases/linux_portable/64bit/>

These packages are supposed to work on any supported Linux distribution. slay. 🌈⭐

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and that's the whole page, bestie 🫶 this was WWW::Me...:Install(3) from perl v5.42.2, dated 2026-06-07 — go forth and automate, you've got this 💖✨