3.3 KiB
Use browser from Bash
If we are in a Bash terminal sometimes we need to open a browser. A good example is Argocd, which supports the SSO login type which asks the user details from a different service, which probably requires a web browser.
Behind the scenes
Depending on the BROWSER env variable, the Argocd and others calls the binary that is in the BROWSER.
We can try it by hand, issuing the sensible-browser command.
adns@adns-dellbook:/mnt/c/Users/adns$ sensible-browser
Couldn't find a suitable web browser!
Set the BROWSER environment variable to your desired browser.
adns@adns-dellbook:/mnt/c/Users/adns$
We can not open a browser. Some programs, E.G. rclone are ready to work in headless environments but some others, E.G. Argocd not, so we need to emulate a browser.
Create the shell script
We'll write an easy-to-use shell script that prints out the URL that tried to open by the APP. With this way we can use it in headless environments.
#!/bin/bash
input="$@"
echo $input
read
Place in this script in your local bin folder. Create it with mkdir -p ~/.local/bin and for example, open it in nano, nano ~/.local/bin/openbrowser, paste the contents and give the read+execute right chmod 770 ~/.local/bin/openbrowser.
Add this line to your ~/.bashrc to add the new bin to $PATH.
Line: export PATH=$PATH:~/.local/bin
Set the BROWSER env variable to use it with export BROWSER=~/.local/bin/openbrowser.
And try it out
adns@adns-dellbook:~/.local/bin$ sensible-browser https://theadam.eu
https://theadam.eu
adns@adns-dellbook:~/.local/bin$
After printing the URL, press enter key to continue. Depending on the APP that is it need before filling data in browser or after.
Open graphical browser
If you more than a Sherlock, you can determine from the prompts that it might be a WSL system so browser is available on the host OS.
Add the ability to the script to use your preferred browser.
Go to desktop, right click and properties on your browser shortcut. In my example it is the Chromium browser.
In my case Chromium shortcut is C:\Users\adns\AppData\Local\Chromium\Application\chrome.exe --profile-directory="Default". I use different profiles but I want that if I open a new link, open in default profile. Change this based on your requirements.
WSL mounts the host OS in /mnt folder, the C drive very creatively mounted in c folder. (Yes, case-sensitive!).
Now convert the shortcut in this format. Replace the path to look as a Unix/Linux format and add the /mnt.
/mnt/c/Users/adns/AppData/Local/Chromium/Application/chrome.exe --profile-directory="Default"
Add this line to the script under echo and above the read.
/mnt/c/Users/adns/AppData/Local/Chromium/Application/chrome.exe --profile-directory="Default" "input"
And congrats, it will work. If you try to open the URL as in the previous example browser will open up.
If you want, you can remove the read or echo, it might be tested out which variant fits your requirements well.
Sources
wslview, which part of wslu and discontinued so not officialy available in the future. sensible-browser(1)