macos - FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'geckodriver': 'geckodriver' with GeckoDriver and Python in MAC OS

Question

I have created a test script to open a url in Eclipse using python and got the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/site-packages/selenium/webdriver/common/service.py", line 76, in start
    stdin=PIPE)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/subprocess.py", line 769, in __init__
    restore_signals, start_new_session)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/subprocess.py", line 1516, in _execute_child
    raise child_exception_type(errno_num, err_msg, err_filename)
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'geckodriver': 'geckodriver'

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Applications/Eclipse.app/Contents/MacOS/C:EclipseWorkspacescsse120/PythonSeleniumProject/src/PythonSeleniumModule.py", line 13, in <module>
    driver = webdriver.Firefox()
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/site-packages/selenium/webdriver/firefox/webdriver.py", line 164, in __init__
    self.service.start()
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/site-packages/selenium/webdriver/common/service.py", line 83, in start
    os.path.basename(self.path), self.start_error_message)
selenium.common.exceptions.WebDriverException: Message: 'geckodriver' executable needs to be in PATH. 

I have read in stack overflow about related topics but none of them answers/solves my problem.

Please advise. Thank you.

Answer 1

This error message...

FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'geckodriver': 'geckodriver'
.
selenium.common.exceptions.WebDriverException: Message: 'geckodriver' executable needs to be in PATH. 

...implies that your program was unable to locate the GeckoDriver within the mentioned directory.

As per your code trials you have used:

driver = webdriver.Firefox()

As you havn't mentioned the absolute path of the GeckoDriver explicitly, your program searches for the GeckoDriver within the paths mentioned within your underlying Operating System PATH variable and unable to locate.

Solution

• As you are on Mac OS X download the latest geckodriver-v0.23.0-macos.tar.gz from mozilla/geckodriver, store it anywhere within your system.

• In your program override the paths mentioned in your Operating System PATH variable through the argument executable_path as follows:

  from selenium import webdriver
  
  driver = webdriver.Firefox(executable_path='/path/to/geckodriver')
  print("Firefox Browser Invoked")
  driver.get('http://google.com/')
  driver.quit()