We’ve been gushing for weeks now about the latest Chromium builds for Mac. Every day, they seem to get better. The problem is that every day, several updates are released and you have to manually go to the site and scroll down a long list to find the newest version to download. So we’ve made an application that allows you to easily ensure that you have the latest version at all times.
Our Mac Chromium Updater was built with the help of Greg Rosen, who created a script to check your version of Chromium versus the latest build. Then one of our developers, Hunter, created an Automator process so you don’t have to deal with installing something like Wget on your machine. The end result is a simple app that you run and let it update Chromium for you. You can find it here.
For those who aren’t aware, Chromium is the open source project behind Google’s web browser, Chrome. While there are pre-release versions of regular Chrome available for Mac as well, the Chromium builds get updated much more frequently, and as such, are the closest to a working version of Chrome on the Mac. For example, latest versions of Chromium include Flash support and bookmark support. Overall, the project is coming along very nicely.
A couple quick notes about our app: First, when you run the app, depending on the speed of your connection, it may take anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes to download the newest build of Chromium. So even if you don’t think the app is doing anything, let it run, and eventually you will see the latest build of Chromium open on your screen. Second, this has only been tested of OS X 10.5 Leopard, but Chromium will only run on Leopard, so there you go.
Enjoy. We’ve included a read me file in the zip with a few more obvious disclaimers and a note of who to email with problems.
Again, find it here. Bookmark this post, we’ll add a note here if we update the updater.
hope it can be more stable.
it is better now than Safari only considering about speed.
I agree to some extent. The application loads faster especially after the second time (weird) and no bounce. Don’t know if it is intentional or just pure speed.
Rendering time seems to be about the same (maybe a little faster w/ Chromium)and I do like the unified search and address bar although I’m a little concerned about data mining issues.
I’ll wait to see how fast Safari is under Snow Leopard before choosing a full time one. I can tell you now I have no use for Firefox.
No bounce has to do with the fact that it is launched initially as a background process and then moved to the foreground (this is done because WebKit rendering processes require NSApplication which in turn forces an icon… See http://code.goo.../detail?id=8044).
U have abandon FF? Wow.
I am still using Firefox both in my DELL/Ubuntu and iMac.
But, I will use Safari some times when I want to enjoy amazing visual effect brought by it (i.e Top sites function).
Though there is also this function in new version of google chrome, it looks bad now:(
Thanks! I downloaded Chromium about a week ago and I keep forgetting to download the latest build so this is perfect
Splendid, just an hour ago i tried to install a version of chromium but it totally failed and i gave up. But your tool sounds good and hopefully and it will help out. Thanks for doing Googles job!
This is excellent.
Just looking forward to the refresh button being fixed then I will be happy
Now I just wish the bookmarks would work so I could import all of mine from Safari. I read somewhere (here?) earlier this week that the import feature was working, but I can’t seem to get it working.
Yeah me either. I had the box once but it crashed while importing and no amount of fussing can get it back. Chromium is not quite there yet for me…
I had same problem with safari bookmarks, keep synced with firefox and worked when importing from firefox
Sifn’t Google Bookmarks or del.icio.us
Nice one guys. I’ve pretty much switched to Chromium as my primary browser on my Mac now. There are obviously still some issues with it, but no real show-stoppers. And boy, is it Fast!
Show stopper for me is Flash support — completely pegs my CPU (vs Safari ~60%) and slow as hell. MBP 2.0
I was just trying to install a Chromium version but it totally failed – so your tool comes perfectly in time! thanks for that.
Oops sorry for double post – thought it didnt work via iphone. argl and now its trible post. stupid me.
Even bare bare boned β、OS X Chrome has always been dangerously usable (for me). When I noticed the massive progressions rolled out today you don’t even know HOW excited I was – especially since Chrome renders JS (especially Ajax) faster than ANY browsers out there. Dude, this seriously made my night – not sure how I feel about that, though
#WelcomeToMyNotSoExcitingLife Ha. THanks for this piece, MG!
This looks like an explanation for Linux geeks. Funny!
Don’t forget that there is also Iron from Germany! It’s a special Chrome version for privacy aware users that takes out all the creepy Google stuff.
Iron has been updated too.
Ironically, under linux you just add a repository, install the application and it stays up to date for you.
The nightly Linux builds are awesome, too: https://launchp...ly/+archive/ppa
i like 8, google developer are very smart.. keep up the good work guys.
Nice! Just let it grow nicer.
maybe you should change your blog name to CrunchyApple and get done with it?
MG!
Thanks!
Your posts rarely fail to make sense/impress.
I can’t quite figure out if you’re being insulted or not here, MG.
ha. i can’t either. i’m going with ‘not’
ah, the backhanded compliment…
I think both, he is saying thanks, this article (really tool) is helpful to me, while the rest of MG’s crap posts are not.
It was a compliment MG!
Thank You! While I am used to dealing with daily builds of browsers, I knew that someone would come up with an auto-updater for Chromium like that which is available for the Firefox Minefield browser.
TechCrunch – More than just the news.
Thanks guys, makes keeping up on the latest builds a doddle.
I love this browser, so quick and easy to use.
Chrome rocks! FF is too slow !
Very cool thanks!!!
Finally, I got chrome for Mac on my computer. Now to play around with it…
Oh Wow! Did GoOgle finally come out with Chrome for MacOSX? [Just kidding...]
It’s something like Linux’s apt (or yum) for Mac, but only for Chrome and not for all the installed applications. Well, it’s a start
By the way, my Ubuntu’s apt just upgraded my Chrome to the latest nightly build.
Small typo in your article: “Then one our our developers”
thx. fixed.
Is there anyone that uses Chrome for WordPress? I know this isn’t a tech forum. I love Chrome but can’t commit to it because it doesn’t play nice with WP’s image uploads. I don’t particularly care for Firefox because it crashes almost every day.
Chrome for Mac…is there really that big an audience for this that it required a custom app developed from this site?
this is something every single one of us in the office started using. so, yes, we think there is an audience for this.
Have any of you managed to get Gears working with it? I’ve had no luck.
There are already a few of these around. I wrote my own with AppleScript, using curl rather than wget to download and install. Pretty simple stuff, but handy.
Check it out at http://dombarne...romium-updater/
Kudos! Thanks!
Sweet!
Chrome doesn’t work on Power PC architecture? Sigh.
Well Done, Tech Crunch!
Wow. I didn’t look hard enough for the daily builds, but was really hoping to try out Chromium soon. All I can say is whoa!
This is everything a browser should be. Small, clean, fast, and not noticeable.
My main wish for chromium, is to be stable on the mac, and create bookmark tabs. I bookmark ALOT of pages, articles to read, wiki entries, well designed pages, etc. But I need a fast way to get to the sites I visit regularly.
It would be great we had small tabs with the ‘fav’ icon on the left hand side of the first page tab. This of course would be completely customizable. But it would also give chromium a chance to load those pages when I’m not actively surfing, so It’s not taking up memory while I am surfing other webpages and when I click the tab I will instantly have the page loaded.
Just my thoughts. Can we start developing plugins yet?
Yeah, are there ways to develop plugins yet? And is this across platforms or just for mac when it comes to getting the latest releases for this software? Chrome should definitely have an ad component for making money due to the number of downloads. I’m surprised Google hasn’t messed with options yet
When opening several windows on Mac Chrome it craps out and won’t open any more. Hopefully this software will help me stay ahead of the fixes and I’ll be able to use a more robust version soon. Thanks.
Does anyone else think Chrome scrolling is not smooth? Even FF is decent, but the smooth scrolling in Safari is way superior. I have Macbook with the older video card. That, plus Chrome doesn’t yet work with 1Password is keeping me on Safari for the moment. Another thing is that the Flash plugin keeps crashing (good that it’s only in the window). Is it just me?
As a Chromium developer I’m torn between feeling pleased and worried that you’ve put this together. The concerns I have are that:
* People may get the impression that the “official” dev channel builds don’t autoupdate — which they do, generally at least once a week (sometimes up to 3x per week; making the “much more frequently” comment in your article quite an exaggeration, I think). So they believe they have to use your updater if they want a Mac build that stays up to date.
* People wind up using completely broken builds or builds that hose their data, since (unlike the dev channel builds) these builds are not QAd and we don’t write mitigations or migrations for dataloss bugs briefly introduced into the codebase.
* People stop running the updater and get left on versions with security holes or horrible bugs.
I guess overall it would have made me a little happier if you’d been more clear in your article that the Mac dev channel already updates frequently to somewhat-tested builds, and this is really only necessary for those who need new code every day.
Safari 4 > Chrome
Why not just incorporate Sparkle (if it’s possible) for updater updates? I’d prefer replacing Chromium in its current location rather than in ~/Applications, but that’s just me.
I think a lot of mac users would prefer safari.
Love the idea of this script, kudos.
I can’t get it to work inside our corporate firewall, alas
I don’t get why people are excited by Chrome. Safari will always be faster over the long term!
thedream1781@hotmail.com
Brilliant stuff, thanks!
The official (”Please do not use”) Chrome for Mac has Flash now.
I’ve just discovered it as I went to YouTube, and the videos do play now.
Sure it does… but then your Mac sounds like a jet engine when you use it.
I’m sure improvements for this are forthcoming.
Yeah it seems to update itself without asking for your permission or anything. I stick to Chromium though, just because the constant updates seems to lead to a more stable experience… most of the time.
I’m loving the idea of this updater, but I’m so damn paranoid that I find myself wishing for a way to see which update was installed so I could double check it and see if its actually working. Clicking “about chromium” doesn’t unveil much info. Seems to work though, so cheers.
I am not quite sure whether Chrome will manage to unseat Safari 4 as my ‘main’ browser. Safari 4 just feels like ‘home’ on a Mac. But, Chrome has managed to unseat Firefox 3.5 as my 2nd-choice browser. And Opera 10 Beta 3 knocked down Firefox 3.5 to take third position.
chromium updater is broken. it deleted my existing chromium.app and displayed an error.
the automator code doesn’t seem much. maybe prior to deleting the app, you make sure everything else works?
The Chromium Updater doesn’t work for me, on Snow Leopard. Please see http://ow.ly/qo4C for screenshot.
I have the same problem under Snow Leopard. Back to manual updates for me…