Set default web browser via command line? - macos

Question

I'm trying to figure out how to set the default web browser on OS X via command line. I found this forum post, but the solution they are working out there is to open a specific URL with a specific application. I am looking for a way to set the default browser system wide. There's this neat app on GitHub, named Objektiv, which does exactly what I am after, but it's an app. There's a Cocoa method, apparently, to set the NSWorkSpace default browser.
The preference file com.apple.LaunchServices needs to be changed for this, maybe more.
How to set a different default browser via command line?
Thanks for help.

Answer 1

I found this tool. After installing it, you can do this:
defaultbrowser chrome
Here's the entire source-code in case the link 404s in the future. It is licensed under the MIT license with Copyright (c) 2014 Margus Kerma.
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#import <ApplicationServices/ApplicationServices.h>
NSString* app_name_from_bundle_id(NSString *app_bundle_id) {
return [[app_bundle_id componentsSeparatedByString:#"."] lastObject];
}
NSMutableDictionary* get_http_handlers() {
NSArray *handlers =
(__bridge NSArray *) LSCopyAllHandlersForURLScheme(
(__bridge CFStringRef) #"http"
);
NSMutableDictionary *dict = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary];
for (int i = 0; i < [handlers count]; i++) {
NSString *handler = [handlers objectAtIndex:i];
dict[[app_name_from_bundle_id(handler) lowercaseString]] = handler;
}
return dict;
}
NSString* get_current_http_handler() {
NSString *handler =
(__bridge NSString *) LSCopyDefaultHandlerForURLScheme(
(__bridge CFStringRef) #"http"
);
return app_name_from_bundle_id(handler);
}
void set_default_handler(NSString *url_scheme, NSString *handler) {
LSSetDefaultHandlerForURLScheme(
(__bridge CFStringRef) url_scheme,
(__bridge CFStringRef) handler
);
}
int main(int argc, const char *argv[]) {
const char *target = (argc == 1) ? '\0' : argv[1];
#autoreleasepool {
// Get all HTTP handlers
NSMutableDictionary *handlers = get_http_handlers();
// Get current HTTP handler
NSString *current_handler_name = get_current_http_handler();
if (target == '\0') {
// List all HTTP handlers, marking the current one with a star
for (NSString *key in handlers) {
char *mark = [key isEqual:current_handler_name] ? "* " : " ";
printf("%s%s\n", mark, [key UTF8String]);
}
} else {
NSString *target_handler_name = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:target];
if ([target_handler_name isEqual:current_handler_name]) {
printf("%s is already set as the default HTTP handler\n", target);
} else {
NSString *target_handler = handlers[target_handler_name];
if (target_handler != nil) {
// Set new HTTP handler (HTTP and HTTPS separately)
set_default_handler(#"http", target_handler);
set_default_handler(#"https", target_handler);
} else {
printf("%s is not available as an HTTP handler\n", target);
return 1;
}
}
}
}
return 0;
}
Makefile:
BIN ?= defaultbrowser
PREFIX ?= /usr/local
BINDIR ?= $(PREFIX)/bin
CC = gcc
CFLAGS = -O2
.PHONY: all install uninstall clean
all:
gcc -o $(BIN) $(CFLAGS) -framework Foundation -framework ApplicationServices src/main.m
install: all
install -d $(BINDIR)
install -m 755 $(BIN) $(BINDIR)
uninstall:
rm -f $(BINDIR)/$(BIN)
clean:
rm -f $(BIN)

Answer 2

I know this doesn't specifically answer your question, but if you only need to do this for Chrome, it has a flag that let's you set itself as the default browser:
$ open -a "Google Chrome" --args --make-default-browser

Answer 3

For newer versions of macOS (Catalina, Big Sur) I re-implemented the default browser tool in Swift (called it defbro). Main reason was to use a "modern" programming language that gives me an easy way to tweak and improve it. I also added json output defbro --json, in case you want to do other stuff with it.
Installation: brew install jwbargsten/misc/defbro
Repo: https://github.com/jwbargsten/defbro

Answer 4

The only way is to set it in the main Settings:
From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences, then click
General.
Click the “Default web browser” pop-up menu and choose
a web browser, like Chrome.