Note: You can determine which version of those operating systems or CentOS you are using by examining the contents of /etc/redhat-release.

1. Add Google's own YUM repository to be sure you obtain the latest version of the chrome browser, which will allow you to easily ensure you can keep it up-to-date. To do so, create the file /etc/yum.repos.d/google.repo and place the following lines in it depending on whether you are using a 32-bit version of Linux or a 64-bit version. You can check whether you have a 64-bit version by issuing the command uname -a. For a 64-bit version, you will see x86_64 in the output.

   32-bit

   [google]
name=Google - i386
baseurl=http://dl.google.com/linux/rpm/stable/i386
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub


   64-bit

   [google64] name=Google - x86_64 baseurl=http://dl.google.com/linux/rpm/stable/x86_64 enabled=1 gpgcheck=1 gpgkey=https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub

   Note: you could also put both the 32-bit and 64-bit repo information in the same file, if you wish.

2. Install either the stable, beta, or unstable versions of Chrome from the root account. I would recommend using the stable version.

   ## Install Google Chrome Stable version
yum install google-chrome-stable

## OR install Google Chrome Beta version##
yum install google-chrome-beta

## OR install Google Chrome Unstable version##
yum install google-chrome-unstable

However, if you are using CentOS 5, you won't be able to install the Chrome browser using the above steps. When I attempted to install the package on a CentOS 5.5 system, I saw a message indicating that version 3.2 of the lsb package was needed:

Missing Dependency: lsb >= 3.2 is needed by package google-chrome-stable-6.0.472.53-57914.x86_64 (google64)

# yum install google-chrome-stable
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, priorities
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * addons: hpc.arc.georgetown.edu
 * base: centos.mirror.netriplex.com
 * extras: mirror.vcu.edu
 * rpmforge: fr2.rpmfind.net
 * updates: mirrors.serveraxis.net
google64                                                 |  951 B     00:00     
403 packages excluded due to repository priority protections
Setting up Install Process
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package google-chrome-stable.x86_64 0:6.0.472.53-57914 set to be updated
--> Processing Dependency: lsb >= 3.2 for package: google-chrome-stable
--> Processing Dependency: xdg-utils for package: google-chrome-stable
--> Running transaction check
---> Package google-chrome-stable.x86_64 0:6.0.472.53-57914 set to be updated
--> Processing Dependency: lsb >= 3.2 for package: google-chrome-stable
---> Package xdg-utils.noarch 0:1.0.2-2.el5.centos set to be updated
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
google-chrome-stable-6.0.472.53-57914.x86_64 from google64 has depsolving proble
ms
  --> Missing Dependency: lsb >= 3.2 is needed by package google-chrome-stable-6
.0.472.53-57914.x86_64 (google64)
Error: Missing Dependency: lsb >= 3.2 is needed by package google-chrome-stable-
6.0.472.53-57914.x86_64 (google64)
 You could try using --skip-broken to work around the problem
 You could try running: package-cleanup --problems
                        package-cleanup --dupes
                        rpm -Va --nofiles --nodigest
The program package-cleanup is found in the yum-utils package.

When I tried updating the lsb package, I saw the following:

# yum install lsb
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, priorities
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * addons: hpc.arc.georgetown.edu
 * base: mirrors.serveraxis.net
 * extras: mirror.vcu.edu
 * rpmforge: fr2.rpmfind.net
 * updates: mirrors.serveraxis.net
403 packages excluded due to repository priority protections
Setting up Install Process
Package redhat-lsb-3.1-12.3.EL.el5.centos.x86_64 already installed and latest ve
rsion
Package redhat-lsb-3.1-12.3.EL.el5.centos.i386 already installed and latest vers
ion
Nothing to do

I had similar results when I changed the contents of google.repo to try the 32-bit version, instead.

I found lots of other people reporting the same problem with earlier versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5 and versions of Fedora prior to 12. E.g., there are similar reports at How to install google Chrome in RHEL 5. and Add support for RHEL/CentOS for OS compatibility. At the latter problem report webpage, I found a suggestion from andrewrjones that people wanting to use chrome on CentOS check Chris Staite's webpage, Chrome on CentOS where he provides Chromium for CentOS. Chromium is Google's open source alternative to their Chrome browser.

You can download Chromium for CentOS 5 from his website or from this website. Chromium is an open-source browser project behind the Google Chrome browser that aims to build a safer, faster, and more stable way for all users to experience the web.

Once you've downloaded it, you will need to unzip it and untar it. When you extract the contents of the tar file, a chrome directory will be created beneath the current directory. Make that the working directory and run chrome-wrapper.

# gunzip chrome.tar.gz
# tar -xvf chrome.tar
# cd chrome
# ./chrome-wrapper

You will then be asked to choose the search engine you wish to use from Google, Yahoo!, or Bing.

Once you've started Chromium, you can control and customize it, by clicking on the wrench symbol in the upper, right-hand corner of the Chromium window.

When I ran chrome-wrapper, I received the error message below, but the program ran.

# ./chrome-wrapper
[5578:5592:5060312371904:ERROR:base/nss_util.cc(184)] Error initializing NSS with a persistent database (sql:/root/.pki/nssdb): NSS error code -8174

The program that Chris provides is a 32-bit one.

# file chrome chrome: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked (uses shared libs), not stripped

I found a discussion of the problems with Chrome and Chromium as well on CentOS systems at Google chrome for CentOS ?? that indicates Google has no interest in supporting Chrome on CentOS 5. There's also helpful information there on the Chromium software available from Chris Staite's site and how to resolve problems encountered with it on CentOS systems, but, since I have a lot of more pressing things to get done, I decided I couldn't afford to spend any more time troubleshooting issues with Chrome and Chromium on CentOS and just deleted the Chromium software from the system on which I had placed it.

References:

1. Install Google Chrome with YUM on Fedora 13, Red Hat (RHEL) 6
   Published: February 20, 2010
   If Not True Then False - A Blog About Programming, Operating Systems and Applications
2. How to install google Chrome in RHEL 5
   Date: February 4, 2010
   Google Chrome Help
3. Add support for RHEL/CentOS for OS compatibility
   Date: December 23, 2009
   Google Chrome Help
4. Google Chrome
   Google
5. The Chromium Projects
6. Google chrome for CentOS ??
   Date: December 11, 2009
   CentOS

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