How to change the default browser used by the ipython/jupyter notebook in Linux?

Question

I'm on Linux Mint 17.3.

How do I change the default browser used by the Jupyter notebook?

I have installed the notebook as a part of Anaconda 3 and it opens up in my default browser—Chrome. But for some reason, Chrome won't let me make a new ipynb. Clicking the 'new' button simply doesn't do anything. So I copied the notebook url to Firefox and it works perfectly fine there.

Is there a way I can make it work with Chrome? Otherwise, how do I change the default browser? The usual answer I've come across is that I have to change the c.NotebookApp.browser option, but I can't find a way to do so, since trying to find ipython_notebook_config in the terminal comes up with 4 results:

./anaconda3/lib/python3.5/site-packages/jupyter_core/tests/dotipython/profile_default/ipython_notebook_config.py ./anaconda3/lib/python3.5/site-packages/jupyter_core/tests/dotipython_empty/profile_default/ipython_notebook_config.py ./anaconda3/pkgs/jupyter_core-4.0.6-py35_0/lib/python3.5/site-packages/jupyter_core/tests/dotipython/profile_default/ipython_notebook_config.py ./anaconda3/pkgs/jupyter_core-4.0.6-py35_0/lib/python3.5/site-packages/jupyter_core/tests/dotipython_empty/profile_default/ipython_notebook_config.py 

Answer 1

You can create jupyter_notebook_config.py by:

jupyter notebook --generate-config 

Then you go to

~/.jupyter/jupyter_notebook_config.py 

and change

# c.NotebookApp.browser = '' 

to for example:

c.NotebookApp.browser = '/usr/bin/google-chrome %s' 

You can choose which ever browser is installed. You'll find the path for example by typing which firefox Do not forget to delete the #

Answer 2

The accepted answer is great, here is a solution if you want to change it one time:

jupyter-notebook --browser=firefox 

Of course you could make a bash wrapper script with this command or create a .desktop file that would let you launch it in your preferred browser every time you use that launcher.

An example wrapper script could look like this:

#!/bin/bash jupyter-notebook --browser=firefox 

You could then place it in your PATH, e.g. $HOME/bin/jnbff.sh, so you can easily launch it from any directory by simply typing its name.

Sidenote: the dash in jupyter-notebook allows for tab-completion, the usually recommended way with space (i.e. jupyter notebook) doesn't.