A MacOS python script to run Google Chrome or Firefox instance with given timezone settings. Requires pytz

browser_utils.py

import pytz
import os


def guess_timezone(city):
    """
    Take the city name and try to guess the timezone
    """
    tz_map = {tz.split('/')[-1].lower(): tz for tz in pytz.all_timezones}
    try:
        return tz_map[city.lower()]
    except:
        return 'Europe/Moscow'
        raise RuntimeError("Error. Timezone for %s not found" % city)

def get_profile_dir(browser, city):
    profiles_root = os.path.join(
            os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__)),
            '{}_profiles'.format(browser),
    )
    if not os.path.isdir(profiles_root):
        os.makedirs(profiles_root)
    return os.path.join(profiles_root, city.lower())

chrome.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
"""
A script to run a seprate instance of Google Chrome with a specific timezone.
Works for MacOS

Accepts city name or timezone offset as an argument. Name of the city has to be
a valid "second part" of one of the timezones from tzdb.

That works:

    $ chrome lisbon  # because there is a "Europe/Lisbon" timezone

That doesn't work:

    $ chrome porto  # there is no "Anything/Porto" timezone

Every chrome instance runs as an independent process with a profile in
a directory ./profiles/<city>
"""
import os
import sys
import pytz
from browser_utils import guess_timezone, get_profile_dir


def run_chrome(city):
    timezone = guess_timezone(city)
    os.environ['TZ'] = timezone
    profile_dir = get_profile_dir('chrome', city)
    print('Run chrome with %s (profile %s)' % (timezone, profile_dir))
    os.execlp('open', 'open', '-na', 'Google Chrome', '--args',
              '--user-data-dir=%s' % profile_dir, '--lang=en')

if __name__ == '__main__':
    if len(sys.argv) != 2:
        raise SystemExit(__doc__)
    run_chrome(sys.argv[1])

firefox.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
import os
import sys
import pytz
import shutil
import subprocess as subp
from browser_utils import guess_timezone, get_profile_dir


def run_firefox(city):
    try:
        timezone = guess_timezone(city)
        os.environ['TZ'] = timezone
    except RuntimeError as e:
        timezone = 'local'
        print(e)
    profile_dir = get_profile_dir('firefox', city)
    if not os.path.isdir(profile_dir):
        create_profile(city, profile_dir)
    print('Run firefox with %s (profile %s)' % (timezone, profile_dir))
    os.execlp('open', 'open', '-na', 'Firefox', '--args',
        "-new-instance",
        "-no-remote",
        "-profile", profile_dir,
        "-url", "https://example.com",
    )


def create_profile(profile_name, profile_dir):
    subp.check_call(["open", "-na", "Firefox", "--args", "-no-remote",
        "-CreateProfile", "{} {}".format(profile_name, profile_dir)
    ])
    shutil.copyfile("cert9.db", os.path.join(profile_dir, "cert9.db"))


if __name__ == '__main__':
    if len(sys.argv) != 2:
        raise SystemExit(__doc__)
    run_firefox(sys.argv[1])

requirements.txt

pytz