The passage explains how to add Google Chrome to a fresh Rocky Linux 8 installation, starting with downloading the official Chrome RPM directly from Google. It then shows using dnf to install the package locally, allowing the manager to resolve required libraries automatically. After confirming the browser’s version, it offers an optional step of creating a repository file so future updates can be handled through regular dnf operations. Finally, it advises deleting the downloaded RPM to free space, noting that Chrome resides under /opt/google/chrome and will continue working after the installer is removed.

How to Install Google Chrome on Rocky Linux 8

If you’ve just finished a fresh install of Rocky Linux 8 and the only browser you see is Firefox, you’re not alone. I’ve spent a few evenings wrestling with missing dependencies after a Chrome update, so here’s the no‑fluff way to get Google Chrome up and running on this RHEL‑compatible distro.

Grab the official RPM

Google ships Chrome as an .rpm file for Red Hat‑based systems.

wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_x86_64.rpm

Downloading directly from Google guarantees you get the latest stable build, and it avoids any third‑party repos that tend to bundle unwanted extras.

Install with DNF (and let it pull needed libs)

Rocky Linux ships dnf, which resolves dependencies automatically—much nicer than using raw rpm.

sudo dnf install ./google-chrome-stable_current_x86_64.rpm

Why use ./? It tells DNF the file is local, so it won’t try to treat it as a remote repo URL. During this step DNF will pull in packages like libXss, libappindicator-gtk3, and gconf2. If you’ve ever seen Chrome crash with “missing libappindicator” after a kernel bump, this is the line that prevents that.

Verify the install

After the transaction finishes, run:

google-chrome --version

You should see something like Google Chrome 119.0.xxxx.xx. If the command isn’t found, double‑check that /usr/bin is in your $PATH; it normally is on a standard Rocky install.

(Optional) Add a convenient repo for future updates

Chrome’s RPM doesn’t automatically create a yum repo file, so you’ll have to update manually unless you add one yourself. Create /etc/yum.repos.d/google-chrome.repo with these contents:

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

Now sudo dnf update will pull in new Chrome releases just like any other package. I’ve kept this file around for years; the only downside is that occasional repo hiccups can stall a system update, but those are rare.

Tidy up (if you care about disk space)

The downloaded RPM sits in your home directory. If you’re tight on space:

rm google-chrome-stable_current_x86_64.rpm

Chrome itself lives under /opt/google/chrome, so removing the installer won’t affect the browser.

That’s it—Google Chrome should launch from your applications menu or via google-chrome in a terminal. If you ever run into a missing library after a system upgrade, just reinstall the same RPM; DNF will fix what’s broken.