why playwright-cli install-browser no useful, but use npx playwright install chrome

[seelow]

What's going on?

in linux, no headed,
user: root
os: Ubuntu 20.04.6

1. use npm install -D @playwright/cli@latest
2. for offline installed, i use playwright-cli install-browser --dry-run
   see like following:

Chrome for Testing 150.0.7871.24 (playwright chromium v1229)
  Install location:    /root/.cache/ms-playwright/chromium-1229
  Download url:        https://cdn.playwright.dev/builds/cft/150.0.7871.24/linux64/chrome-linux64.zip

Chrome Headless Shell 150.0.7871.24 (playwright chromium-headless-shell v1229)
  Install location:    /root/.cache/ms-playwright/chromium_headless_shell-1229
  Download url:        https://cdn.playwright.dev/builds/cft/150.0.7871.24/linux64/chrome-headless-shell-linux64.zip

Firefox 151.0 (playwright firefox v1533)
  Install location:    /root/.cache/ms-playwright/firefox-1533
  Download url:        https://cdn.playwright.dev/dbazure/download/playwright/builds/firefox/1533/firefox-ubuntu-20.04.zip
  Download fallback 1: https://playwright.download.prss.microsoft.com/dbazure/download/playwright/builds/firefox/1533/firefox-ubuntu-20.04.zip
  Download fallback 2: https://cdn.playwright.dev/builds/firefox/1533/firefox-ubuntu-20.04.zip

WebKit (playwright webkit v2092)
  Install location:    /root/.cache/ms-playwright/webkit_ubuntu20.04_x64_special-2092
  Download url:        https://cdn.playwright.dev/dbazure/download/playwright/builds/webkit/2092/webkit-ubuntu-20.04.zip
  Download fallback 1: https://playwright.download.prss.microsoft.com/dbazure/download/playwright/builds/webkit/2092/webkit-ubuntu-20.04.zip
  Download fallback 2: https://cdn.playwright.dev/builds/webkit/2092/webkit-ubuntu-20.04.zip

FFmpeg (playwright ffmpeg v1011)
  Install location:    /root/.cache/ms-playwright/ffmpeg-1011
  Download url:        https://cdn.playwright.dev/dbazure/download/playwright/builds/ffmpeg/1011/ffmpeg-linux.zip
  Download fallback 1: https://playwright.download.prss.microsoft.com/dbazure/download/playwright/builds/ffmpeg/1011/ffmpeg-linux.zip
  Download fallback 2: https://cdn.playwright.dev/builds/ffmpeg/1011/ffmpeg-linux.zip

3. Download the zip file using wget alone, Chrome Headless Shell 、FFmpeg
4. Unzip to Install location

use npx playwright-cli open www.baidu.com
error following:

/root/ai-work/tmp/node_modules/@playwright/cli/node_modules/playwright-core/lib/tools/cli-client/session.js:165
    const rejectWithPid = (reject, message) => reject(Object.assign(new Error(`Daemon pid=${child.pid}: ${message}`), { daemonPid: child.pid }));
                                                                    ^

Error: Daemon pid=3845320: Daemon process exited with code 1
[PlaywrightError: Chromium distribution 'chrome' is not found at /opt/google/chrome/chrome
Run "npx playwright install chrome"] {
  log: []
}

    at rejectWithPid (/root/ai-work/tmp/node_modules/@playwright/cli/node_modules/playwright-core/lib/tools/cli-client/session.js:165:69)
    at ChildProcess.<anonymous> (/root/ai-work/tmp/node_modules/@playwright/cli/node_modules/playwright-core/lib/tools/cli-client/session.js:175:11)
    at ChildProcess.emit (node:events:519:28)
    at maybeClose (node:internal/child_process:1101:16)
    at ChildProcess._handle.onexit (node:internal/child_process:304:5) {
  daemonPid: 3845320
}

Node.js v22.22.0

After npx playwright install chrome, /opt/google/chrome/chrome exists

my question:
/opt/google/chrome/chrome is executable file, why playwright-cli install-browser --dry-run not show this, only show .cache download files
It seems install-browser no use and, instead, it may even mislead users !

Version

No response

[yury-s]

This doesn't appear to be a bug or feature request. For general questions, please refer to our community resources. If you think this is a bug in Playwright, please open a new issue and complete the bug template.