Google API Keys Missing Warning Message when using Chromium Portable

Question

When i use the new Chromium Portable browser it always shows "Google API keys are missing.Some functionality of Chromium Portable will be disabled" after starting up.

How do i get rid of this warning message and what does it mean?.

Answer 1

To get rid of the message...

...on Windows, you can use the command prompt to set the following environment variables to "no":

setx GOOGLE_API_KEY "no"
setx GOOGLE_DEFAULT_CLIENT_ID "no"
setx GOOGLE_DEFAULT_CLIENT_SECRET "no"

Windows' environment variables can also be set from the "Advanced System Settings" tab of the "System" control panel. After setx ... relaunching the browser should no longer have the message. Setting the variables through the "Advanced System Settings" tab may require a log-out before it takes effect.

... on Linux you can use the terminal to set the environment variables to "no" in the bash shell:

export GOOGLE_API_KEY="no"
export GOOGLE_DEFAULT_CLIENT_ID="no"
export GOOGLE_DEFAULT_CLIENT_SECRET="no"

A subsequent launch of the browser from the terminal will not show the missing API key message. To make this setting permanent and to cover invocations from clicking on an icon, follow the directions here for setting environment variables that affect terminal as well as graphical logins.

...on macOS, you can add the following key-value pairs to the LSEnvironment dictionary in Chromium.app > Contents > Info.plist:

<key>LSEnvironment</key>
<dict>
    <key>GOOGLE_API_KEY</key>
    <string>no</string>
    <key>GOOGLE_DEFAULT_CLIENT_ID</key>
    <string>no</string>
    <key>GOOGLE_DEFAULT_CLIENT_SECRET</key>
    <string>no</string>
</dict>

(Note that macOS may have cached the existing Info.plist file, so changes may not take effect immediately. See this answer for some ways around that.)

As for the meaning, I think Dragomir Goranov's answer gives sufficient information.