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How can I choose which firefox executable to use among multiple firefox binaries through Python selenium

I'm using python (v 3.65) selenium (v3.11.0) on Mac OS X (v 10.11.6) with firefox (v 59.0.3) and geckodriver (v 0.20.1). I have my usual firefox in the Applications folder and a second firefox in another folder. How can I tell python selenium to use the second firefox instead of going to the one in Applications?
I'd prefer an answer that generalises to other browsers besides firefox/geckodriver, if possible.

To choose and use one of the Firefox executable among multiple you can use the argument binary_location from firefox.options. As an example in the following code block I have used the Firefox Nightly binary to open the Firefox Nightly browser :
Code Block :
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.firefox.options import Options
options = Options()
options.binary_location = r'C:\Program Files\Firefox Nightly\firefox.exe'
driver = webdriver.Firefox(firefox_options=options, executable_path=r'C:\Utility\BrowserDrivers\geckodriver.exe')
driver.get('http://google.com/')
print("Firefox Browser Invoked")
driver.quit()
Console Output :
Firefox Browser Invoked

selenium 3.6.0 and extensions

Note that I edited the question.
How to activate blocking for ghostery extension in firefox through selenium python bindings? Note that by default the blocking in ghostery is disabled.
I am using selenium 3.6.0 and ghostery 7.3.3.7. Note that I am using selenium + pull request #4790 that allow the new web extensions, because the released version lack this feature.
I do the following:
from selenium import webdriver
fp = webdriver.FirefoxProfile()
fp.add_extension(extension=/home/nsarafij/ghostery-7.3.3.7.xpi)
driver = webdriver.Firefox(firefox_profile = fp)
Is it possible to activate blocking in ghostery through setting preferences?
fp.set_preferances(...)
Or, I have to do something different?

I am not sure i understand you correctly - you want to add Ghostery to Firefox right?
If so, this should work:
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.firefox.firefox_profile import FirefoxProfile
firefoxProfile = FirefoxProfile()
ghostery="PATH_TO_GHOSTERY_ADDON"
firefoxProfile.add_extension(ghostery)
firefoxProfile.update_preferences()
driver = webdriver.Firefox(firefoxProfile)

Geckodriver not being found

I am relatively new with this, and I am currently using python 2.7 with selenium. When running the following:
from selenium import webdriver
browser = webdriver.Firefox()
I get an error saying that 'geckodriver' executable must be in PATH. I then put it in /usr/local/bin, and it still did not work. I also tried doing browser = webdriver.Firefox(executable_path=r'your\path\geckodriver'), and it still did not work. Additionally, after using chmod +x geckodriver in the terminal, it would give me an error. What solution will fix this problem?

From your question it is not clear about the OS on which you are triggering your scripts. While you work with Selenium 3.5.x you can download the geckodriver binary and place it anywhere within your system and reference it by providing the absolute path of the geckodriver binary while you initialize the webdriver instance. On my Windows 8 Pro system this is the working code:
from selenium import webdriver
driver=webdriver.Firefox(executable_path=r'C:\Utility\BrowserDrivers\geckodriver.exe')
driver.get("http://www.google.com")
print("Page Title is : %s" %driver.title)
driver.quit()
Console Output:
Page Title is : Google
Perhaps on Linux systems, we have to do:
from selenium import webdriver
driver=webdriver.Firefox(executable_path=r'/absolute_path/geckodriver')
driver.get("http://www.google.com")
print("Page Title is : %s" %driver.title)
driver.quit()

Python test using selenium cannot perform simple test

I am trying to learn about Selenium but I am not able to get even a simple program to test. Selenium webdriver seems to not be cooperating with Firefox and I am very frustrated, so I come to Stack Overflow for help.
For background, I use Python, can install with pip, and know command line.
I am on windows 10, firefox 48, and selenium webdriver 3 with python 3.5.2
Whenever I run the selenium test, (it opens a Firefox windows and the selenium website)
from selenium import webdriver
browser = webdriver.Firefox()
browser.get('http://www.seleniumhq.org')
I always get an error:
selenium.common.exceptions.WebDriverException: Message: Can't load the profile. Profile Dir: C:\ ... \AppData\Local\Temp\tmp68m5rtwt If you specified a log_file in the FirefoxBinary constructor, check it for details
It also opens a firefox window and has the link of about:blank&utm_content=firstrun(not a valid url)
I have looked across the internet for a similar situation, but nothing really close. I also tried many tutorials and made sure that I installed selenium the right way. I noticed that firefox was recently updated, but I am not sure if this has any effect.
I would appreciate any help for this, and instructions for what I should do.

Firefox 48+ doesn't support webdriver.Firefox().
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.desired_capabilities import DesiredCapabilities
caps = DesiredCapabilities.FIREFOX
caps["marionette"] = True
caps["binary"] = "path/to/your/firefox"
browser = webdriver.Firefox(capabilities=caps)
browser.get('http://www.seleniumhq.org')
This is what I was trying
1. download geckodriver.https://github.com/mozilla/geckodriver/releases. v.0.10.0is for selenium 3(beta).
2. add PATH your geckodriver.
4. rename it to wires
5. restart shell
6. check the version
$ wires --version
7. and run above the code.

Selenium test with Python in Internet Explorer

I have written a script that opens a web browser using python and Selenium. It works fine with Firefox using the following code:
from selenium import webdriver
driver = webdriver.Firefox()
When I replace Firefox with IE (the suggested value when I start typing), I get the message IEDriver executable needs to be available in the path.
from selenium import webdriver
driver = webdriver.IE()

Download IE Drivers based on your OS (Windows 32 or 64 bit)
a. Download Windows 32 bits driver
OR
b. Download Windows 64 bits driver
Extract the zip and copy IEDriverServer.exe file to some location e.g. E:\IEDriver
Write the following script
from selenium import webdriver
browser = webdriver.Ie("e:\\IEDriver\\IEDriverServer.exe")
Run the script, it should open IE browser...

Selenium with Python bindings in IE:
There are 2 ways to run Selenium python tests in Internet Explorer. I'm considering Windows (Windows 10 in my case):
Prerequisite: Download IE Driver based on your OS from the site: http://docs.seleniumhq.org/download/
32 bit Windows IE
64 bit Windows IE
Way 1:
i) Extract the downloaded zip file in a directory/location of your choice
ii) Set the executable path in your code as below:
self.driver = webdriver.Ie(executable_path='D:\Selenium_RiponAlWasim\Drivers\IEDriverServer_x64_2.42.0\IEDriverServer.exe')
OR,
self.driver = webdriver.Ie("D:\\Selenium_RiponAlWasim\\Drivers\IEDriverServer_x64_2.42.0\\IEDriverServer.exe")
Way 2:
i) Simply paste the IEDriverServer.exe under /Python/Scripts/ (In my case the folder was: C:\Python36\Scripts)
ii) Now write the simple code as below:
self.driver = webdriver.Ie()

It means exactly that. Selenium needs the executable to work with IE.
A quick google search led me to this. You need to download the executable and place it somewhere visible. Also, taking a look at this should help clear some things about PATH variables.

In selenium 4 you would need to use service method otherwise you would get depreciated error: You no longer need to download IE driver.
Here are compatible codes for Selenium 4.x IE:
# Internet Explorer Browser version
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.ie.service import Service
from webdriver_manager.microsoft import IEDriverManager
driver = webdriver.Ie(service=Service(executable_path=IEDriverManager().install()))
driver.get('https://www.google.com')