This is only needed for https://cs.chromium.org/chromium/src/tools/perf/core/perf_benchmark.py?rcl=2e8c61cc50bcb9b3f50ff48cbce259003c10ba8a&l=40

I think the easiest fix is to replace CustomizeBrowserOptions(browser_options) with CustomizeOptions(finder_options)

I think that's a step back in the wrong direction.

_GetVariationsBrowserArgs should not need to neither know the finder options, nor create a possible browser. It just wants to know the target_os, which we should be able to figure out earlier.

That's possible too. Though another reason I want to  replace CustomizeBrowserOptions(browser_options) with CustomizeOptions(finder_options)
 is to make these benchmarks hooks to be less browser specific

I can see how that makes sense. Which (non-browser) options might a benchmark want to customize?

Now, even if we make that API change, I would still argue that _GetVariationsBrowserArgs should have no need to create a possible_browser just to figure out the target_os.

Examples of which (non-browser) options might a benchmark want to customize:
 - A general startup benchmark may want to expose a commandline option for user to decide which cache level do user wants on the platform.
 - A ChromeCustomTab benchmark may want to expose a commandline option for user to select their own embedder app APK

I do agree with you _GetVariationsBrowserArgs should have no need to create a possible_browser just to figure out the target_os.

So doing these two will make the code better, and doing any of them should be enough to get rid of the copy of the finder_options. I do think fixing _GetVariationsBrowserArgs may be easier; so I file a separate bug about replacing CustomizeBrowserOptions(browser_options) (issue 801528)

Hmhh, actually I think _GetVariationsBrowserArgs may not need possible_browser to get target_os, but it would need finder_options (where we store --device flag) to get target_os.

So issue 801528 is actually blocking this.

yup sgtm fixing those two bugs either way which makes things easier.

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