Chrome 100 could break lots of sites, so Google is working on a solution

Switching to version 100 of Google chrome
could cause problems on some sites, but Google has already taken hold of the bug and offers several solutions.

The problem stems from the way some sites retrieve the browser version in the User-Agent header.

An imperfect way to retrieve the offending version numbers

At the end of March 2022, Google Chrome is expected to release version 100, the first three-digit version. The browser will not be the only one to pass this course since Firefox and Edge also plan to leave the tens in their version number. However, this major change may pose a problem in some cases.

Among the important information collected by websites when you visit them is the string of characters contained in the User-Agent header. Among other things, it allows sites to identify your web browser, operating system and language.

One of the essential information contained in this character string is the browser version, presented in the form “BrowserName / VersionNumber”, for example “Chrome / 96.0.4664.45”. Usually, only the digits corresponding to the major version are important, “96” here. To obtain them, some sites choose to set up a rule that only retrieves the two digits after the slash following the name of the browser. This is the case for those created using Duda and it is here that the bug that will impact Chrome in its version 100 is found.

A problem already encountered in 2009

However, this bug is not new. When browsers switched to version numbers in the tens in 2009, the problem already arose. Sites choosing to retrieve a single digit after the browser name therefore identified version 10 sites as being in version 1.

Knowing full well that history tends to repeat itself when it comes to IT, Google has since November enabled a flag so that its browser is identified as being in version 100 in the User-Agent, in order to allow users and developers to test websites and see which ones could be problematic. This is how the bug concerning the sites created with Duda and Yell Business, which identify version 100 as version 10, could be spotted and reported at the end of November. A particularly important bug since Duda blocks access to sites to anyone using Chrome in a version marked as being less than 40.

When the problem with the version numbers in the tens arose, Opera had chosen to keep its version number as “9.80” after the name of its browser, in the form “Opera / 9.80” and to add l ‘Version / 10.00’ information to indicate the actual version number. Google would consider a similar solution, using a flag which could be enabled so that the major version number remains stuck at “99” and the true version number is present afterwards, which would result in a string in the form of “Chrome / 99.100.0.0” instead of “Chrome /100.0.0.0 “.

However, this solution is only considered as a last resort, the company preferring to contact the affected sites so that the bug is corrected before the update is released. A strategy that has borne fruit since Yell Business has already solved the problem on all of its sites.

Source: 9to5Google