Google warns NEXT big Chrome update could break websites in Y2K style bug

GOOGLE Chrome is moving to version 100 in March, in a system update that could crash more than a few websites.

The tech giant is warning that the web browser’s migration to a three-digit user-agent string could come with some bugs that could break or not display websites correctly.

Google Chrome is moving to version 100 in March and it could break many websites.

Some websites are also expected to face compatibility issues with the upgraded web browser, especially if they are not equipped to read triple-digit user-agent strings.

A user-agent string is the line of text that is automatically attached to every web connection your browser makes to let a website know what browser and version you’re currently running.

An example of a Google Chrome user-agent string is “Chrome/96.0.4664.110” – the number after Chrome (96) identifies the version your browser is running on.

As Chrome (and Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge) move to a three-digit identifier, many websites, especially older ones, will not be able to retrieve or read the string of text properly.

In an attempt to preempt and mitigate this bug, as well as others, Google has been contacting individual developers for months before Chrome 100 is due to be released.

“In the first half of 2022, Chrome will reach a three-digit major version number: 100! When browsers first reached version 10 many eons ago, lots of issues were discovered with User-Agent parsing libraries as the major version number went from one digit to two,” the company wrote in a blog post in November 2021.

“Now that we are approaching version 100 in both Chrome and Firefox, with Edge not far behind, we want to detect possible issues related to three-digit version number early, so we are ready when it becomes a reality,” Google added.

Many experts are drawing parallels between version 100 and the Y2K bug, which prevented computers from identifying calendar dates after the year 1999.

One backup plan Google has to aid in the transition is to freeze the major version at 99 so “Chrome/100” would instead be “Chrome/99.100.”

Another feature the company has rolled out on Chrome is the use of a flag, which can help developers see whether or not their sites will be affected ahead of the move to version 100.

Getty ImagesAs Chrome moves to a three-digit user-agent string, many websites will not be able to read the user-string text properly.[/caption]

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