As both the popular web browsers, Chrome and Firefox, approach version 100 of their releases (presently at 98th and 97th version respectively), it looks like the jump to triple digits might bring problems for end users.
Firefox’s developer and parent company, Mozilla, in a new blog post, warned the users of the expected complications that might arise with the Firefox and Chrome 100 version releases. The issues may arise when browsers parse user-agent strings containing the three-digit version numbers.
A user-agent string is used by a web browser and contains information about the browser software, such as the browser name, its version number and supported technologies. When a person visits a website, the browser’s user-agent is sent along with the request for a web page. This allows the web page to check the visitor’s browser version and modify its response based on the features the browser supports.
Firefox and Chrome 100
When browsers initially made the jump from single-digit versions, to double-digits, some websites could not be displayed. However, this time around, both Mozilla and Google are preparing for the new versions expected to release in early May and late March, with backup plans in hand.
Back in August 2021, both Mozilla and Google had performed initial experiments to test triple-digit user agents and had resultantly found that while most sites handled the transition well enough, a small number encountered considerable bugs, when parsing a user-agent string that contained a three-digit version number.
Since then, Mozilla has been keeping a record of bugs caused by the version 100 update and has found issues on websites, including, HBO Go, Bethesda, Yahoo, Slack, and all those created by the Duda website builder.
Both Mozilla and Google, plan to continue running experiments for version 100 user-agents until the browsers get an official release – March 29th for Chrome and May 3rd for Firefox. In case of any unresolved issues prior to the release, both browsers have backup plans ready to ensure that users don’t get affected
