Build numbers causing problems: Truly, what is new is old again
This February Google put out Chrome 98, closely followed by Mozilla releasing Firefox 97. Soon both will hit version 100.
The memory of the web industry is short. This has happened before: when Opera reached version 10 in 2009, it caused problems, and just three years later, Firefox 10 faced similar issues.
And it will happen again. Google is planning to release Chrome 100 at the beginning of April, and Firefox 100 should follow in May.
Google anticipates that there will be some issues, so ever since Chrome 96 it has offered a facility to force the version number to 100: just go to chrome://flags and set #force-major-version-to-100.
Then you can test it on is-chrome-100-yet.glitch.me.
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Mozilla too foresees issues and is testing for them. Its bug tracker still shows over 20 problematic sites.
And as Microsoft now uses a flavour of Chromium, this also affects Edge and the company is checking.
There is some advice for web developers – instance check user-agents’ version numbers as integers, not as strings.
As Chrome will go first, the handful of remaining Firefox users will have another reason to feel smug – by the time Firefox’s version number catches up, most sites should have fixed it. As Safari is only up to version 15, Apple users can feel smug too. No change there, then. ®
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Experimental WebAssembly port of LibreOffice released
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Almost exactly a year after we last covered it, an experimental version of LibreOffice compiled to WebAssembly (nicknamed LOWA) has appeared.
Be warned, it’s about 300MB, so it takes a while to load, but you can try it here in your browser.
It’s based on the still-prototype LibreOffice 7.4 codebase and is not yet ready for production use. Given that LibreOffice is a large codebase, parts of which are decades old, this is a significant vindication of WebAssembly. There’s more info on the port here, from a presentation by Thorsten Behrens at FOSDEM 2022, which took place this month.
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Linux Snap package tool fixes make-me-root bugs
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The snap-confine tool in the Linux world’s Snap software packaging system can be potentially exploited by ordinary users to gain root powers, says Qualys.
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CISA publishes list of free security tools for business protection
Agency quiet on the selection criteria but at least the price is right
The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) has published a web catalog of free cybersecurity resources in the hope that those overseeing critical infrastructure can use the tools to better secure their systems.
“CISA is super proud to announce the start of a new catalog of free resources available to those critical infrastructure owners and operators who would benefit from tools to help their security and resilience,” said CISA director Jen Easterly in a statement.
“Many organizations, both public and private, are target rich and resource poor. The resources on this list will help such organizations improve their security posture, which is particularly critical in the current heightened threat environment.”
