***** Without warning, #Google appears to have broken #Chrome for still supported Linux systems *****
I'm receiving reports -- and have confirmed locally -- that Google appears to have broken support for the Chrome browser for Ubuntu Linux 18.04 systems, without any warning that I'm aware of.
While 18.04 is an older system, many are running with extended support from Canonical that runs through 2028. Many of these systems are in crucial applications where upgrading to later Ubuntu versions is not currently practical.
The problem appears to be that while Chrome Stable 127 is fine on these systems, Chrome Stable 128 now being rolled will not upgrade via apt, due apparently to the system libgcc-s1 library not being >= 4.2.
While there may be manual workarounds for this situation, they cannot be considered generally applicable since tampering with system libraries can easily render a system unbootable.
If Google intended to obsolete Chrome on these systems, there should have been plenty of warning -- but apparently there was none. Not being able to update Chrome invokes a variety of serious security concerns.
The current situation is unacceptable. -L
@lauren That's not good, but one possible workaround is to install newer libraries in another place and point the Chrome icon to a script that sets LD_LIBRARY_PATH to pick up the new ones, and then execute the real Chrome. That way the system libraries aren't touched. We commonly use that technique to get software to run on older enterprise Linux systems.
Ideally Canonical could package something like that for the customers who are paying for support, it would work most smoothly if they do it.
@not2b There are several issues in play, perhaps the most important being that Google did this apparently without warning and without catching (or not caring?) about the problem during Beta and earlier phases.
I am reluctant to recommend people play with libraries manually on these systems. I'd be willing to test here, but setting a new LD_LIBRARY_PATH can be tricky and then apt needs to know it can go ahead and install as well. This could be pretty easily messed up. But I'm open to all practical solutions that I can recommend as a temporary workaround, if the details can be worked out. Thanks!
@lauren You'd arrange it so that only Chrome would use the new LD_LIBRARY_PATH, everything else would remain untouched, by putting the setting in a wrapper script. That way other applications on the system aren't disturbed. A solution could be packaged so that it would just work, but you'd need an experienced developer to do it.
