Google releases Chrome 108 update without revealing anything about it
Chrome users may have noticed that Google released a new update for the browser on December 7, 2022. The update to Chrome 108 installs fast and the browser looks just like before the update installation on the restart.
A check of the Chrome Releases blog provides virtually no information on the update. Google informs users that the Chrome Stable and Chrome Extended Stable channel were updated. The update versions are displayed, but no information is provided on why the update was released.
- Chrome for Mac and Linux: 108.0.5359.98
- Chrome for Windows: 108.0.5359.98 108.0.5359.99
- Chrome Extended Stable for Mac: 108.0.5359.98
- Chrome Extended Stable for Windows: 108.0.5359.99
Chrome users may verify the installed version by loading chrome://settings/help in the browser's address bar, or by selecting Menu > Help > About Google Chrome. A check for updates is performed automatically when the page is opened in the browser. Any update that is discovered during the check is downloaded and installed automatically. A manual restart is still required to complete the update to the new version of the Chrome web browser.
No information besides the version changes is provided on the Chrome Releases blog. To Google's credit, it does provide a link to the changelog. The changelog lists a single regression fix that addresses an issue in visual viewport checks.
"Fix regression in computing <select> visibility. [..]
The fix here is to only perform the visual viewport check in the outermost main frame as before."
The fix appears to have been ready since October 1, 2022 though. All other entries in the changelog are just version incrementations.
This is not the first time that google released a mysterious update for its browser. The company did the same for Chrome 106 in October. The release blog revealed no information at the time either, and the only change fixed in the released was a regression with JAWS.
In any event: the new Chrome update is available and since most Chrome installations are updated automatically, will be distributed to the majority in the coming days and weeks.
Now You: what is your take on this update?
My Brave just got updated by force (snap on linux), there’s no foreground warning, just the harddrive starting to rattle but I can’t even see the process doing it in the Task Manager, and some extensions stop working, imo it’s fishy as F* as if there’s a security loophole that gets open when the update happens in the background all out of a sudden, not good.
btw, does anyone know how to have more autocomplete suggestions in the URL bar, Brave only shows three although I have much more bookmarks with the same letter combination, and to make it more annoying, the bookmark drop-down list doesn’t even work in private mode, terribly annoying.
As a suggestion; you could drop Ubuntu like a hot rock, switch to Debian 11 “Bullseye” (current Stable), use apt or aptitude to remove the package “unattended-upgrades”, and then perhaps get some more control over your OS life.
You do realize that not allowing updates is always possible on Linux, right? And snap? – LMAO.
Not very helpful, rather quite a snarky reply, and that “LMAO” in the end is just contemptuous and redundant reflecting what kind of personality you are.
It’s not possible to just “turn off” update for Brave Snap package indefinitely, updating Ubuntu always switches on Snap forced updates, there seems to be no convenient solution and one have to bring up the command line window and type in a lot of commands, it’s very cumbersome, and Snap have been heavily criticized online since Ubuntu forced it onto peoples machines without any consent or at least an easily manageable way to handle Snap packages, also a lot of Snap packages are constantly half broken and have problem with permissions reaching other memory devices, and No it’s not possible to just toggle On or OFF those permission Switches under Software, it is simply broken.
Don’t pay any attention to him. He is a Firefox shill trying to make Brave users look stupid.
SO why have I been on “Version 109.0.5414.36 (Official Build) beta (64-bit)” for at least a week?
I didn’t load this! Why am I on a beta? How do I go back to 108, which will hopefully restore the experimental tab scrolling arrows?
How do I stop Chrome from auto updating and make it ask me before it does any update sin the future?
I was surprised I had to manually invoke checking for —-.99 at 09:45 EST today, which was then successfully installed.
Don’t question Google. Big brother Google knows what is best for you.
Exactly…. Fanboys unite..
My opinion? I don’t care, I want the latest updates and I want them yesterday. Ungoogled Chromium were really fast updating this time around, last version .95 took them/him almost a week..
Whining to them might help. Maybe not so much here.
They just update to ping people about a new version, that’s the real downside of having zero competitor, so you don’t bother improving yourself and that’s the current situation of Google Chrome.
Also I want to report this feature “Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.” doesn’t even work, everytime I comeback to Ghacks I have to re-enter my name and email.
Well, the only competitor to Chrome are other Chromium browsers that offer more customization, freedom and still support features that Chrome has deprecated.
Chromium is Chrome literally, after more and more version update it’s no longer as original as it used to be, nowadays Chromium is full of Google tracking and thus something called Bromite or UnGoogle Chromium was made.
Iron Brain, rather. Too bad this article is talking about Chrome and not Chromium. Try again.