Manifest V2 support timeline questions

[מתן אביאב‎]

Hello,
I am Full Stack Team Leader at some banking company.
My company has developed a unique chrome extension, which can be found in the Chrome Web Store.
The current extension is v2, but we have been notified that Google will stop supporting v2 as of June 2024.

I wanted to raise critical questions, so that we could prepare accordingly:
1. What is meant by stopping support for v2 extensions?
If I have the extension already installed (version 2), can't it run anymore? It will be disabled or will continue to work as usual?

2. If I have Google Chrome browser in version lower than 127, will I still be affected by the changes?

3. As of June 2024, it will not be possible to upload v2 extensions to the Chrome Web Store. Of course.
But what will happen if I distribute an update of the extension (in the new version 3) to the Chrome Web Store?
For those who already have the extension installed (version 2), will the browser update the plugin to version 3 automatically?
Is the last sentence also true for the who installed the extension other way than through the Google store?

Thank you very much,
Matan

[Patrick Kettner]

Hello Matan

>What is meant by stopping support for v2 extensions?

The code that in Chrome that is used for MV2 extensions will be turned off. It can be renenebled for a period of time if installed via policy using ExtensionManifestV2Availability. Eventually, support will be fully removed, however. 

> It will be disabled or will continue to work as usual?

It will be disabled. It will not work.

> 2. If I have Google Chrome browser in version lower than 127, will I still be affected by the changes?

Great question! The change will be tied to the Chrome version. Support will not be removed from older versions of Chrome.

> As of June 2024, it will not be possible to upload v2 extensions to the Chrome Web Store

It hasnt been possible to upload a new MV2 extension since 2022. In June 2024, you will not be able to push any MV2 update.

> But what will happen if I distribute an update of the extension (in the new version 3) to the Chrome Web Store?

As in push a version that updates to MV3? You can do that, yes. 

> For those who already have the extension installed (version 2), will the browser update the plugin to version 3 automatically?

Yes. It is like any other update to an extension.

> Is the last sentence also true for the who installed the extension other way than through the Google store?

Which part? Pushing an update of the extension to the Chrome Web Store will not update things outside of the Chrome Web Store.

patrick

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Chromium Extensions" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to chromium-extens...@chromium.org.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msgid/chromium-extensions/20ae9108-0ff3-4b2e-8920-d4445de0d104n%40chromium.org.

[מתן אביאב‎]

Hey Patrick!

Thanks

> But what will happen if I distribute an update of the extension (in the new version 3) to the Chrome Web Store?

As in push a version that updates to MV3? You can do that, yes. 

In related to that answer, if I do that, then the the extension will get a new id or not?

In other words, if the current extension is v2 and I want to push a new update to it (migration to v3), 

this it is possible right? And by that I can keep the same extension id, right?

Thanks again,

Matan

ב-יום שלישי, 12 במרץ 2024 בשעה 13:41:50 UTC+2, Patrick Kettner כתב/ה:

[Patrick Kettner]

> In related to that answer, if I do that, then the the extension will get a new id or not?

If you push an update to the existing extension, then it will retain its ID.

> In other words, if the current extension is v2 and I want to push a new update to it (migration to v3),  this it is possible right? And by that I can keep the same extension id, right?

Yes. It is like any other code update from that perspective. 

[מתן אביאב‎]

Hey Patrick!

Thanks

Last question, assume I published a code update to the extension (migration from V2 to V3).

Then, as you said, chrome browser will try to download it in the background automatically for all users that use that extension.

But what if for some reason, the new extension cannot be installed? (for example, chrome will fail to install it due to permissions).

Is the currenct extension (V2) which already installed on the computer of the user, will still remain installed and the user can use it? 

(assume the chrome broswer version of the user is under 127).

I ask because a lot of users of our extension are companies, then maybe chrome broswer will fail to install the new V3 extension.

I try to understand what will happen if chrome will try to install the V3 extension automatically, and then will fail to do that.

Is the current chrome extension which already installed (V2) will still reamin installed?

Thanks a lot!

ב-יום שלישי, 12 במרץ 2024 בשעה 15:17:25 UTC+2, Patrick Kettner כתב/ה:

[PhistucK]

From past threads here, people really fear permission changes because it disables the extension until the user approves the new permission, so it will be updated, ask the user for new permissions and if not allowed/ignored, it will be disabled until they enable it again.

With that said, you can test permission changes to see whether they trigger a permission prompt.

I think this thread might be related, but you can also just pack your old and new extension versions locally (both of them must use the same private key) and drag into chrome:extensions and it might show a prompt if the permissions change (untested). 

Also, regarding your off-store question, it also depends on the update URL field in the manifest of the extension you distribute, I believe. If you use the web store update URL (and the same ID, or a different ID that exists/is published to the web store), it will be automatically updated, I believe.

☆PhistucK

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msgid/chromium-extensions/996557e0-259e-451b-9c2f-b6a52b52df89n%40chromium.org.

[Patrick Kettner]

> But what if for some reason, the new extension cannot be installed? (for example, chrome will fail to install it due to permissions). Is the currenct extension (V2) which already installed on the computer of the user, will still remain installed and the user can use it? 

There can only be one version of an extension ID on the device. If one is failing to install, it wont automatically revert to the old version.

> Is the currenct extension (V2) which already installed on the computer of the user, will still remain installed and the user can use it? 

If the device is failing to install an update, then the update is on the device. Since there can only be one version of the extension on the device, the "already installed" version is no longer installed. It was removed.

If you set the mionimum_chrome_version to 127 in your manifest.json file, then anyone using an old version of chrome will not download that update. But that would also mean that anyone setting up a new version of their profile on a Chrome version <= 127 would not be able to download the extension at all.

patrick

[מתן אביאב‎]

Thank you!

Last question, google said users will no longer can download V2 extensions after June 2024.

But if the user is using chrome browser in version lower than 127,

can he download v2 extensions or not?

Thanks again :)

ב-יום רביעי, 13 במרץ 2024 בשעה 16:25:20 UTC+2, Patrick Kettner כתב/ה:

[Patrick Kettner]

The extension will not be removed from the store, so yes they will be able to.