Extension can't be installed in older Chrome versions. "Download interrupted".

[Hans R.]

Hi Simeon.

I'm a Chrome extension developer and I wonder if you can investigate the following problem.

One of my extensions (ID: lkaihdpfpifdlgoapbfocpmekbokmcfd) cannot be installed on Chrome versions older than Chrome 60.

On newer Chrome versions there's no problem.

This is the error that shows up.

None of my other extensions have this problem. I can use Chrome 49 (last version supported in Win XP and Vista) to install any other extension without problems.

So it's definitely an issue with this particular extension of mine. The problem started happening after I updated the extension on May 26.

I already contacted CWS support last week, but I haven't received any response and the download error is still there.

I don't know if you are able to attend to this kind of technical issues, but if you can, please do. My users under Win XP and Vista (using Chrome 49) are not receiving extension updates due to this error and new users under those OSs can't install either.

The problem is not the operating system though. The same problem also happens on Windows 7 using Chrome version 59 or older.

I'd appreciate any help in solving this. I suspect it might be some sort of glitch in the Web Store's backend.

Thanks in advance.

[Hans R.]

Sorry for the broken image above.

Here is the error:

[Simeon Vincent]

Hey Hans,

I'm pretty sure that the problem you're encountering is related to an extension format change from CRX2 to CRX3. CRX3 refers to the packaging format used to create CRX files, not the Chrome Extension Platform changes referred to as Manifest V3. 

This was originally announced in the Chrome Enterprise release notes for Chrome 68. Your comments seem to indicate that Chrome 60-63 are still able to load CRX3 extensions. To be honest that's quite surprising as, based on the release notes, it appears that versions of Chrome from 64.0.3242.0 onward support CRX3 packaging. Today all extensions obtained through the Chrome Web Store are packaged and distributed in CRX3 format.

Cheers,

Simeon - @dotproto

Extensions Developer Advocate

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[Hans R.]

Hi Simeon, thanks for looking into the problem.

As an extension developer, I'm constantly testing different browser versions and I can tell you with absolute certainty that all Chrome versions all the way back to Chrome 49 can install any extension in the Web Store.

Here is a direct link to a BrowserLing session that proves it.

https://www.browserling.com/browse/win/7/chrome/49/https%3A%2F%2Fchrome.google.com%2Fwebstore%2Fdetail%2Flkaihdpfpifdlgoapbfocpmekbokmcfd

That session is set up to use Chrome 49 under Windows 7. It'll take you directly to the Web Store page for my extension.

All you have to do is click on the "Add to Chrome" blue button and you'll see the download error.

Right after that, go to the "Related" section and click on any other extension and try to install it. You'll see that all other extensions install correctly.

I totally ignore what the problem is. But it's clear that this is not a generalized incompatibility of the Web Store with older Chrome versions. Rather, it's a specific problem that's affecting my extension (and presumably others, but I haven't found any with the same issue yet).

As I said, the error occurs only with Chrome versions 59 and older and it started happening after I updated my extension on May 26.

Before that day, it was possible to install my extension with any Chrome version (at least 49+).

[PhistucK]

Then maybe the webstore did not convert everything to CRX3, but only when developers happen to update their extension/application/theme.

Regardless, old Chrome (or Chromium) versions are explicitly not supported (and are very, very risky to use due to the many, many known unpatched security vulnerabilities that they have), so I doubt this will ever be fixed or looked into.

☆PhistucK

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[Joshua Pawlicki]

Hi everybody.

Up until quite recently, the webstore was creating both CRX2 and CRX3 packages for every extension uploaded as a ZIP to the webstore. This enabled us to maintain compatibility with Chrome 59 and earlier, which could only handle the CRX2 file format, even for new pushes of extensions.

Due to various limitations with CRX2 and the age of CRX3 support, the decision was made to no longer generate the CRX2 packages during the upload process. Therefore, all new uploads to the Webstore (including your upload on May 26) will result in the extension no longer being compatible with Chrome 59 and older.