Google has initiated the discontinuation of Chrome extensions that use the Manifest V2 add-on architecture. The first users will receive notifications in the Chrome browser that Manifest V2 extensions will no longer work.
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The most prominent victim of the move to Manifest V3 is probably the ad blocker uBlock Origin. But add-ons like Neat URL, which automatically removes URL parameters for tracking, no longer work without Manifest V2.
With the third manifest version, Google is swapping the standard APIs for ad blockers, from webRequest to declarativeNetRequest. This means that extensions no longer block network requests themselves. Instead, they give the browser conditions and actions as to how it should handle network requests. With these rules, the browser evaluates and changes network requests itself, so to speak, on behalf of the extensions – for example, it blocks content. This prevents some uBlock Origin features such as Dynamic Filtering and Dynamic URL Filtering.
Installation is no longer possible in some cases
Google is apparently turning off Manifest V2 support in waves. On our test systems, the Chrome web store still spits out the previous message: “This extension may soon no longer be supported because it does not comply with ‘best practices’ for Chrome extensions.”
The first users will also see a new message there: “This extension is no longer available because it does not follow the ‘best practices’ for Chrome extensions.”
Instead of uBlock Origin, there is the slimmed-down version uBlock Origin Lite (uBOL). The developer behind the ad blockers, Raymond Hill, recommends the Firefox browser for the entire uBlock Origin range.
(mma)
