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***** 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