Senior Engineer
Primarily responsible for maintaining the Drupal core migration system, Michael often spends long nights and weekends working through the Drupal project issues queue, solving problems, and writing code.
September 23, 2020
Working in digital design and development, you grow accustomed to the rapid pace of technology. For example: After much anticipation, the latest version of Drupal was released this summer. Just months later, the next major version is in progress
At July’s all-virtual DrupalCon Global, the open-source digital experience conference, platform founder Dries Buytaert announced Drupal 10 is aiming for a June 2022 release. Assuming those plans hold, Drupal 9 would have the shortest release lifetime of any recent major version
For IT managers, platform changes generate stress and uncertainty. Considering the time-intensive migration process from Drupal 7 to 8, updating your organization’s website can be costly and complicated. Consequently, despite a longtime absence of new features, Drupal 7 still powers more websites than Drupal 8 and 9 combined. And, as technology marches on, the end of its life as a supported platform is approaching
Fortunately, whatever version your website is running, Drupal is not running away from you. Drupal’s users and site builders may be accustomed to expending significant resources to update their website platform, but the plan for more frequent major releases alleviates the stress of the typical upgrade. And, for those whose websites are still on Drupal 7, Drupal 10 will continue offering a way forward
The news that Drupal 10 is coming sooner rather than later might have been unexpected, but you still have no reason to panic just yet. However, your organization shouldn’t stand still, either
The end for Drupal 7 is still coming, but future upgrades will be easier
Considering upgrading to Drupal 8 involves the investment of building a new site and migrating its content, it’s no wonder so many organizations have been slow to update their platform. Drupal 7 is solid and has existed for nearly 10 years. And, fortunately, it’s not reaching its end of life just yet
At the time of Drupal 9’s release, Drupal 7’s planned end of life was set to arrive late next year. This meant the community would no longer release security advisories or bug fixes for that version of the platform. Affected organizations would need to contact third-party vendors for their support needs. With the COVID-19 pandemic upending businesses and their budgets, the platform’s lifespan has been extended to November 28, 2022
Drupal’s development team has retained its internal migration system through versions 8 and 9, and it remains part of the plan for the upcoming Drupal 10 as well. And the community continues to maintain and improve the system in an effort to make the transition easier. If your organization is still on Drupal 7 now, you can use the migration system to jump directly to version 9, or version 10 upon its release. Drupal has no plans to eliminate that system until Drupal 7 usage numbers drop significantly
Once Drupal 10 is ready for release, Drupal 7 will finally reach its end of life. However, paid vendors will still offer support options that will allow your organization to maintain a secure website until you’re ready for an upgrade. But make a plan for that migration sooner rather than later. The longer you wait for this migration, the more new platform features you’ll have to integrate into your rebuilt website.
Initiatives for Drupal 10 focus on faster updates, third-party software
In delivering his opening keynote for DrupalCon Global, Dries Buytaert outlined five strategic goals for the next iteration of the platform. Like the work for Drupal 9 that began within the Drupal 8 platform, development of Drupal 10 has begun under the hood of version 9
A Drupal 10 Readiness initiative focuses on upgrading third-party components that count as technological dependencies. One crucial component is Symfony, which is the PHP framework Drupal is based upon. Symfony operates on a major release schedule every two years, which requires that Drupal is also updated to stay current. The transition from Symfony 2 to Symfony 3 created challenges for core developers in creating the 8.4 release, which introduced changes that impacted many parts of Drupal’s software
To avoid a repeat of those difficulties, it was determined that the breaking changes involved in a new Symfony major release warranted a new Drupal major release as well. While Drupal 9 is on Symfony 4, the Drupal team hopes to launch 10 on Symfony 6, which is a considerable technical challenge for the platform’s team of contributors. However, once complete, this initiative will extend the lifespan of Drupal 10 to as long as three or four years
Other announced initiatives included greater ease of use through more out-of-the-box features, a new front-end theme, creating a decoupled menu component written in JavaScript, and, in accordance with its most requested feature, automated security updates that will make it as easy as possible to upgrade from 9 to 10 when the time comes. For those already on Drupal 9, these are some of the new features to anticipate in versions 9.1 through 9.4.
Less time between Drupal versions means an easier upgrade path
The shift from Drupal 8 to this summer’s release of Drupal 9 was close to five years in the making. Fortunately for website managers, that update was a far cry from the full migration required from version 7. While there are challenges such as ensuring your custom code is updated to use the most recent APIs, the transition was doable with a good tech team at your side
Still, the work that update required could generate a little anxiety given how comparatively fast another upgrade will arrive. But the shorter time frame will make the move to Drupal 10 easier for everybody. Less time between updates also translates to less deprecated code, especially if you’re already using version 9. But if you’re not there yet, the time to make a plan is now.
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