Author
Dieter Blomme
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Last updated 14/12/2022
December 14th, 2022, that's the date of the new Drupal version: D10. Don't panic, The impact of this update is much smaller than that of Drupal 7 to 8. Why that is, what to expect and which steps to take? We're happy to explain this to you below:
From Drupal 9 to Drupal 10
The transition from Drupal 7 (D7) to Drupal 8 (D8) carried a lot of impact. The reason for this? In version 8, the core of Drupal was completely rewritten to comply with modern development standards.
Starting from Drupal 8, they switch to a continuous upgrade path from the previous major release using an update mechanism that works much smoother. In other words, Drupal is switching to a new system: the Drupal core release cycle with major, minor and patch releases. Drupal follows semver.org for version numbers, a widely used industry standard. As a result, updates now happen in smaller chunks of incremental, but less impactful changes. Instead of doing a major update every 5 years, we are switching to smaller updates in quicker sequence.
The difference between major, minor and patch releases
| Major release | Minor release | Patch release |
For example from Drupal 9 to Drupal 10 | For example from Drupal 9.1 to Drupal 9.2 | For example from Drupal 9.2.1 to Drupal 9.2.2 |
Releases over longer periods of time | Semi-annual releases | Monthly releases (supplemented by exceptional security fixes) |
| Release with focus on larger updates that remove obsolete code. | Release with focus on new features and semantic versioning. | Release with focus on fixing bugs and security issues. |
Drupal Rector, a developer tool for automatically upgrading outdated code, makes major updates a lot easier. It provides simple and (semi-) automated code fix suggestions while upgrading sites. Up to about 70% of Drupal Core Modules (not the custom code) can actually be updated a lot easier than before. Just be aware that everything still needs to be tested thoroughly. This helps ensure that we can avoid large and very impactful updates like from Drupal 7 to 8 in the future. Please note that while Drupal Rector makes everything more efficient, it does not automate just about everything. For example, consider the following:
- You still have to update modules, which often contain breaking changes.
- You also have to update the custom code manually.
- You have to test everything thoroughly, which takes a lot of time.
- You have to update everything: not only Drupal minor updates but also major updates, PHP updates, changes to the application through infrastructure upgrades...
Since Drupal 8, Drupal has focused on continuous evolution, expansion, and improvement. In this way, Drupal evolves along with your organization.
What changes with Drupal 10?
We already explained that the major updates follow up on each other much faster now. The transition from Drupal 9 to 10 is also a lot less impactful. Drupal 10 is more of an improved version of Drupal 9. So why is this update coming so quickly? Drupal also depends on third-party components with their own lifecycle such as Symfony, CKEditor, PHP, and Composer, among others.
Some specific changes:
- The switch to Symfony 6, because of end-of-life Symfony 4
- The switch to PHP 8.1, instead of PHP 7 (PHP 7 goes EOL 28-11-2022)
- A better decoupled developer and site builder experience
- Further development of Layout Builder
- CKEditor 5, instead of version 4 for an optimized wysiwyg experience (CKEditor 4 goes EOL in 2023, such major update is better not to be done via a minor or patch update in Drupal.)
Why switch to Drupal 10?
To keep your website secure and up to date, the switch to Drupal 10 is crucial. Not only will you benefit from the latest features, but you will also provide your visitors with the best user experience. And it doesn't stop there. As indicated earlier, Drupal also depends on third-party components such as Symfony, CKEditor, PHP, Composer... By upgrading, you also ensure that you always work safely here.
When do I need to upgrade to Drupal 10?
The official release of D10 is scheduled for December 14, 2022, along with the release of D9.5. On November 1, 2023, D9.5 goes end of life, so the update to Drupal 10 must be implemented before that date. In other words, you still have some time to prepare and perform the upgrade.
What can we help you with?
At Dropsolid we've recently decided explicitly to offer our clients Proactive Maintenance. This service ensures that our clients are entirely unburdened by the security of their websites, and all major, minor, and patch updates. We now automatically include the major update to Drupal 10 and ensure that our customers with a Proactive Maintenance contract can always count on a future-proof Drupal base.
Through our annual Proactive Maintenance, you have a transparent view of your budget, your website is always secure and performing, you are also ready at any time to scale and further build your digital experiences through a Digital Experience Platform.
