Continued upgrades are needed to keep Drupal websites secure and to receive new feature opportunities. However, many businesses hesitate to upgrade to new versions of Drupal due to the complexity of the process. There’s no simple solution, and these projects take careful scoping and planning.
To help you fully understand the process, we’ve compiled answers to the most common questions we see about migrations to Drupal websites.
When are Drupal 7 and 9 end of life?
Drupal 7 end of life has been extended several times over the years, but its final end of life date has been set for January 5, 2025 (14 years after Drupal 7 was first released). Drupal 8’s end of life was in November 2021. Drupal 9 is scheduled to hit end of life Nov 1, 2023 (the same day as the end of life for Symfony 4, which Drupal uses extensively). Drupal 10 is the latest version of Drupal, and its end of life date hasn’t been announced yet.
When did Drupal 10 Release?
Drupal 10 was released in December of 2022. Drupal 10.0.0 was essentially the same code as Drupal 9.5.0, with upgraded third-party libraries and deprecated legacy code. Drupal 10.1 is the current version.
What is the migration process from 7 to 10 for Drupal websites?
Drupal 10 has been re-architected to use more third-party PHP libraries like Symfony, so Drupal websites that are still running on Drupal 7 are required to migrate their configuration and content to upgrade to Drupal 10.
The Drupal 10 Migration API makes this piece easy for core modules, which have pre-configured migration plugins. On the other hand, migration support for contributed modules is spotty.
You’ll need to evaluate which modules will be difficult to migrate, and a Drupal migration audit can help determine the best course of action by answering these questions:
- Does the module have migration support?
- Would it be beneficial to replace it with another module before migration?
- Could writing a custom module streamline the site’s migration?
Is there an upgrade path from Drupal 7 to Drupal 10?
Yes – the migration path from 7 to 10 is the same migration path as from 7 to 8.
For Drupal websites still on Drupal 7, we recommend upgrading to Drupal 10 as soon as possible to avoid problems associated with end of life software.
What is the Drupal 10 to 11 Upgrade Path?
The strategy for major version releases starting with Drupal 9 has been to upgrade Drupal’s dependencies (e.g. Symfony) and deprecate legacy code, rather than re-architect like what happened between 7 and 8. This will make it easier to upgrade-in-place, rather than migrate between versions.
Ready to get started with your Drupal website upgrade?
Atlantic BT is experienced with custom Drupal website development and helping you evaluate your content and modules. As the end of Drupal 7 approaches, we are offering a free preliminary assessment to kickstart your Drupal 10 migration and upgrade. Contact us here to get started.
