Reminder of the Drupal 8, 9, and 10 life cycle and summary of the expected new features. Here we review the main initiatives and the tools to prepare for this version...
The major version cycles of Drupal are speeding up. We are confident that their impacts will slow down :) One year after the release of Drupal 9, upgrading to version 9 is still underway for many site owners. That hasn't stopped lively discussions about the changes to come in Drupal 10.
Drupal 10 in June 2022
The tenth version of the CMS is expected to be released in June 2022. The exact dates are not yet known but the timeline was agreed upon a long time ago. In case of any issues, this target date may be postponed to August or December 2022. So Drupal 9 is likely to have the shortest lifespan among major Drupal versions.
What will happen to Drupal 9, 8, and 7?
All previous versions will reach end of life, which means their official support will stop. Drupal 7, 8, and 9 will no longer receive updates for security, performance, or new features. That’s why now is the time to get ready for upgrading to Drupal 10 early.
Drupal 9's end of life is scheduled for the end of 2023. This is due to the end of life of a major dependency, Symfony 4.
Drupal 8's end is set for November 2021. This is also due to the end of life of a major dependency, Symfony 3.
Drupal 7 will be supported until November 2022. The extension of its support is motivated by the number of sites still running on this version and the significant upgrade effort involved in moving from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8, 9, or 10.
What to expect with Drupal 10?
Since Drupal 8, the major upgrade process is less disruptive. Drupal 9 is built on Drupal 8. Likewise, Drupal 10 will be built on Drupal 9. All dependencies will be updated and deprecated code removed. So, don’t expect revolutionary changes.
The 5 main initiatives in Drupal 10:
- Decoupled menus – Make menus more dynamic based on pages, users, or the technology used;
- Easy out of the box – To make Drupal easier to use;
- Automated updates – If the deployment workflow allows it ;)
- Preparing Drupal 10 – updating dependencies and removing deprecated APIs;
- The new front-end theme initiatives – New Olivero theme.
This choice was the result of community consultation.
Here is a brief summary of key features expected in Drupal 10 –
Updated dependencies:
- CKEditor 5 will replace CKEditor 4 to offer a better content creation experience;
- jQuery UI will be replaced by modern JavaScript components;
- Symfony 5 or Symfony 6 will replace Symfony 4;
- PHP 8.0 will replace PHP 7.3
- Internet Explorer 11 will no longer be supported (yay!);
Better contribution experience:
Drupal should become increasingly easy to use thanks to enhancements in media management, the media library, the layout builder, and ready-to-use administration theme.
Automated updates:
Smooth and secure updates will be possible in Drupal 10 for sites using Composer.
Decoupled menus:
The community continues its efforts towards decoupled architectures, to provide better JavaScript development experiences and let JavaScript interfaces consume menus managed in Drupal.
New front-end theme:
Work is underway to stabilize the new Olivero theme and make it the default in core, replacing the good old Bartik.
Improved site-building experiences:
Drupal 10 aims to offer a better experience for site builders with the "Site Builder Tool/Project Browser" initiative. This tool is designed for installing and updating modules without the command line.
How to prepare
Preparing for Drupal 10 means keeping your code up to date. Update core, use Drupal 10-compatible contributed modules, and fix your own custom code to eliminate deprecated items.
The steps and tools needed to prepare for Drupal 10 will be very similar to those used for Drupal 9 (provided you’re not staying on Drupal 8):
- The upgrade status module has a friendly interface and helps find deprecations on your site;
- Drupal Check, command-line tool, analyzes the site’s static code and measures deprecations;
- PHPStan Drupal analyzes code and also measures deprecations;
- Drupal Rector helps you automate the removal and replacement of deprecated code when it’s already identified;
- The Upgrade Rector module based on Drupal Rector runs the tool with a user interface (for those allergic to the command line);
- Useful – the Drupal 10 deprecation status page shows Drupal 10 compatibility based on all current use of deprecated APIs.
Now you know everything, which is what really matters, because that was the modest goal of this summary!