Have you ever had to reschedule an important appointment, only to have it move again? By the third or fourth time, unforeseen conflicts have started to become familiar.
In the web world of Drupal, the plan for code updates shifted in 2020. Release and end of life dates for Drupal versions were shuffled and kicked further out. After the Drupal board made a couple iterations early in the year, the current set of Drupal release dates set in the Summer of 2020 have remained for a while now.
As it stands, at this time:
- Drupal 8 is at the end of life November 2021
- We are already using Drupal 9 in major website development projects.
- It is a simpler, incremental process to update the site from Drupal 8 to Drupal 9. This update does not require a total migration like previous upgrades from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8. More on this soon.
- Drupal 10 is released June 2022
- Drupal 7 is end of life November 28, 2022
- Please see Drupal Core Release Cycle
With this data, it is important to emphasize that the step from Drupal 8 to Drupal 9 is far less of a leap than previous upgrades. Up to date D8 sites easily translate to D9. Some custom modules may need some code edits, but moving into Drupal 9 is more comparable to a routine security update patch rather than a drastic release.
For instance, moving from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 was like moving to an entirely new house. However, for the move from Drupal 8 to Drupal 9, we might only need to paint a room or change out a light fixture. An update. For our customers, this timing is key. Since the Drupal schedule has stayed put for the time being, we have the luxury of being able to be flexible. It is almost a full year before our clients will need this upgrade. Allowing us to work with them to make sure the move fits with their schedule.
Rescheduling can be a challenge. With Drupal instead of being frozen by tenuous dates and uncertain externals, we have the ability to collaborate with each of our clients to decide on their best timeline for updating their website.
