Getting Ready for Drupal 9

#FocusOnBestPractices

What you need to know to move to Drupal 9

The Drupal organization has announced that support for Drupal 8 will end on November 2021.  After that, you won’t be able to access the latest updates anymore unless you upgrade to Drupal 9. If you’ve already made the move to Drupal 8, you are in good shape as upgrading to Drupal 9 is expected to a smooth and straightforward process after its released-on June 3, 2020.

Unlike other upgrades, Drupal 9 is built on top of Drupal 8, adding new features and enhancements to the architecture you already know and love.  Think of it as continuing down the same road you are on, just in a much nicer car.

If you are still on Drupal 7, however, the situation is far trickier.  There is no easy update to Drupal 8, it’s like a different road entirely.   You need to rebuild your site in either Drupal 8 or Drupal 9, a project that could take significant investment in time, resources, and dollars, especially if you have a complex site.

Given the tight timeline for ending support, sites on Drupal 7 should considering rebuilding in Drupal 8 as soon as possible, then pausing before moving to Drupal 9.  Starting that process now will give you plenty of time to budget accordingly and get the transition to Drupal 8 completed smoothly.   make the transition to Drupal 9 easier and smoother.

Benefits of Drupal 9

  • It’s made as an upgrade to Drupal 8 and the transition is easier and smoother than ever before.
  • It will have all the latest components of Drupal 8 working from Day 1 of the update and it will continue to receive regular updates and feature improvements every 6 months.
  • In Drupal 9, you can enjoy the latest features in digital experiences (updated versions of Symfony, Twig etc.) with more modern underlying libraries.

Steps to get ready to upgrade to Drupal 9:

In order to move to Drupal 9, the following steps need to be taken:

  • If you are on Drupal 7, move to Drupal 8.
  • If you are on Drupal 8, then ensure that the latest minor releases have been updated on your site and check the readiness of the modules which you use.
  • If you take the above steps, then you can move to Drupal 9, when it is released on June 3, 2020.
  • It is best to use a composer to install Drupal 9, so if you are in the habit of using it, now is a good time to switch.

There are two ways to complete the above steps:

  • If you have your own developer, then you can check that all the modules and themes have been upgraded to the latest Drupal 8 releases and ensure that the deprecated code is removed with Rector.
  • Or you can get help from one of the expert service providers who are experienced in migration such as Korcomptenz.

Korcomptenz is a US-based digital transformation services provider, headquartered in New Jersey, specializing in many web and marketing technologies such as Drupal, WordPress, Magento, Kentico, Sitecore, etc. Contact us now to get an assessment of the steps needed to migrate your Drupal site to its latest version.

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