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Drupal 9 and Backwards
Compatibility
Why now is the time to upgrade to Drupal 8
Angie @webchick Byron
Office of the CTO

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©2017 Acquia Inc. — Confidential and Proprietary2

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Agenda
– Brief overview of Drupal
– History/evolution of Drupal releases
– Drupal 8, 9, and the future
– Practical advice for site builders

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#1: Flexible framework

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#2: Amazing community

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#3: Cutting edge of technology

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Drupal 8: Overview
Graphic courtesy of
themesnap.com

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Modern, Object-Oriented PHP
• Cleaner
• Well structured
• Improved consistency
• Testable
• Design patterns

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Improved Theming
• Twig library
• Simplified syntax
• Separation of logic + presentation
• Improved Security
• Template Inheritance and Overrides

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https://www.slideshare.net/philipnorton42/
Configuration Management

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You can build REAL sites, out of the box.

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You can build REAL sites, out of the box.

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Maturing contrib ecosystem

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Drupal 8 is now the go-to release for most agencies

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Numerous success stories.

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A history of Drupal release management

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Overview
Drupal 5
Jan 2007 - Jan 2011
Drupal 6
Feb 2008 - Feb 2016
Drupal 8
Nov 2015 - Drupal 10
Drupal 7
Jan 2011 - Drupal 9

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Consequences
– “It’s done when it’s done” meant no one knew when to
expect new features / plan for migrations
– Little incentive for funded core dev = burnout
–Coupling new features with backwards compatibility breaks
limited innovation in core product
– “We’ll break your code, not your data” = people often stayed
on release until EOL, then faced painful upgrade path

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D8 Semantic Versioning: New capabilities every 6 months
Drupal 8.2.0
October 5, 2016
• Content Moderation*
• Settings Tray*
• Date Ranges
• REST API++
Drupal 8.3.0
April 5, 2017
• CKEditor++
• New Status
Report
Drupal 8.4.0
October 4, 2017
• Media API
• Layout API
• jQuery/Symfony
3
Drupal 8.5.0
March 7, 2018
Layout Builder?
Demo Install?
Workspaces?
Drupal 8.1.0
April 20, 2016
• Migrate UI*
• Big Pipe
• Tours
• JS Testing

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*With* Backwards Compatibility!
https://dri.es/making-drupal-upgrades-easy-forever

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Introducing “LTS” releases / “security fixes only” stage

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Innovation through “experimental” modules

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Benefits
– Predictable release schedule that both end users and core
developers can plan and organize around.
– Site builders can acquire powerful new functionality without
reinventing site.
– Opportunities to get end-user feedback and evolve features
over time (vs. being “stuck” with whatever shipped in 8.0.0).
– Drupal 9 becomes just a normal “minor” release, with
backwards-compatibility layers dropped.

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Drupal 9

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Drupal 9: When? Here are the pre-requisites:
https://www.drupal.org/node/2608062

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Putting into practice

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#1: Know the release schedule.
https://www.drupal.org/core/release-cycle-overview

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Supported release
Supported releaseDevelopment
Alp
ha
Bet
a
RC
Supported releaseDevelopment
Alp
ha
Bet
a
RC
SupportedDevelopment
Alp
ha
Bet
a
RC
Y1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9 M10 M11 Y2 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8

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#2: Keep abreast of forthcoming changes.
https://www.drupal.org/list-changes/drupal

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#2: Keep abreast of forthcoming changes.
https://groups.drupal.org/core

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#3: Understand what backwards-compatibility means.
https://www.drupal.org/core/d8-bc-policy

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#4: Read the release notes for “gotchas.”
e.g. https://www.drupal.org/project/drupal/releases/8.4.0

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#5: Preview the goals for 8.5.0 and beyond
https://www.drupal.org/core/roadmap
Migrate Media Layout API-First Workflow
Outside-In Out-of-the-Box JavaScript
Framework
Automated
Updates

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But, these things don’t happen without help!

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#6: Get involved!
https://www.drupal.org/core/roadmap
• Stable migration path
• oEmbed (e.g. YouTube) support
• Media Library
• JSON API
• Automatic Updates /
Improved Composer Support
• Layout Builder
• Workspaces
• Full-Site Previews
• Demo Content + Theme
• React vs. Vue vs. Web
Components vs…

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#6: Get involved!
https://www.drupal.org/getting-involved
Design /
Theming
Automated
tests / QA
PHP
Accessibility
Peer Review
Project
Management
Documentatio
n
Architecture
HTML / CSSJS User
Experience
Testing

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But I’m still on Drupal 7!

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If it’s working for you, that’s fine! (Until Drupal 9.)
But if D8 offers features you want, consider earlier adoption.

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Monitor the contributed modules you need.
https://www.drupal.org/project/issues/contrib_tracker

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Test the migration path.
https://www.drupal.org/docs/8/upgrade/upgrading-from-drupal-6-or-7-to-
drupal-8

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So, don’t delay; try Drupal 8 today!
https://www.drupal.org/8
https://www.drupal.org/docs/user_guide/en/index.html
https://api.drupal.org/api/drupal

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