Are you ready for Drupal 9? If you are still at lost on some of the most important details about D9, fret not, we’re here to give you a rundown on everything, anything, and all things you need to know about the latest version of this wonderful CMS.
When Is It Launching?
Straight from the horse’s mouth, we could expect to get our hands on Drupal 9 on June 3, 2020 at the earliest or August 5, 2020 at the latest. The release date of D9 will also be the same as that of a long-term support (LTS) release of Drupal 8. With this, if you are a current user of the D8 and planning to upgrade, it is important for you to prepare for Drupal 9 as early as now.
What Are Differences Between Drupal 8 and Drupal 9?
As the tech experts who are closely monitoring the new release said, there’s nothing major to expect in the upgrade. If you are used to using D8, you should not have a hard time switching to D9. They say that you almost cannot see and feel the changes. So, that is a great news for D8 users as they don’t have to spend so much time familiarizing with the features and modules of the newly upgraded platform.
However, the major change is that Drupal 9 is that it is going to feature backward compatibility. With this, upgrading from D8 to D9 should be a breeze. Another noteworthy difference is that Drupal 9 is that it will be supported with crucial security fixes beyond November 2021.
What Will Happen to Drupal 8?
If you plan to stick with D8 a little longer, make sure to be in the loop for the LTS minor release for Drupal 8, which will happen on the same date as the release of the Drupal 9. According to Drupal, in such case that the D9 release is pushed back to December 2, 2020, D8 users may expect an 8.10 version. And expect only to get patch releases once D9 is launched, and don’t expect new features and minor releases for your D8. Lastly, support for Drupal 8 will end in November 2021.
How to Upgrade from D8 to D9?
As promised by its creators, upgrading to Drupal 9 should be a walk in the park, provided that “your corebase does not use deprecated APIs.” If you are not sure if your site has deprecated APIs, you can use a tool that will help you identify and fix them. Since D9 was made with D8 users in mind, upgrading should not be a laborious task but this does not mean you don’t have to prepare for Drupal 9. Talk with your people who handle your CMS solutions beforehand so you would know if your site will have no problems once you upgrade.
When Will be End of Life for Drupal 9?
According to Drupal, the life date of D9 is yet to be determined. In their website, it said: “Since Drupal 9 will be based on Symfony 4.4, its lifetime will at least be bound by Symfony 4’s November 2023 end of life.” Moreover, according to the Drupal team, there are already plans for the Drupal 10. The release date of D10 will of course be relative to the end of life of Drupal 9.
If you would like to upgrade from Drupal 7 or 8 to Drupal 9, the best time prepare is now. Make sure that your site does not contain deprecated APIs so the upgrade will be smooth and hassle-free. In such a case that you are not certain, you can always talk with a digital product consultancy company that can help you make the switch.
