Preparing your site to upgrade to a newer major version

The official release date of Drupal 10 was 14th December 2022 and the latest version is about to be released in 2024. With the end of life of Drupal 7 is about to come on 5th January 2025, and the Drupal 9 having its EOL on 1st November, and now it’s time for Drupal users to plan for their site’s upgrade.

Advanced features and a more refined and updated version of Drupal 9 can be found in Drupal 10. Upgrading to Drupal 10 should be simple for users of Drupal 9, as it follows the software's general pattern of smaller, more gradual updates and faster iterations.

In this article, we’ll talk about some of the new features Drupal 10 has to offer and why you should consider moving to Drupal 10 sooner rather than later.

Drupal 10: an improved experience for everyone

Drupal 10 is all about improving the experience for everyone.

The admin interface of Claro is easily navigable and user-friendly, and the new CKEditor 5 provides content editors with an enhanced text editing experience.

Drupal 10 will make Drupal more user-friendly for non-technical people by introducing tools like Project Browser and Automatic Updates for site owners and builders. The Decoupled Menus effort suggests a common headless approach that benefits developers, while the new Starterkit theme offers a fresh perspective on theme development. With these enhancements, Drupal should become more user-friendly for all users and inspire them to discover all of its possibilities.

How do you upgrade to Drupal 10?

Checking the version of Drupal your business is currently using is a good place to start. To do this, go to Administration>Reports>Status report to see your Drupal core version number plus details about your installation.

To upgrade to Drupal 10, users must ensure they are running Drupal 9.4 or later, if not already, and update to Drupal 9.4 if not. Before upgrading to version 10, Drupal 8 users must update to Drupal 9.4 or later. Migrating your website to Drupal 10 requires copying over all older software's apps, which will be discussed in more detail.

Drupal 9's release date saw 71% of contributed projects using deprecated APIs have automated conversions, while Drupal inventor Dries Buytaert reports that 93% of deprecated API uses for Drupal 10 across all contributed projects have automated conversions.

Upgrading from Drupal 9 to Drupal 10

Drupal 9 and Drupal 10's architectures allow for codebase upgrades without rebuilding or content transfer, making upgrading simpler and less complex for those with less custom code. This means less customization is required for the upgrade process.

Before transferring your website, be aware of the new dependencies, such as Symfony 6.2, which will be automatically updated if you upgrade to Drupal 10 using Composer, which manages your codebase.

Before upgrading to Drupal 10, ensure your hosting provider supports the latest PHP 8.1 or 8.2 versions. Drupal 10 replaces jQuery UI with contemporary JavaScript components, potentially impacting your project if you already use jQuery UI.

The Upgrade Status module allows for a personalized website inspection before maximizing the impact of an upgrade, ensuring modules are prepared for Drupal 10 and identifying any deprecated code that needs to be addressed.

Once you’re ready to upgrade, follow these steps:

• Check infrastructure requirements (PHP 8.1)
• Update your current site to the latest version of Drupal 9 (9.4.8 or 9.5)
• Update your contrib projects to Drupal 10 compatible versions (most of them are compatible with D9 and 10 so you can upgrade and prepare for D10 while you're still live on D9)
• Update custom projects and missing contrib modules (you can use Drupal Rector to automate this process)
• Once all your projects are ready, update the core to Drupal 10

Migrating from Drupal 7 to Drupal 10

Migrating from Drupal 9 to 10 is less complex than migrating from Drupal 7 to 10, but requires careful preparation due to significant changes in the content model and APIs.

Migrating from Drupal 9 to 10 is less complex than migrating from Drupal 7 due to their distinct structures and the need for careful preparation due to significant changes in the content model and APIs.

The migration process in the digital world is iterative, prioritizing the experience for content providers and end users. It involves mapping Drupal 7 information to a new website, specifying the necessary information architecture, and using the transfer module to translate content from Drupal 7 to Drupal 10, ensuring to thoroughly examine legacy material for any outdated or unusable content that may need to be removed during the transfer process.

Migrating to the latest Drupal version can enhance your website by enhancing accessibility, reconsidering content strategy, and executing necessary content modifications, despite the challenges they may present.

When should my organization upgrade?

Drupal 7, the most widely used version of open source software globally, has been re-evaluated by the Drupal Association and set to end on 5th January 2025. Drupal 8 and 9 have already reached their EOL, meaning upgrading to Drupal 10 is the only way to receive new updates, development, and security upgrades from Drupal, as all other versions will no longer be supported.

Websites without support are susceptible to bugs, outages, and cyber attacks. Custom infrastructure configurations can be more expensive than migrating when it comes to the implementation and upkeep of security measures. Drupal 7 Core supports PHP 8 because PHP 7 has reached the end of its life, although custom and contrib modules might not. A website that is still using Drupal 7 can have incompatible requirements. Although Drupal is still evolving, new features will only be accessible in Drupal 10. As a result, planning your switch to Drupal 10 at this time is highly recommended.

It’s not too late, Need help?

Drupal users are over a year away from planning their migration to Drupal 10, but it's not too late, especially if you're from Drupal 7 or previous versions. Migration requires preparation and time, and it's also a great time to consider redesigning your website. Upgrading or moving can have positive effects and provide the digital experiences clients need today.

Now is the ideal moment to plan your transition to Drupal 10, regardless of the versions of Drupal you now use or even if you're considering switching from another CMS to Drupal. Use our contact form to get in touch with us right now.