
- #Drupal support end of life update
- #Drupal support end of life upgrade
- #Drupal support end of life software
#Drupal support end of life software
While you’ll continue to have some level of functionality with Drupal 7, there are risks because this software will cease to have the same level of support it enjoyed throughout its life, leaving you vulnerable in different ways. There are a number of risks if you choose to stay with Drupal 7 in the long term.
#Drupal support end of life update
The fact that Drupal has made clear that no further core commits (updates to its core code base) will be made to Drupal 7, any organization running on Drupal 7 will inevitably need to update its system in the future to avoid falling behind. Should you risk staying on Drupal 7?Įvery organization is different, and business pressures might be tempting you to stay with Drupal 7. While Drupal does provide tools and resources to help site owners and developers with the migration process – including migration modules, documentation, and community support – it is far from an easy automated process. Upgrading from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9 or 10 requires a significant migration, as these later versions have major architectural and API changes from Drupal 7. Just take a look at their own usage statistics below to see that usage of Drupal itself has been declining since its peak in 2015/2016 and that roughly half of its user base still remains on Drupal 7. The fact is – there are still so many organizations on Drupal 7, so Drupal can’t stop its support easily. We’ll say it for you…we’re struggling to follow this.

And then there’s Drupal 9, which already has Drupal 10 nipping at its heels with its new features – some of which are yet to be announced.
#Drupal support end of life upgrade
With the End of Life of Drupal 7 date still uncertain but inevitable, Drupal is encouraging Drupal 7 site owners to upgrade to either Drupal 9 or Drupal 10 before the EOL date.Ī lot has been happening over at Drupal, and customers have had to make a number of decisions quickly.ĭrupal 8 already reached its end of life in November 2021, while as we already mentioned, Drupal 7’s EoL keeps being pushed back. Why? COVID-19 was said to be a big part of it, but the reality is that such a large chunk of Drupal’s customer base remains on Drupal 7 (as we show further below), that the company is forced to keep refreshing its EoL date. In fact, Drupal now says, “We are announcing that moving forward, the scheduled Drupal 7 End-of-Life date will be re-evaluated annually.” And that’s where the trouble with Drupal 7 comes in.Īfter a decade of providing support for web applications with Drupal 7, the company announced that it would cease support by November 2021.īut that date has been pushed back not once but twice to November 2023. And throw in a bit of consistency, support, and reliability. What’s the most important thing for a manufacturer to provide during the End of Life process? Answers. Legal and regulatory compliance: If a product doesn’t meet the necessary compliance requirements, especially new laws that are introduced, the manufacturer or developer may choose to end support for it.Technological advancements: If a product becomes outdated or obsolete due to new technological advancements, the manufacturer or developer may end support for it and encourage users to migrate to newer and more advanced products.In the end, they have to make a profit and continue to evolve their product offering. A manufacturer may need to pull those resources for different reasons, from technological advances to business pressures. Cost and resources: Maintaining a product means allocating time, money, and personnel to it.This means that security updates, bug fixes, and other improvements are no longer released for the product.ĭevelopers and manufacturers end support for their products for a few reasons: "End of Life" (EOL) simply refers to the period of time when a product or software version no longer receives support from its manufacturer or developer.


What does “End of Life” mean, and why is it happening? This is stopping Drupal from settling on a firm date for the End of Life of Drupal 7, creating uncertainty amongst its customer base and community.Īs Digital Experience Platforms become increasingly sophisticated and built-for-purpose, it’s worth asking if the functionalities of Drupal 9 and the newly released Drupal 10 are worth the time and effort or if you should migrate to a different platform. But as we explore later on, its market share has been decreasing over the past several years, while many of its customers still choose to avoid updating their systems to later versions. For over a decade, Drupal 7 has acted as one of the leading open-source content management systems.
