Your Drupal 8 Website has reached End of Life: Here’s what you should do!

Why you need to take action on your Drupal 8 Website Immediately!

Change is the only thing constant with the evolution of life. Ever since humanity's existence, there have been progressive changes providing us humans with the next life cycle. Drupal 8 reaching its "End of Life" stage is another step in the evolution cycle.

As of November 2nd, 2021, Drupal 8 has officially ceased to exist. So what does "End of Life" means in terms of Drupal? 

What is to expect on Drupal 9, and what are the main reasons for the closure? 

And, why is Drupal 8 reaching the end of life and not Drupal 7?  

In this article, we hope to answer all of this and a little bit more.

Drupal 8 

Drupal 8 was one of the most popular versions, and it brought in the next level of innovation in how content and configurations get stored in the database. Drupal 8.0.0 was first released on November 9th, 2015, and the last version of this cycle was released on November 17th. 

Drupal 8 had everything out of the box for a seamless experience for mobile users. Built with a mobile-first policy, Drupal 8 gave the creators and developers the power to fully responsive sites where all elements would magically adapt to the screen. 

What Drupal 8 did was to take the already thriving and efficient content management ecosystem to even greater heights. This process made life easy for the administrators, developers, and end-user. Its out-of-the-box multilingual featured built-in translations, allowing developers to add languages and translations easily. 

The version gave more power to the developer, opening up a wide range of opportunities and ease of access. The comfort of getting features deployed in record time and the support for HTML5 made Drupal 8 a hot favorite. 

End of Life – what does it mean? 

Before we break down the nitty gritty's of the upgrade, let's understand what End Of Life (EOL) means in software terms. EOL refers to when the software's core developers will stop making changes to that version and officially end support for any issues. 

In other words, this means that the development team will no longer be bringing in new developments, responding to support requests, and releasing patches of that specific software version. 

Let's take a real-life example to understand this better. You have a ship that is anchored in the harbor. While it is anchored, there is a swift flow of rations to the boarded passengers and crew. If there is an issue in the engine room, technical experts would be boarding the ship-to address the problems immediately. 

There is an information flow from the ship's radio communication to the radio tower on the developments. 

But when the ship lifts its anchor and sails away, all the resources and support it receives from the port are cut off, which would mark the end of the entire process. And the implication is that once the anchorage is lifted, there will be no further communication or aid from the external world. 

The supplies and support will soon run out while the ship floats around. The vessel will soon be vulnerable to threats in the waters but now have no option of seeking out support. 

Just like that, end-of-life is where everything will officially stop – there's no going back. 

Why is Drupal 8 reaching EOL? 

As of November 2nd, Drupal 8 has reached its EOL – which means there will be no further improvements on the software, and all the development efforts will move towards Drupal 9 and 10. 

The security team will officially stop looking for security flaws and focus on fixing them. With Drupal 8 being open-source, some of the maintainers who played an integral role in the Drupal 8 modules will continue to support them even after the day of doom. 

But their trajectory is also focused on progressing towards the latest version. When Drupal 6 reached its EOL, several small-scale vendors also took the initiative to support the software to a certain extent because there was a commercial value in it. 

But with Drupal 8, they have no reason to do so. 

The main reason behind the transition from 8 to 9 is all to do with the framework, and it is one of the reasons why Drupal 7 is currently in progress and has not reached EOL. 

With Drupal 8 becoming dependent on the Symfony 3 framework, it is natural to bring it to EOL, considering that Symfony 3 is reaching its EOL. There is a requirement for Drupal to be updated to work with Symfony 4. The primary difference that differentiates 8 & 9 is this framework. 

In the case of Drupal 7, the scenario is way different. The software does not have these dependencies. So, the software is not aligned with the component's lifecycle. The plans were initially in place for Drupal 7 to reach EOL with Drupal 8, but the pandemic might have extended the lifetime of the 7th version by at least another year. 

What happens to your website? 

If you're hearing about the Drupal 8 transition right now, you have nothing too much to worry about. There is nothing serious happening to your existing website. But with the lack of support and the security fixes, there will be gaps opening up in your website 3-4 months down the road. 

It can reach a point where your entire bottom line will start to get affected, and your website will be prone to attacks from external parties. Severe circumstances can result in data theft, cybersecurity attacks. 

The transition – Drupal 8 to Drupal 9 

Sites built using Drupal 8 are officially out of the support cycle if you have not made the switch. The primary concern will be the end of security updates from the security teams. 

Drupal 9 was released in June 2020, and 9.1 was launched shortly after. Since then, there have been incremental upgrades every six months. The Drupal 9 release was relatively straightforward, and the upgrade to 9 was a smooth process, according to Dries Buytaert, the founder of the ecosystem. It took Drupal 7 seven months to go from zero to 60k websites, and Drupal 8 took eight months. 

In contrast, Drupal 8 took just a month. 

The transition from Drupal 8 to Drupal 9 isn't complicated, and the transition will be easy if you are upto date on your Drupal 8 version. But there are a few things to consider. 

State of the modules in use: Most commonly used modules are already compatible with 9. If your project has modules that are not compatible as of yet (Jan 2022), it might be challenging to make the switch. 

The ideal way forward will be to consider alternative components that are compatible. 

State of the custom code: API changes and code depreciation will need to be updated in the project. These can be minor changes. 

Hosting environment: Sometimes, based on the account you are hosting, you will need to update a few core technologies such as the existing PHP version, the database, and the search platforms you use to make it work. 

Drupal 9's Implications for sites on Drupal 7

The creators officially extended support for Drupal 7 until November 28th, 2022. This decision was made, considering the COVID-19 pandemic that bought a halt to several developments.

There is also an option to transition directly from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9, thanks to Drupal 9's core migrate module supporting this kind of transition. Even with this support, there is a significant challenge in making the switch.

But sooner the transition is made, it would be easier in the long run, or come 2022, you will be facing even more complications in making the transfer. 

How Xenyo is helping customers make the switch!

At Xenyo, we've been proactive campaigners for the Drupal 9 transition. We knew that this day would come, and we were planning to ensure that everyone was informed and had all the necessary information to make the switch. 

We understand that each project has its unique functionalities unique needs, and that's why we manage our processes smoothly to ensure that each task we undertake gets the right amount of attention. 

If you're currently running your website on Drupal 8 and haven't still made the switch – every day you spend without making the transition, you are losing out and opening space for vulnerable threats. You are also missing out on a massive advantage that comes along. 

So, if you are interested in making the switch, the team at Xenyo can be the most trusted choice in helping you see a smooth journey from Drupal 8 to 9. Reach out today and allow our team of in-house experts to assess your website and provide you with a quote.