Drupal 8
Drupal 8 has reached end of life: how to look after the sites still on it
Drupal 8 has had no fixes since 2 November 2021, yet about one Drupal site in ten still runs it. More than half of those are on 8.9, the last minor.
The problem
Stuck on Symfony 3 and old PHP.
Drupal 8 depends on Symfony 3, itself out of support, and often runs on PHP 7.1-7.3. New flaws in core and libraries stay open.
Moving to Drupal 9 is a Composer update, but it needs compatible modules and PHP 7.3 or later, so it gets postponed.
How it works
Watch now, upgrade later.
- 1
Module for 8.9
The same module as on Drupal 9, 10 and 11, tested on Drupal 8.9 with PHP 7.1 and 7.3.
- 2
Checks
End-of-life alert, insecure module releases, core integrity, suspicious files, new administrators.
- 3
Upgrade
We tested the real move from 8.9 to 9.5 with Composer and
drush updatedb: one notification, clean core.
In detail
In detail.
- Drupal 8.9, from the archive or with Composer
- PHP 7.1 and 7.3 tested
- Core modules installed by
updatedbduring the upgrade raise no alerts - Encrypted backups before the upgrade, with a tested restore
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What about Drupal 8.8 or earlier?
We do not support them: drupal.org counts about 18,700 sites on them altogether, against 22,400 on 8.9 alone.
Which version should I move to?
Drupal 10 or 11. From 8.9 you go to 9.5 first, then to 10.
Related features
Goes well with
Try it on your clients' sites.
During the beta we let in a few agencies at a time and set up the first sites with you.