Drupal is a powerful CMS and is significant in content management systems. Keeping updated Drupal core is one of the main things to keep the site secure and also helps deliver a better user experience.
As an older version of Drupal, you have equal more risks on your site. To keep updating it’s not just a matter of a new design, it’s more about improving security, performance enhancements, and increasing the functionality of the site in general.
If your site is using Drupal 7, I'd say this isn't even a recommendation, but a very high-priority thing to do. Security support for Drupal 7 ends on January 5, 2025. This is the last extension of Drupal 7's lifetime - Drupal 7 will no longer receive security support after this date.
Here is the list of benefits of upgrading your site to Drupal 10, in my opinion:
Webserver
Apache 2.4.7 or higher, Nginx 1.1 or higher, or any other web server with proper PHP support. More details about web server requirements.
Database
More details about database requirements.
Memory
Be aware of the limitations of 32-bit PHP.
PHP
More details about PHP requirements.
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The upgrading process depends on which Drupal version you have on your site. If your site uses Drupal 8 first of all you need to upgrade Drupal to the 9 version and only then to the 10 version.
I used official instructions on the drupal.org for updating:
But if your site uses Drupal 7, then the upgrading process is more complex and requires additional effort. The differences between Drupal 7 and Drupal 10 are significant, as Drupal has undergone several major updates and improvements over the years.
I won't go into details, but to keep the current functionality of the site, all modules have to be migrated to support Drupal 8 or higher, especially if it’s related to the sites that use custom modules.
Migrating directly from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9 and 10 is now supported with the core Migrate module. The Migrate Drupal module provides the capabilities for importing data from Drupal 6 and 7 to Drupal 9 and 10. Migrate Drupal uses the APIs and underlying capabilities provided by the Migrate module.
Be ready to be faced with too many problems during the update process. Let me go through several of them which I have had in my experience.
The instruction said to use the Upgrade Status module to check the compatibility of all modules and themes with the desirable Drupal version (9 or 10).
The main goal is to reach 100% compatibility. Quite possibly your site uses contrib modules that are outdated and aren’t supported by the maintainer, and It’s good if these modules have at least automated Drupal 10 compatibility fixes. If not, then you need to create the patch with custom fixes.
With custom modules, it’s a bit easier. Some of the compatibility issues you can fix by Rector and some of them you need to update manually. Rector can save you a lot of manual work by automating code upgrades to Drupal 9, and 10. It’s safe time a lot. That is a good approach to use it.
Once you reach 100% compatibility, be prepared to deal with other issues. The problem is that many of these projects or modules have patches available to make them compatible, but the maintainers still need to commit them. Usually, site owners would download a project and then apply patches to ensure compatibility. However, on https://packages.drupal.org/8, these projects are listed as compatible only with earlier versions of Drupal. This restriction prevents Composer from downloading the project into a codebase with a newer version of Drupal, making the patching process difficult. Therefore, patching alone is not enough. A solution is needed to bypass the version constraints enforced by this remote endpoint. I used Drupal's Lenient Composer Endpoint. The Drupal community introduced a flexible Composer tool that adjusted the drupal/core constraint for packages. This adjustment aimed to remove obstacles in getting extensions installed via Composer to work effectively in transitioning modules to Drupal 9 compatibility. You can find more information on how to use it by following this link on drupal.org.
After updating Drupal all site functionality has to be checked for any errors. From my experience, there are always a few issues after updating, like missing dependencies, permissions, etc.
In conclusion, upgrading to Drupal 10 is crucial for organizations wanting to stay at the cutting edge of digital innovation and keep a secure, efficient web presence. Although the upgrade process might seem challenging initially, the benefits of Drupal 10 far outweigh the difficulties. With better performance, enhanced security features, and a modernized architecture, Drupal 10 allows organizations to provide exceptional digital experiences to their audiences. By following best practices, planning carefully, and using the many resources available from the Drupal community, organizations can successfully complete the upgrade and unlock Drupal 10's full potential. Upgrading to Drupal 10 helps your organization stay agile, competitive, and ready to meet the changing needs of your users. It's better to keep Drupal updated with each release rather than doing it once a year or less often.