The end-of-life of Drupal 7 and Drupal 8
Software systems only last for a certain amount of time and they also have an end-of-life date. The end-of-life means that, according to the manufacturer, a product has reached the end of the life cycle and the product is no longer sold or promoted. This moment has arrived for Drupal 7 and also for Drupal 8. When is this date? And what does this mean for you as a Drupal 7 or Drupal 8 user? You can read it here.
End-of-life
The end-of-life date of Drupal 7 and Drupal 8 is November 2021. Drupal will stop with the two current systems. This is very special because normally the end-of-life of one system is announced so that current users can switch to the newer version. Instead of that Drupal decided to stop with the two current versions while Drupal 9 was not yet available.
You may be wondering: "why do Drupal 7 and Drupal 8 have the same end-of-life date?" Drupal has a very good answer to this. Dries Buytaert the founder of Drupal says that this has to do with two things. He says: "Because a large number of sites may still use Drupal 7 until 2020, we have decided to extend support for Drupal 7 until November 2021. Drupal 7 will receive community support for another three full years." And what about Drupal 8? Here too Dries has the answer: “Our biggest support in Drupal 8 is Symfony 3, and according to the Symfony roadmap, the end-of-life date of Symfony 3 is November 2021. This means that security issues in Symfony 3 after November 2021 cannot be resolved. To keep the Drupal sites safe, Drupal must use Symfony 4 or Symfony 5 before Symfony 3 is approaching the end of its life. This means that the life of Drupal 8 can last until November 2021 at the latest."
UPDATE END-OF-LIFE DRUPAL 7
Due to the pandemic, Drupal has announced that the end-of-life date of Drupal 7 will be moved to November 2022. The end-of-life date of Drupal 8 will be the same as communicated before, November 2021.
Do you want to know what the end-of-life timeline from Drupal 7 and 8 to Drupal 9 looks like? Then download the Drupal 9 roadmap now.
Switch to Drupal 8?
Now that you know that both Drupal 7 and Drupal 8 are end-of-life, you may be wondering if you still need to switch from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8? The answer is yes. There are multiple points that need to be taken into account. The life expectancy of the site is one. If the life expectancy of your Drupal 7 site is no longer than November 2022, you do not have to switch. If you have the ambition to continue with your website after November 2022, then it is wise to still upgrade to Drupal 8. As a result, your website is not outdated in November 2022. Getting from Drupal 8 to Drupal 9 is considered an update. The switch from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 is not an update, but an upgrade. Also, if you want to have a Drupal 9 site, you first need to have your site running on the latest Drupal 8 version available. More info about the migration you can find here.
