Migration from Drupal 7 to Drupal 10: A Comprehensive Guide

With the end of life (EOL) for Drupal 7 scheduled for January 2025, the need to migrate to a more modern version, such as Drupal 10, has become essential for businesses, organizations, and developers using Drupal. Upgrading from Drupal 7 to Drupal 10 isn’t just a version change — it’s a significant shift in architecture, features, and user experience. This article aims to provide an in-depth overview of the migration process, challenges, benefits, and best practices.

Why Migrate from Drupal 7?

Drupal 7 has served its purpose for more than a decade, but the landscape of web development has dramatically evolved. Continuing to run a website on an outdated platform like Drupal 7 exposes you to several risks:

•Security Vulnerabilities: Drupal 7 will no longer receive security updates after its EOL, making sites more vulnerable to attacks.

•Incompatibility with Modern Web Technologies: With outdated architecture, Drupal 7 struggles to integrate with modern tools and frameworks.

•Performance Issues: Sites running on Drupal 7 cannot take advantage of the performance improvements that come with newer versions.

•Lack of Support: Modules and themes for Drupal 7 are being deprecated as developers shift their focus to more recent versions.

Migrating to Drupal 10, on the other hand, offers long-term support, enhanced security, and performance, as well as cutting-edge features.

Migrating from Drupal 7 to Drupal 10 involves a major leap in terms of technology, architecture, and user experience.

Key Changes Between Drupal 7 and Drupal 10

Migrating from Drupal 7 to Drupal 10 involves a major leap in terms of technology, architecture, and user experience. Key differences include:

•Theme Engine: Drupal 7 uses the PHPTemplate engine, while Drupal 10 uses Twig, a modern templating engine that provides a cleaner and more flexible approach to theming.

•Configuration Management: Drupal 10 has a robust configuration management system that allows developers to export, manage, and import configurations between environments easily. This feature is missing in Drupal 7.

•Composer-Based Dependency Management: Drupal 10 fully embraces Composer, making it easier to manage third-party libraries and modules. This wasn’t a feature in Drupal 7, where dependencies were often handled manually.

•Modern PHP: Drupal 10 requires PHP 8.1+, while Drupal 7 only required PHP 5.2+. This change reflects the need for more advanced, faster, and secure PHP functionality.

•CKEditor 5: Drupal 10 comes with CKEditor 5, providing a more modern and flexible content editing experience compared to the old WYSIWYG editors in Drupal 7.

Migration Process: Step-by-Step

Migrating from Drupal 7 to Drupal 10 is not an in-place upgrade but a complex migration that requires careful planning. Below is a step-by-step guide to executing a successful migration:

1. Plan Your Migration

The first step is to assess your current Drupal 7 website, including:

•Content Types and Fields: Identify all custom content types, taxonomies, and fields that need to be migrated.

•Modules: Evaluate which contributed and custom modules you’re using in Drupal 7, and check their availability in Drupal 10. In some cases, you’ll need to find alternatives or custom-build solutions.

•Themes: Drupal 10 uses a completely different theming system, so you’ll need to recreate your theme.

•Custom Code: Review any custom code in your Drupal 7 installation and assess how it can be adapted or rewritten for Drupal 10.

2. Set Up a New Drupal 10 Environment

Before beginning the migration, set up a clean Drupal 10 installation in a development environment. Use Composer to manage your dependencies:

composer create-project drupal/recommended-project my_site_name_dir

This command will create a new Drupal 10 installation with the latest modules and dependencies.

3. Migrate Data Using Migrate API

Drupal provides a powerful Migrate API that helps migrate data from older versions like Drupal 7 to the newer version. The Migrate API comes with core modules (migrate, migrate_drupal, and migrate_drupal_ui) that handle much of the heavy lifting.

•Enable Migrate Modules: First, enable the necessary migration modules in your Drupal 10 site:
drush en migrate migrate_drupal migrate_drupal_ui

•Migrate Database: You’ll need access to the Drupal 7 database to migrate data. Set the connection in your settings.php file:
$databases[‘drupal7’][‘default’] = array (
‘database’ => ‘databasename’,
‘username’ => ‘username’,
‘password’ => ‘password’,
‘host’ => ‘localhost’,
‘driver’ => ‘mysql’,
);

•Run Migration: The Migrate Drupal UI module provides a user interface for performing the migration. Navigate to /upgrade and follow the steps provided.

Alternatively, you can use Drush commands to perform the migration:
drush migrate-upgrade —legacy-db-url=mysql://user:password@localhost/dbname —legacy-root=/path/to/drupal7

This command will start the migration process, transferring data like content types, nodes, users, and taxonomies from Drupal 7 to Drupal 10.

4. Theme Migration

As mentioned, themes from Drupal 7 won’t directly transfer to Drupal 10. Instead, you’ll need to rebuild your theme using Twig and the new theming system. Consider using Drupal 10’s core themes, such as Olivero, as a base theme and customizing it to suit your needs.

5. Module Replacement and Custom Code Updates

Check for contributed modules you’re using in Drupal 7 that have Drupal 10 equivalents. In some cases, modules may not yet be ported, requiring custom solutions. For custom code, you’ll need to adapt it to comply with modern PHP standards and the new Drupal APIs.

6. Testing and Validation

Once the migration is complete, thoroughly test your new Drupal 10 site. Verify that:

•All content has migrated correctly.

•Custom functionality is working as expected.

•Permissions, user roles, and workflows are intact.

Testing across different environments (local, staging, and production) is essential to ensure a smooth launch.

Common Challenges and How to Overcome Them

1. Outdated or Unsupported Modules: Not all Drupal 7 modules have been ported to Drupal 10. In these cases, you’ll need to find alternatives or create custom solutions.

2. Theme Migration: Rebuilding themes from scratch can be time-consuming, especially if your Drupal 7 site has a highly customized front-end.

3. Custom Code Compatibility: Drupal 7 custom code might not be compatible with the architecture of Drupal 10, requiring significant refactoring.

Benefits of Migrating to Drupal 10

The challenges involved in migrating from Drupal 7 to 10 are outweighed by the benefits:

•Enhanced Security: Drupal 10 comes with improved security features, including regular updates and support for modern encryption standards.

•Performance Improvements: With a modern architecture and support for PHP 8.1+, Drupal 10 is faster and more efficient.

•Modern User Experience: Both site administrators and end-users benefit from a more modern, responsive, and intuitive interface.

•Future-Proofing: Migrating to Drupal 10 now positions your site for future updates and ensures that it will continue to be supported for years to come.

Conclusion

Migrating from Drupal 7 to Drupal 10 is a significant but necessary undertaking. With careful planning, the right tools, and a methodical approach, your organization can benefit from the enhanced security, performance, and features that come with Drupal 10. Taking this step not only ensures that your site remains functional and secure, but also that it stays future-ready in the evolving landscape of web development.