drupal

Have you ever faced any problems on your Drupal websites coming from Drupal core, its contributed modules and themes or do you want to enhance their functionality as per your requirement which can't be possible through your custom modules? As you know we can't apply code directly there, then what could be the solution for this?  Well, patching those codes might just be the solution you're looking for.

In this blog, we'll talk about the process of creating and applying patches using git diff and git apply commands and we will also apply patches through composer install command. By applying patches you can achieve all your requirements before this you must have good coding skills to understand Drupal code.

This article was updated in May 2024.

As a marketing leader, you need to drive traffic to your site and create a superior user experience. But you also need to push your content out to a variety of channels so you can reach your audience where they are.

To achieve your goals, you need a content management system (CMS) that’s flexible, scalable, and efficient. And if you’re researching your options, you’ve probably heard a lot about composable CMSs.

Every marketer and content editor deserves solutions that deliver outstanding results. Check how a preconfigured Drupal CMS can make your daily work easier!

This is a guest post by Kana Patrick who is a world-class Drupal migration expert.

As the impending end of life for Drupal 7 draws near, the necessity for website owners to consider their migration options becomes increasingly urgent. While the prevailing trend in the Drupal community leans towards transitioning to Drupal 10 to leverage its modern features, some are hesitant due to the associated costs.

In this discourse, we advocate for a different approach by presenting compelling reasons to shift your website from Drupal 7 to Backdrop CMS if you have not already done so.

Embracing Backdrop CMS

Backdrop CMS emerges as a noteworthy contender in the realm of content management systems, originating as a fork from Drupal 7. Conceived in 2013 by Nate Lampton and Jen Lampton, this platform sought to streamline and enhance the foundational code of Drupal 7 while maintaining cost-effectiveness for users.

The reluctance of many website owners to depart from Drupal 7 may stem from financial constraints, sentimental attachment to the platform, or various other factors. However, the looming conclusion of Drupal 7’s lifecycle, coupled with the cessation of community support, prompts a reevaluation of alternatives.

A viable solution lies in transitioning directly to Backdrop CMS, offering a cost-effective migration path that preserves much of the original project’s structure since both systems share a common API rooted in Drupal 7.

Despite its nascent community, the Backdrop project signifies a supportive ecosystem that can aid in the growth of your endeavors, a valuable asset for those seeking assistance and collaboration.

Advantages of Migrating to Backdrop CMS

• Backdrop CMS inherits the strengths of Drupal 7 while introducing distinct features.
• It boasts modest system requirements, translating to affordable hosting solutions.
• Unique functionalities absent in Drupal core are seamlessly integrated into Backdrop’s core framework.
• Backdrop furnishes a robust foundation with extensive extensibility through contributed modules, harnessing the full capabilities of Drupal.
• Scheduled updates and version releases provide a predictable timeline, mitigating uncertainties surrounding module updates.

In conclusion, Backdrop CMS emerges as a compelling alternative for Drupal 7 projects facing obsolescence. Evaluating the migration effort from Drupal 7 to 10 against a transition to Backdrop CMS presents an intriguing comparison. Should you require guidance or support in your migration journey to Backdrop CMS, do not hesitate to reach out for assistance.

Acquia is sponsoring me full-time to operate as the tech lead for Experience Builder — thanks!

Dries announced the formal start of the Experience Builder initiative at DrupalCon Portland 2024, on May 6. Shortly before DrupalCon, Drupal core product manager Lauri already shared the findings of the deep & wide research he conducted in prior months.

During the (entire!) month of March, Lauri walked some members of Acquia’s Drupal Acceleration Team (Ben “bnjmnm”, Ted “tedbow” Bowman, 
“hooroomoo”, Alex “effulgentsia” Bronstein, Tim Plunkett and I) as well as the lead front-end and lead back-end developer of Acquia’s Site Studio team (Felix Mazeikis and Jesse Baker) through the product requirements that were identified for Drupal to leapfrog its competitors on this front.
We spent that month understanding those requirements and do an initial pass at sizing them. To be able to refine the estimates, we started building proof-of-concepts for the riskiest areas. For example, I started one for dynamically loading a different “design version”, and a few days later another one for validating the data model proposed by Alex.

These proof-of-concepts have been shared with long-time Drupal core contributors while they were being worked on — for example, we asked feedback from Mateu “e0ipso” at Lullabot from the very start since Single Directory Components are his brain child. We asked feedback from Lee “larowlan” Rowlands at PreviousNext given his work on Decoupled Layout Builder. And so on.
They’re hacky as hell — the purpose was to explore connections between concepts and check viability.

At DrupalCon, Dries revealed that he’d love to see organizations using Drupal to contribute back significantly to both Starshot (the other announcement, which will include Experience Builder once it’s ready). So at DrupalCon, Lauri and I found many people asking us how to start contributing — an excellent new challenge to have!

We’re currently in an awkward phase to welcome contributors. Because  despite a clear product ambition/vision, we are in the very early stages of defining the concrete UX (Acquia’s UX team is working on wireframes and did user testing at DrupalCon). And during DrupalCon, there was no code base to point to!

So, during the week after DrupalCon, hooroomoo got a 0.x branch of Experience Builder going, cooking up a delightful hodgepodge of various PoC branches we’d worked on.
On Thursday May 16, Lauri and I met with 6 (!!!) people of the PreviousNext team, where they have not only serious Drupal core expertise, but also deep Layout Builder and JS knowledge — they offered to run the asynchronous meetings in the #experience-builder Drupal Slack channel. They’ve used this pattern before with great success, and it is the only viable way to truly involve the global Drupal community.
 

By the end of the week I got GitLab CI pipelines going (PHPStan L8!). Ready for more serious work in week 2 :)

• Drupal
• Acquia
• Experience Builder