Online update notes are hard to find

drupal 8.1.2 has been released, but I'm finding it difficult to find what to do with the patch release. In no particular order:

  1. The release page has no mention of what to do, to update an installation with a patch release.
  2. There is a link to "Learn how to install Drupal", but the destination page appears to deal with a fresh install
  3. After downloading the patch release, and unpacking 16,400 files to look at "README.TXT", it points you to the "UPDATE.TXT" file. Useful, but not intuitive to find.
  4. Named "patch" release, this suggests I treat the release as a set of patch files. Do I need a major release installed first, or can I install this as a stand-alone install as well?

Proposed resolution

  • The drupal 8.1.2 patch release page could do with one or more links to documentation explaining how to update.
  • Ideally, Drupal 8 should be able to update core itself, from within the program!

User interface changes

/admin/modules/update should also have a link to a page on how to update.

CommentFileSizeAuthor
#13 drupal_9_3_5___Drupal_org-2.png34.64 KBxjm
#13 drupal_9_3_5___Drupal_org.png186.11 KBxjm

Comments

iantresman created an issue. See original summary.

cilefen’s picture

cilefen commented
Category: Support request » Bug report

Version: 8.1.x-dev » 8.2.x-dev

Drupal 8.1.9 was released on September 7 and is the final bugfix release for the Drupal 8.1.x series. Drupal 8.1.x will not receive any further development aside from security fixes. Drupal 8.2.0-rc1 is now available and sites should prepare to upgrade to 8.2.0.

Bug reports should be targeted against the 8.2.x-dev branch from now on, and new development or disruptive changes should be targeted against the 8.3.x-dev branch. For more information see the Drupal 8 minor version schedule and the Allowed changes during the Drupal 8 release cycle.

Version: 8.2.x-dev » 8.3.x-dev

Drupal 8.2.6 was released on February 1, 2017 and is the final full bugfix release for the Drupal 8.2.x series. Drupal 8.2.x will not receive any further development aside from critical and security fixes. Sites should prepare to update to 8.3.0 on April 5, 2017. (Drupal 8.3.0-alpha1 is available for testing.)

Bug reports should be targeted against the 8.3.x-dev branch from now on, and new development or disruptive changes should be targeted against the 8.4.x-dev branch. For more information see the Drupal 8 minor version schedule and the Allowed changes during the Drupal 8 release cycle.

Version: 8.3.x-dev » 8.4.x-dev

Drupal 8.3.6 was released on August 2, 2017 and is the final full bugfix release for the Drupal 8.3.x series. Drupal 8.3.x will not receive any further development aside from critical and security fixes. Sites should prepare to update to 8.4.0 on October 4, 2017. (Drupal 8.4.0-alpha1 is available for testing.)

Bug reports should be targeted against the 8.4.x-dev branch from now on, and new development or disruptive changes should be targeted against the 8.5.x-dev branch. For more information see the Drupal 8 minor version schedule and the Allowed changes during the Drupal 8 release cycle.

Version: 8.4.x-dev » 8.5.x-dev

Drupal 8.4.4 was released on January 3, 2018 and is the final full bugfix release for the Drupal 8.4.x series. Drupal 8.4.x will not receive any further development aside from critical and security fixes. Sites should prepare to update to 8.5.0 on March 7, 2018. (Drupal 8.5.0-alpha1 is available for testing.)

Bug reports should be targeted against the 8.5.x-dev branch from now on, and new development or disruptive changes should be targeted against the 8.6.x-dev branch. For more information see the Drupal 8 minor version schedule and the Allowed changes during the Drupal 8 release cycle.

Version: 8.5.x-dev » 8.6.x-dev

Drupal 8.5.6 was released on August 1, 2018 and is the final bugfix release for the Drupal 8.5.x series. Drupal 8.5.x will not receive any further development aside from security fixes. Sites should prepare to update to 8.6.0 on September 5, 2018. (Drupal 8.6.0-rc1 is available for testing.)

Bug reports should be targeted against the 8.6.x-dev branch from now on, and new development or disruptive changes should be targeted against the 8.7.x-dev branch. For more information see the Drupal 8 minor version schedule and the Allowed changes during the Drupal 8 release cycle.

Version: 8.6.x-dev » 8.8.x-dev

Drupal 8.6.x will not receive any further development aside from security fixes. Bug reports should be targeted against the 8.8.x-dev branch from now on, and new development or disruptive changes should be targeted against the 8.9.x-dev branch. For more information see the Drupal 8 and 9 minor version schedule and the Allowed changes during the Drupal 8 and 9 release cycles.

Version: 8.8.x-dev » 8.9.x-dev

Drupal 8.8.7 was released on June 3, 2020 and is the final full bugfix release for the Drupal 8.8.x series. Drupal 8.8.x will not receive any further development aside from security fixes. Sites should prepare to update to Drupal 8.9.0 or Drupal 9.0.0 for ongoing support.

Bug reports should be targeted against the 8.9.x-dev branch from now on, and new development or disruptive changes should be targeted against the 9.1.x-dev branch. For more information see the Drupal 8 and 9 minor version schedule and the Allowed changes during the Drupal 8 and 9 release cycles.

Version: 8.9.x-dev » 9.2.x-dev

Drupal 8 is end-of-life as of November 17, 2021. There will not be further changes made to Drupal 8. Bugfixes are now made to the 9.3.x and higher branches only. For more information see the Drupal core minor version schedule and the Allowed changes during the Drupal core release cycle.

Version: 9.2.x-dev » 9.3.x-dev
quietone’s picture

quietone commented
Issue tags: +Bug Smash Initiative, +Needs release manager review

The current text for patch releases is:

This is a patch (bugfix) release of Drupal 9 and is ready for use on production sites. Learn more about Drupal 9.

Perhaps this?

This is a patch (bugfix) release of Drupal 9 and is ready for use on production sites. Sites should update as soon as possible.

xjm’s picture

xjm
she/her
Primary language English
commented
Issue summary: View changes
StatusFileSize
new drupal_9_3_5___Drupal_org.png186.11 KB
new drupal_9_3_5___Drupal_org-2.png34.64 KB

Hm, I don't agree with the proposed text in #12. It is not necessary for sites to update as soon as possible unless it is a security release. 1/3 of sites go from security release to security release without doing bugfix updates in between, and that is fine.

I'm also not sure about removing the "learn more about..." links; those are part of the content strategy for major releases.

Security releases already link the update instructions in a second paragraph that is above the teaser break. We could do that instead. E.g., something like:

This is a patch (bugfix) release of Drupal 9 and is ready for use on production sites. Learn more about Drupal 9.

Drupal core update instructions.

(And then the teaser break).

Also, maybe this issue is obsolete now that composer commands and a link to the update instructions are automatically displayed on all release nodes?

E.g.: https://www.drupal.org/project/drupal/releases/9.3.5

Screenshot of composer commands on the 9.3.5 release node

Also, maybe the update instructions should be added to the links at the side intstead?

Sidebar of release nodes with 'What's next'

Step 5 could be "Learn how to update Drupal" or "Keep Drupal up to date" or something.

quietone’s picture

quietone commented
Status: Active » Closed (outdated)

@xjm, Yes, you are right the update instructions are there. I did not expect update instructions to be under a heading of 'Install' so I missed it.

I agree that closing this as outdated makes sense. I have created a followup to add an update link, #3273616: Add update link to What's next block on release nodes

Thanks