Closed (fixed)
Project:
Drupal core
Version:
10.2.x-dev
Component:
other
Priority:
Normal
Category:
Plan
Assigned:
Unassigned
Reporter:
Created:
18 May 2023 at 14:15 UTC
Updated:
30 Jun 2025 at 03:09 UTC
Jump to comment: Most recent
Problem/Motivation
Split from #3238652: [policy] Decide how long major Drupal versions should be supported since we have just agreed to this at the core committer offsite. The issue summary on #3238652: [policy] Decide how long major Drupal versions should be supported will be reworked to reflect the remaining decisions to be made. If you have strong concerns about this issue, please read the other two issues first where those concerns are likely to have already been raised and discussed in depth.
Symfony is our biggest overall dependency, with the most predictable release cycle. Major releases come out every two years in November, followed by three minor releases, with a total support cycle of six years.
i.e. Symfony 6.0, November 2021
Symfony 6.4, and 7.0 November 2023
Symfony 6.4 EOL, November 2027
We released Drupal 10 in 2022 with three possible windows, June, August, December.
This allowed us to get onto Symfony 6 within a year of Symfony 6.0 (but also at least six months after its release), to have a theoretical maximum support timeline of 5.5 years. It also allowed us to require PHP 8.1 6-12 months after its release.
Other dependencies do not have as predictable release cycles, but a two year cycle for core gives us more options than, for example, a four year release cycle and skipping a Symfony release each major as were discussed as options on previous issues.
Proposed resolution
Amend https://www.drupal.org/about/core/policies/core-release-cycles/schedule to something like this:
From Drupal 10 onwards, major releases are scheduled every two years.
Each major release has three possible windows, in June, August and December, to allow for some flexibility with Drupal core's dependencies.
Drupal 10 - June/August/December 2022
Drupal 11 - June/August/December 2024
Drupal 12 - June/August/December 2026
etc.
Remaining tasks
Exactly how long to then support each major release for is discussed in #3238652: [policy] Decide how long major Drupal versions should be supported and is out of scope of this issue.
Comments
Comment #2
catchComment #3
gábor hojtsyWe usually use remaining task for things to do on this issue, but the linked discussion was not go be done here, so made that clearer.
Comment #4
xjmAll this looks accurate to me! We'll need followup tasks to update the handbook documentation and possibly make a short core blog post, but policy-wise this reflects the reasoning and the committer consensus.
Comment #5
xjmComment #6
catchEdited the issue summary to try to have something more documentation-friendly.
Comment #7
catchThis has been waiting on documentation updates and an announcement to close out, but I think #3238652: [policy] Decide how long major Drupal versions should be supported is getting close, so it might make sense to combine the two. The release cycle page already mentioned that major releases will happen every two years. I added Drupal 10/11/12 examples per the issue summary in https://www.drupal.org/node/3357384/revisions/view/13141233/13224028
Given that I think we can mark this fixed, and prepare an announcement when #3238652: [policy] Decide how long major Drupal versions should be supported is RTBC.
Comment #8
catchComment #10
quietone commentedI have been meaning to come back here and clarify that the possible release windows for a major release are June, August and December not June, September and December. This caught me out to and was clarified in discussion with the other release managers. This was just human error in typing the issue summary. The release schedule overview page has just been updated and correctly states June, August and December. I am also updating the Issue Summary here.
Comment #11
quietone commentedChanging to latest version when this was closed.