Software update: Drupal 9.5.0

Version 9.5 of Drupal has been released. Drupal is a user-friendly and powerful content management platform written in PHP, with which, for example, websites can be created. It’s simple enough for a novice user, but powerful enough to build a more complex website. Drupal contains a content management platform and a development framework. In version 9.5 we find, among other things, version 5 of the CKEditor. Unlike Drupal version 10, which was released at the same time, version 4 of the CKEditor is also still available. The complete release notes for this release can be found below.

CKEditor 5 support is now stable

Drupal 9.5.0 is the only feature release of Drupal that includes both a stable CKEditor 4 integration (labeled as the “CKEditor” module) and stable CKEditor 5 integration (exposed as a separate “CKEditor 5” module). CKEditor 4 has been removed from Drupal 10 and moved to a contributed project. The support overlap in Drupal 9.5.0 allows users to move to CKEditor 5 ahead of their Drupal 10 upgrade. (Sites may also install the CKEditor contributed project before upgrading to Drupal 10, but should take note that its security support will still likely end in November 2023.)

Starter kit theme and theme generator are stable

The Starterkit theme is used as a basis to generate new standalone themes with the theme generator command line tool, rather than being extended at runtime like the Classy core base theme. Currently, the markup provided by the Starterkit theme is the same as Classy’s, but its markup will be improved in future minor releases (whereas Classy’s can’t).

Several themes and modules are deprecated

Drupal 9.5 deprecates numerous themes and modules that will no longer be a part of Drupal 10 core. Altogether the Bartik, Seven, Classy, ​​and Stable themes have been deprecated, and the Aggregator, CKEditor (4), Color, HAL, Quick Edit, and RDF modules are all deprecated. (Some of these were initially deprecated in 9.4.)

It is safe to use the Drupal 9 core versions of these modules and themes for as long as a site is on Drupal 9. Before upgrading to Drupal 10, review the recommendations for deprecated modules and themes. Determine whether you actually need these modules or themes, or whether you can replace them with other solutions. Drupal 10 compatible versions are available as contributed projects. Drupal’s Extend list, Appearance page, and Status report pages will all highlight these extensions if they are used. Upgrade Status will also notify you if you are using any deprecated extensions and helps to make a choice about whether you need them going forward.