Upgrade from Drupal 7

What's the inside word on Drupal 7 EOL?

Over the last year, we've done more than a handful of upgrades from Drupal 7 to Backdrop! We will be discussing the broad process and lessons learned, and answering questions related to:

• Estimating effort in broad strokes
• Some gotchas around module porting
• Rebuilding vs porting themes
• Tracking launch steps

Review of some of the demonstrated use cases for Higher Ed:

• Research Apps
• Upgrades from D7
• Custom workflow applications
• Unified theme and configuration system for multiple subdomains

Conversation, questions, and discussions with the group.

We'll explore the situation PSU was in with multiple Drupal 7 sites, the decision and process of moving to Backdrop, and some of the efficiencies we found along the way to move these sites. 

This discussion builds on conversations at various user groups and Midcamp session .  I will do a quick demo and then open Q and A session. 

Drawing from real-world case studies we will dive into the technical intricacies of migrating from Drupal 7 to Backdrop CMS, offering practical tips, best practices, and common pitfalls to avoid. We will demo modules developed in 2023 that automate and simplify migrations 

A check in on https://www.drupal.org/project/backdrop_upgrade_status

1. Have you used it?
2. Are you planning on using it?
3. What do you wish it would do for you?
4. Anything you'd like improved?

Join us for a lively discussion on what should (or should not) be included in Backdrop 2.x.

The lifespan of Backdrop 1.x has been extended several times as the lifespan of Drupal 7 has been extended. Initially, our goal was for Backdrop 2.x to be released at least 2 years after the end of Drupal 7 support. Our hope was to give Drupal 7 site owners they time they need to both move to Backdrop, and prepare for the first Backdrop major version upgrade. 

A demonstration of the Drupal 7 to Backdrop CMS upgrade process.

I've worked on a handful of Drupal 7 to Backdrop upgrades. While I usually follow a standard process, there are always some peculiar challenges with each one.

I will provide a demo of a fairly basic upgrade from a sample Drupal 7 website, but will leave lots of room to give an overview of how to deal with some common issues, and for questions.

This past May, I sent an invitation to every organization and individual who had identified themselves on the backdrop Service Providers page that read like this:

Are you looking for more business? Then read on!

Since you are listed as a Backdrop service provider, we would like to extend an invitation to you to participate in a new program that will refer to you owners of Drupal 7 websites who are interested in moving their sites to Backdrop CMS.

•  Introduce D7 Soft Landing initiative
•  Explain why D7 EOL is a Big Deal (Chromatichq Podcast)
•  Discuss decision tree for getting off D7 (Blog Post)
• Present tools and flows for One-click /Simple/Easy migrations off D7