Drupal 11.4.0 is the latest feature release in the Drupal 11 branch, bringing developer-focused enhancements, performance improvements, and a smoother upgrade experience. As a minor release, it introduces new capabilities while maintaining backward compatibility for public APIs, making it a recommended upgrade for production websites. Drupal 11.4.x will receive security support until June 2027.
Key Features in Drupal 11.4.0
- PHP attribute routing
Drupal 11.4.0 introduces support for PHP attribute-based routing, allowing developers to define routes directly within controller classes rather than in separate YAML files. This modern approach:
- Reduces configuration overhead.
- Keeps routing definitions closer to application logic.
- Improves code readability and maintainability.
- Aligns Drupal with modern PHP development practices.
- Performance improvements
Drupal 11.4.0 includes several optimizations to improve site performance and developer productivity:
- Better support for Brotli-compressed assets where supported.
- Faster recipe installation and processing.
- Cache optimizations for improved request handling.
- Reduced overhead during application bootstrap through Symfony Runtime improvements.
These enhancements contribute to faster page delivery and more efficient site builds.
- Better developer experience
The release streamlines development workflows with improved Symfony Runtime integration and:
- Cleaner application bootstrap process.
- Ongoing API refinements.
- Additional deprecation notices to help prepare for future Drupal versions.
These updates make custom module development and maintenance more efficient.
- Improvements for site builders and content editors
Drupal 11.4.0 enhances the authoring experience with:
- Refinements to the Recipes system to make site setup easier.
- Improvements to CKEditor integration.
- Better configuration management workflows.
- General usability enhancements across core administrative interfaces.
These updates simplify content management while reducing setup time for new projects.
Important Upgrade Highlights
Before upgrading to Drupal 11.4.0, consider the following:
- Verify that contributed modules are compatible with Drupal 11.4.0.
- Review deprecation notices when maintaining custom modules.
- Test custom themes and integrations in a staging environment before deploying.
- Update dependencies using Composer and follow the standard Drupal upgrade process.
- Back up the web database and files before beginning the upgrade.
Additional Changes to Note
Drupal 11.4.0 also includes a few important platform updates:
- The Standard installation profile no longer includes the default Article and Basic Page content types. New sites are created using the Standard profile types during setup.
- Paths from Drupal 6 and Drupal 7 to Drupal 11 migration remain fully supported throughout the Drupal 11 release cycle.
Why Upgrade to Drupal 11.4.0?
Organizations running Drupal 11 should consider upgrading because it provides:
- Modern PHP development capabilities.
- Improved application performance.
- Enhanced developer productivity.
- Better content authoring experience.
- Continued security support through June 2027.
Since Drupal 11.4 is the current feature release, it is the recommended version for new Drupal 11 projects and for existing Drupal 11 sites looking to stay current with the latest improvements.
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