Drupal 8 introduced a lot of changes. Its usage of best-of-breed dependencies, like Symfony, represented a major shift for Drupal. Drupal 8 also moved to a more nimble release cycle with its major and minor releases, allowing a major version of core to get new features in minor releases. Between dependencies releasing updates and changes to core being more common, Drupal needed to evolve to manage change. One way this happens is through deprecations. This provides a way for Drupal to evolve, identify old code as deprecated, and offer guidance on a replacement. Deprecations were especially

Our community has always meant more than just code. These last several months have been difficult to make the same kind of connection we have come to expect from things like in-person events. And, during this time, many of us are having to juggle new challenges, may have sick loved ones, face professional or financial uncertainty, and more. I’m choosing to do something about it. I am announcing free community care packages for Drupal. I care about our community and I care about the wellbeing of all of you. I recognize this is basically nothing at a time when people are dealing with much larger

An update from SimplyTest maintainers AmyJune and Adam: In late 2019, simplytest.me joined OpenCollective (https://opencollective.com/simplytestme), allowing transparency around accepting donations and creating expenses. The Open Collective Foundation (https://opencollective.com/) is a 501(c)(3) organization collecting these contributions on our behalf. Because of this, contributions to simplytest.me through OpenCollective are tax-deductible for US taxpayers. Supporting our project through the collective allows us to make strategic investments and maintain our critical infrastructure. It also

Drupal 9 readiness is as easy as cleaning up deprecations for your Drupal 8 project. SimplyTest is well positioned to help with this. Deprecation ReportingYou can generate a report of the deprecations by performing the following steps: Go to simplytest.meUnder “Enter a project name:”, start typing the name of your project and select itSelect the relevant 8.x branch (not release, as this will also scan unreleased commits)Expand “Additional Options”Click “Add Additional Project”Start typing “Upgrade Status” and select itClick “Launch Sandbox”Go to “admin/reports/upgrade-status”Select your

When change comes, it’s often a time of deep reflection for me. Things are rarely as black and white or cut and dry as we would wish things could be. About two years ago, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to join Hook 42 to lead engineering efforts. This small but gritty team helped many customers do big things while honoring commitments to Open Source communities, causes like accessibility/gender equality, and participating in positive efforts to make the world better. I was able to grow as a leader, participate in company/engineering strategy, and expand my portfolio into areas like

On the evening of September 13th, SimplyTest.me launched a major new release of the product. The product release achieved three major goals:Replacement of the backend with TugboatQAA new one-click demo frameworkA new development environmentAll efforts could not have been possible without the generous sponsorship from TugboatQA (a product created by Lullabot), Centarro, and Linode. And, community time offered from Hook 42.The rest of this post outlines the release and its significance.TugboatQA BackendHow did we get here?The backend infrastructure of SimplyTest.me was one server running as a

I just closed about 100 browser tabs from an early year activity. While it’s embarrassing I left those tabs open so long (going on five months), I wanted to leave them open to reflect on what I learned. And, what a better way to reflect than a blog post.The SoapboxBear with me for a moment. I subscribe to the philosophy that DevOps represents a line of thinking and a way of working, not a technical product. Like security, when someone says, “I’ll sell you DevOps”, it’s a scam. For those “doing” it right, you need to focus on foundational concepts built into continuous learning. This ideology