Feature

Updating a Drupal website is of paramount importance for security. While the update process may be a simple one – and a backup before the update can quickly take you to a previous sane stable state – having tests in place and ready to roll can help you find the not-so-obvious issues.

How Test Automations Can Save the Day

Do you have a Drupal-based web platform that uses more than 30 core and contributed modules?

Is your web platform more than a year old?

Are you a developer who prefers to keep the code base up-to-date with the latest Drupal core?

If your answer to any of these questions is “yes,” then there will always be a need to stay on top of the regular Drupal core updates, contributed module updates, and the security patches.

NOTE: In this article, updates refer to installations of new, minor versions of core and contributed modules.

With every introduction of new code, there is a risk of affecting the existing functionality of your web application, not to mention the additional overhead of doing a complete regression test of the web application functionality. Although this is more important for applications in continuous development mode, even stable and mature applications which have an active user base will require you to think, re-think, and eventually plan the update.

The Drupal Security Advisories page on Drupal.org announces updates to Drupal core, contributed modules, and the latest security patches. (To check the updates available for currently installed modules, visit the site’s /admin/reports/updates page for a report.) The biggest trigger for the update process is an updated version of Drupal core being released, followed by “Critical” security patches to one or more of the modules used by the current system. If any of these happens, the planning process should start. The following steps can help plan, prepare for, and manage the update process: