Maintaining TYPO3
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When and why should we perform TYPO3 updates?
With the newest version of TYPO3 you receive free bugfixes and free security patches for at least three years from the time of the first LTS minor (for example v13.1) release.
In TYPO3 however, we follow a specific cycle which usually takes 1.5 years long. Every 1 and a half year a new TYPO3 version occurs. You can follow the cycle here.
We explain the different parts in the roadmap now. When you follow the roadmap you see dark red strokes. They represent the sprint releases. Sprint release is a version that starts for example with v13.0 and then the next sprint release follows with v13.1. After the last sprint release (v13.3) the Long Term Support release (LTS release) v13.4 follows. The aim of the sprint releases is to test the new code with the new features extensively, until the LTS-release is reached. Therefore, the reason for sprint releases is to make the new code with the new features as agile and stable as possible. The order is: sprint release (0), sprint release (1), sprint release (2), sprint release (3), LTS release (4). Sometimes more sprint releases are possible.
The green area represents the regular maintenance state. The orange area is the time where the focus lays on fixing bugs - so it is the bug fixing phase. The light orange area corresponds to the extended support. This means, when you want to get further bugfixes you have to book an extended support which usually costs money.
Before we look a bit deeper into the types of updates we summaries how a TYPO3 user should act with respect to TYPO3 updates:
- When a new major LTS version is released, users should focus on updating to this version as soon as possible.
- When a new minor version is released, users must update to the new minor version, since the previous minor version is not supported any more.
- When a new patch level version is released, users should always update to the new version, because it contains important bugfixes and security fixes (if announced). Here you find the security advisories.
Additionally, users should take care of updated extensions on a regular schedule in order to use the most recent versions.
When you feel safe with the concepts of TYPO3 updates you can in general use this Upgrade Guide.
Now we explain the types of updates.
Major, minor and patch level updates
In TYPO3 you can update your TYPO3 version. There exist three different types of updates:
- Major updates: from for example 12.4.23 to 13.0.0
- Minor updates: from for example 13.0 to 13.1
- Patch and bugfix level updates (often security updates): from for example 13.4.0 to 13.4.1
Major updates
In major updates you will definitely have breaking changes and incompatible API
changes.
A breaking change can cause your system to break. You need to find a replacement
for any usage that was removed or changed. For example in version 13.0 was a
breaking change Breaking: #101266 - Remove RequireJS.
That means, whenever and wherever you used require you have to find
an replacement when you would like to have a working JavaScript functionality.
All files that you included with require will not be loaded anymore.
When you update your TYPO3 version you should be aware of those changelog entries
which you can find in the Changelog reference.
When dealing with a major version updates you usually have to use the backend module called Upgrade wizard. This
module will take care of database table changes that came along with the new TYPO3 version.
In TYPO3, we can separate a TYPO3 update into three stages: the pre-upgrade stage,
actual update and the post-upgrade stage.
Minor updates
Minor changes - 11.*.: For example 11.5 has new functionalities compared to
11.4. The version 11.5 is compatible with 11. So withing a version like major
11 the steps do not lead to breaking changes. For example in version 13.3
compared to version 13.2 a new
Feature: #101252 - Introduce ErrorHandler for 403 errors with redirect option
was introduced.
When performing minor updates you often have to clear the cache, run the Upgrade wizard and to run a database compare.
Usually minor and patch changes are also referred to as non-breaking changes.
Patchlevel updates
Patchlevel changes - 11.: The version 11.5.2 indicates a backwards-compatible bugfix or patch release.
It can be for example a security update. Clear the cache and check if website is working as expected. For further
information we refer to the Patch/Bugfix update guide.
Extension updates
In a TYPO3 instance you have usually third party extensions installed. When you update your TYPO3 version you have to update the third party extensions too. In the TYPO3 Extension Repository (TER) you can enter the name of that extension and get information about supported TYPO3 versions. You find the TER here. Some extension authors prefer to only publish their extensions on packagist. When the extension does not exist for the current TYPO3 version you can create an issue or search for an alternative extension offering the same functionality. For example the gridelements extension was replaced by the container extension, both having equal functionalities.
Useful commands to simplify the updates of extensions can be found in the Upgrade extensions guide.
Deprecations
In TYPO3, deprecations indicate that a specific functionality will be removed in the next TYPO3 version. For further
information we refer to the article about deprecation. For example the
deprecation: #105171 - INCLUDE_TYPOSCRIPT TypoScript syntax- notice is
a deprecation notice telling you that in TYPO3 v14 you can't use the TypoScript syntax INCLUDE_
to include TypoScript files anymore.
Little Helpers: Rector and Fractor
In general you can use extensions like rector
or fractor to find and replace deprecations. To reach this you have to
fill out a configuration file (in rector file rector., in fractor file fractor.) that defines
the scope in which you want to perform deprecation replacements. For both extension is valid, only the rules that
exist can find the respective deprecation. Here is an overview about the
existing rector rules.
When a rule is missing you can't find the deprecation. Check here if your desired
rector rule exists already. If you feel able to create your own rector or fractor rule and want to share it with the TYPO3
community, everyone using these tools would be happy to benefit from your efforts.
Language updates
After a TYPO3 update you have to update your translations. We refer to the article Update backend translations. You have to update the language packs that you are using after each TYPO3 update.