Drupal Release: 8.1.4

TL;DR

Drupal 8.1.4 is a maintenance release that includes numerous bug fixes, documentation improvements, and code quality enhancements. Key improvements include better date/time form element labeling, fixes for multi-valued base fields in Views, protocol-relative URL support, and critical fixes for entity cloning, migration, and caching issues. This release focuses on stability and developer experience rather than introducing major new features.

Highlight of the Release

• Better labeling for date/time form select elements improving accessibility
• Support for protocol-relative URLs in Url::fromUri()
• Fixed issues with multi-valued base fields in Views
• Improved migration support for Drupal 6/7 content types, taxonomy terms, and language settings
• Fixed issues with entity cloning and revisions

Migration Guide

No major migration steps are required when updating from Drupal 8.1.3 to 8.1.4. This is a maintenance release that focuses on bug fixes and improvements rather than introducing breaking changes.

If you're using any of the following features, you may want to test your site after updating:

1. Views with multi-valued base fields: Several fixes were made to how Views handles multi-valued base fields.

2. Entity queries with delta conditions: If you're using the new delta condition feature in entity queries, test your queries to ensure they work as expected.

3. Custom migration implementations: If you've built custom migrations, especially those involving taxonomy terms, content types, or language settings, test them thoroughly after updating.

4. Protocol-relative URLs: If you're using URL handling in custom code, be aware that protocol-relative URLs are now supported.

Upgrade Recommendations

This is a recommended upgrade for all Drupal 8.1.x sites. As a maintenance release containing bug fixes and minor improvements, it addresses several issues that could affect site stability and functionality.

Priority: Medium

Timing: Regular update schedule (no need for immediate emergency update unless you're experiencing specific issues fixed in this release)

Preparation:

1. Create a complete backup of your site files and database
2. Test the update on a staging/development environment before applying to production
3. Review the full release notes for any changes that might affect custom code
4. Update contributed modules that might depend on fixed functionality

Special Considerations:

• If you're using Views with multi-valued base fields or have custom migration implementations, pay special attention to testing these features after updating.

Bug Fixes

Views and Entity Handling

• Fixed an issue where multi-valued base fields wouldn't work properly in Views
• Fixed a bug where creating a draft would remove a published node from taxonomy views
• Fixed issues with Views Combined fields filter with "Contains any word" or "Contains all words" operators
• Fixed a bug where boolean exposed filter value widget just showed 'True' label
• Fixed an issue where editing a view could leave old keys hanging, resulting in invalid schema

Migration Fixes

• Fixed migration of user passwords from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8
• Fixed migration of taxonomy term hierarchies
• Fixed migration of content type language settings from Drupal 6 & 7
• Fixed issues with migrated menu blocks not being configurable
• Fixed migration of filter format weights and filter weights

Entity and Configuration Management

• Fixed an issue where menu link overrides were lost after cache rebuild
• Fixed unexpected config entity deletion due to dependency calculations
• Fixed issues with entity cloning pointing to the same field objects
• Fixed preview on forward node revisions that was throwing an error
• Fixed an issue where changing field cardinality lower than highest existing delta caused data loss

Caching and Performance

• Fixed a race condition in PostgreSQL database driver installation tasks
• Fixed issues with the chained fast cache backend that misbehaved in certain situations
• Fixed QueryArgsCacheContext to properly support nested parameters and prevent NULL returns

File Handling

• Improved file_unmanaged_move() to use rename() where possible instead of copy() & unlink() for better performance
• Fixed incorrect mime type on generated images

New Features

Support for Protocol-Relative URLs

Drupal now supports protocol-relative URLs (URLs that start with // instead of http:// or https://) in the Url::fromUri() method. This allows for more flexible URL handling that adapts to the protocol being used to access the site.

Improved Entity Query Conditions for Delta

A new feature has been added to Entity Field Query (EFQ) that allows for adding conditions on field deltas. This provides more granular control when querying entities with multi-value fields.

Security Updates

No significant security fixes were included in this release. For security-related updates, users should always refer to the official Drupal security advisories.

Performance Improvements

File Handling Performance

The file_unmanaged_move() function has been improved to use rename() where possible instead of copy() followed by unlink(). This change significantly improves performance when moving large files, as it avoids unnecessary file duplication during the move operation.

BigPipe Optimization

BigPipe has been optimized to avoid unnecessarily rendering and sending multiple-occurrence placeholders multiple times when using JavaScript. This reduces redundant processing and can prevent JavaScript errors that could occur in previous versions.

Impact Summary

Drupal 8.1.4 is a maintenance release that focuses on bug fixes, documentation improvements, and code quality enhancements rather than introducing major new features. The impact is primarily positive for developers and site builders, addressing several pain points in the Drupal 8.1.x branch.

The most significant improvements include better handling of multi-valued base fields in Views, support for protocol-relative URLs, enhanced migration tools for Drupal 6/7 to Drupal 8 migrations, and fixes for entity cloning and revisions. Accessibility has been improved with better labeling for date/time form elements.

For developers, the release includes numerous documentation improvements and code quality enhancements that make the API more consistent and reliable. Site builders will benefit from fixes to Views filters, menu link handling, and migration tools. Content editors will see improvements in draft handling and entity revisions.

Overall, this release represents an incremental improvement in stability and usability for Drupal 8.1.x without introducing breaking changes or requiring significant adaptation of existing sites.