Drupal Release: 8.7.3

TL;DR

Drupal 8.7.3: Performance Improvements and Bug Fixes

This minor release focuses on performance improvements, particularly for Layout Builder, and fixes several bugs across various components. Key improvements include optimized plugin retrieval with entity context definitions, better JavaScript testing support, and fixes for cache handling issues. This release addresses 25+ issues including security hardening for hash checking, making it a recommended update for all Drupal 8.7.x sites.

Highlight of the Release

• Performance improvements for Layout Builder when retrieving plugins with entity context definitions
• Enhanced JavaScript testing with disabled animations and new helper methods
• Fixed cache handling issues in multiple components
• Improved error handling and security hardening for hash checking
• Fixed issues with Views AJAX arguments handling

Migration Guide

No specific migration steps are required for this minor update. This is a standard bugfix release that should be compatible with existing Drupal 8.7.x installations.

To update:

1. Back up your database and site files
2. Update your codebase to Drupal 8.7.3 using your preferred method (Composer, Drush, etc.)
3. Run the database updates via the UI at /update.php or using Drush with drush updatedb
4. Clear caches with drush cache-rebuild or via the admin UI

Upgrade Recommendations

This release contains important bug fixes and performance improvements, particularly for sites using Layout Builder. It also includes security hardening for hash checking in core.

Recommendation: All sites running Drupal 8.7.x should upgrade to 8.7.3 at the earliest convenience. The update is particularly important for:

• Sites using Layout Builder functionality
• Sites with complex multilingual configurations
• Sites experiencing cache-related performance issues
• Sites using JSON:API with threaded comments and RDF module

This is a minor release with no known breaking changes, so the upgrade process should be straightforward.

Bug Fixes

• Views: Fixed issue where AJAX arguments were not properly HTML decoded
• Layout Builder:
  • Fixed random failures in LayoutBuilderDisableInteractionsTest
  • Fixed issue where override field is not cleared from field map when a bundle is deleted
• Cache Handling:
  • Fixed DatabaseCacheBackend::ensureBinExists() to properly handle exceptions
  • Improved handling of ApcuBackendTest
• Entity Handling:
  • Provided better error message when NULL is passed to EntityStorageBase::load()
  • Fixed template_preprocess_file_link to work correctly with stdClass objects
• JSON:API:
  • Fixed leaked cache metadata when using JSON:API to GET threaded comments with RDF module installed
  • Corrected documentation in json.api.php that described wrong query parameter
• Migration:
  • Prevented link field migration from creating invalid link attributes
• Multilingual:
  • Fixed issue where field titles weren't translated if "Account administration pages" plugin is enabled
  • Fixed fatal error during import translation of workflows.workflow.editorial.yml config
• Content Moderation:
  • Removed 'title' and 'description' from MenuSettingsConstraintValidator when used with content moderation
• Error Handling:
  • Fixed _drupal_log_error() to return appropriate exit code on errors

New Features

New Helper Methods for JavaScript Testing

• Added a new helper test method to wait for an element to be removed from the page, improving JavaScript test reliability
• Disabled all animations in JavaScript testing to prevent random test failures
• Enhanced MediaLibraryState handling to prevent invalid state creation

Security Updates

Security Improvements

• Hardened hash checking in core to improve overall system security
• Updated dependencies to allow installation of latest paragonie/random_compat library, enhancing cryptographic capabilities

Performance Improvements

• Layout Builder:

  • Optimized retrieval of plugins with entity context definitions from cache, which is particularly noticeable when used with Layout Builder's FieldBlockDeriver
  • Prevented extra Layout Builder code from running when rendering fields in isolation (Views results, FieldBlock, etc.), resulting in significant performance gains

• Cache Handling:

  • Improved cache backend handling to better manage exceptions and prevent performance degradation

Impact Summary

Drupal 8.7.3 delivers significant performance improvements for Layout Builder users and fixes numerous bugs across core components. The optimizations for plugin retrieval with entity context definitions will be particularly noticeable for sites with complex layouts.

The JavaScript testing improvements, including the new helper method to wait for element removal and disabled animations, will benefit developers by making tests more reliable and reducing random failures.

Several critical fixes address issues in cache handling, entity processing, and multilingual functionality. The fix for Views AJAX arguments not being HTML decoded resolves a common pain point for many site builders.

Security is enhanced through hardened hash checking in core and updated cryptographic dependencies. While not addressing specific CVEs, these improvements strengthen the overall security posture of Drupal sites.

For multilingual sites, the fixes for translation issues with workflows and field titles on account administration pages resolve important functionality gaps.

Overall, this release represents a solid maintenance update that improves stability, performance, and security across the Drupal platform.