Drupal Release: 8.8.5

TL;DR

Drupal 8.8.5 is a maintenance release that addresses several critical bugs affecting site updates, installation processes, and entity management. It fixes issues with update paths from 8.6 to 8.7, resolves problems with the Update Manager, and corrects documentation inconsistencies. This release is particularly important for sites experiencing update failures or planning to upgrade from older Drupal versions.

Highlight of the Release

• Fixed critical update path issues from Drupal 8.6 to 8.7 that could leave sites in an unrecoverable state
• Resolved Update Manager problems that caused confusion about site update status
• Fixed web browser installation failures due to cache pollution
• Improved handling of taxonomy term and menu link content revisionability
• Enhanced error messages for invalid core_version_requirement constraints

Migration Guide

No specific migration guide is needed for this maintenance release. The fixes included in this release are designed to improve the update experience, particularly for sites upgrading from Drupal 8.6 to 8.7.

Upgrade Recommendations

This release contains several critical bug fixes that improve the update process and fix issues with the Update Manager. It's strongly recommended for all Drupal 8.8.x sites to upgrade to 8.8.5, especially if:

1. You're planning to upgrade from Drupal 8.6 to a newer version
2. You've experienced issues with the Update Manager
3. You've had problems with web browser installation
4. You're working with taxonomy terms or menu link content that uses revisionable entities

The update process should be straightforward:

1. Back up your site's files and database
2. Update your codebase to Drupal 8.8.5
3. Run the database updates via update.php or drush updatedb

No special steps are required for this maintenance release.

Bug Fixes

Critical Update Path Fixes

• Fixed a critical issue where updating from Drupal 8.6 to 8.7 could fail due to corrupt menu_link_content or taxonomy_term entity data
• Resolved an issue where update_fix_compatibility() could put sites into an unrecoverable state
• Fixed issues with taxonomy_post_update_make_taxonomy_term_revisionable() and the menu link content equivalent failing when entities have no default translation

Update Manager Improvements

• Fixed problems where the Update Manager would throw errors and show incorrect update status if any extension had a missing or invalid version
• Resolved an issue where the Update page couldn't identify incompatible updates
• Improved error messages when nonsense constraints are used in core_version_requirement

Installation and Configuration Issues

• Fixed an issue where Drupal 8.8.1+ could fail to install in the web browser due to cache pollution
• Resolved a problem where configuration synchronization that both enables and configures a module would fail
• Fixed an issue where EntityManager::clearDisplayModeInfo() was missing a return statement

Test Framework Fixes

• Fixed UpdatePathTestBase calling setDatabaseDumpFiles twice, resulting in duplicate fixtures
• Made ExpectDeprecationTrait compatible with PHPUnit 8
• Fixed Drupal\KernelTests\Core\Database\SelectTest failures on PostgreSQL 10
• Fixed a static query in EntityResourceTestBase.php that should be dynamic

Documentation Corrections

• Fixed incorrect link for deprecated randomBytes() method description in utility component
• Corrected documentation for Crypt::randomBytesBase64() regarding output length
• Fixed BanIpManager::__construct() documentation incorrectly describing it as constructing the BanSubscriber
• Corrected conflicting documentation for FieldDefinition::setDisplayOptions()
• Updated README.txt installation profile section links that pointed to D7 docs
• Fixed typos in InfoParserUnitTest and UpdaterTest doc comments

New Features

Added hook_removed_post_updates()

A new hook was added to support better handling of removed post-update functions, improving the update process for modules.

Security Updates

Security Dependencies

• Updated minimist dependency from ^1.2.0 to ^1.2.2 to address potential security vulnerabilities

Performance Improvements

Scaffolding Improvements

• Modified scaffolding to only add root files to gitignore, making the scaffolding process more efficient and reducing unnecessary entries

Impact Summary

Drupal 8.8.5 is a maintenance release focused on fixing critical bugs that affect site updates, installation processes, and entity management. The most significant fixes address update path issues from Drupal 8.6 to 8.7 that could leave sites in an unrecoverable state, problems with the Update Manager that caused confusion about site update status, and web browser installation failures due to cache pollution.

This release also improves handling of taxonomy term and menu link content revisionability, enhances error messages for invalid core_version_requirement constraints, and fixes various documentation inconsistencies. Additionally, it includes updates to dependencies to address potential security vulnerabilities.

For site administrators, this release provides a more reliable update path and better error reporting. For developers, it offers improved API documentation and fixes for several development-related issues. The impact is primarily positive, resolving issues that could prevent successful updates or installations without introducing breaking changes.