Every extension you might need for TYPO3 Upgrade

TYPO3v11 is on the rise. TYPO3 version 11 has undergone a lot of changes, improvements in its existence. There have been a lot of versions of TYPO3 and all of them have been outstanding. TYPO3 also deserves a pat on its virtual back :P

Updating is often associated with moving forward and what possible harm can be experienced in performing that Upgrade. So, it is evident that people are going to want to move towards the latest version of TYPO3 by updating to TYPO3v11.

What this means is TYPO3v11 is equal to TYPO3v10 minus the deprecated APIs, making it a minor version upgrade. So, logically the upgrade would not mandate an overhaul of your site’s infrastructure and it doesn’t. 

And so in this blog, I would not be talking about the upgrade process itself, wherein we look everywhere from TYPO3 core to custom code, and the essential TYPO3 Upgrade extensions that would be needed for it. So, let’s start assembling the TYPO3 upgrade tooling and prepare for TYPO3 v11. These will help upgrade the TYPO3 website with optimum monitoring, security, and more, ensuring your upgrade is 100% successful.

TYPO3 is well-known to be pre-planned and create a roadmap and strictly follow the deadline to continuously release the next TYPO3 versions. You can find all the information related to new versions of TYPO3 CMS from below TYPO3 CMS roadmap.

TYPO3 update can be categorized into major three categories as follows:

Option 1: Minor Updates

The TYPO3 community continuously releases the security checks version with branches eg., TYPO3 11.5.5 You should always update TYPO3’s latest version. Check out the detailed report at get.typo3.org/release-notes/11.5.5. Generally, It only contains security patches & changes, so it’s easy to update in a matter of 3-4 hours.

Option 2: Major Updates

It means you need to consider the TYPO3 update version from one LTS (Long Term Support) to another LTS.

Suppose, you have the TYPO3 website with TYPO3 7.x LTS, then you should consider an update to the latest TYPO3 11.x LTS. It’s a bit difficult and complicated to update TYPO3, based on the site’s complexity & the number of extensions.

TYPO3 update 10 to 11

• Update TYPO3 core from Version 10.x to 11.x

TYPO3 update 9 to 11

• Update TYPO3 core from version 9.x to 10.x
• Update TYPO3 core from Version 10.x to 11.x

TYPO3 update 8 to 11

• Update TYPO3 core from version 8.x to 9.x
• Update TYPO3 core from version 9.x to 10.x
• Update TYPO3 core from Version 10.x to 11.x

Let’s try to dig in depth at each phase of the TYPO3 upgrade. In general practice, I prefer to execute TYPO3 upgrade as follows:

Step 1: Setup at Local Server

Download & Setup everything from LIVE to your LOCAL server

Step 2: Perform TYPO3 Upgrade

At your LOCAL server, Start to Upgrade TYPO3 core, Upgrade extensions, QA Testing & Bug Fixing.

Step 3: Check for deprecations

In addition to the deprecations you may want to read the information about important changes, new features and breaking changes for the release you are updating to. 

Simply navigate & read the Changelogs in the backend: Upgrade > View Upgrade Documentation.

The ChangeLog is divided into four sections: “Breaking Changes”, “Features”, “Deprecation” and “Important”. Before upgrading you should at least take a look at the sections “Breaking Changes” and “Important” - changes described in those areas might affect your website.

Step 4: Resolve Deprecations

If you notice some API you are using is deprecated, you should look up the corresponding ChangeLog entry and see how to migrate your code corresponding to the documentation and resolve those TYPO3 depreciation errors.

Since TYPO3 v9 an extension scanner is included, that provides basic scanning of your extensions for deprecated code. While it does not catch everything, it can be used as a base for an upgrade. You can either access the extension scanner via the TYPO3 admin tools (in the Backend: Module “Upgrade” > “Scan Extension Files”) or as a standalone tool (https://github.com/tuurlijk/typo3scan).

The extension scanner will show the corresponding changelog which contains a description of how to migrate your code. See Check the ChangeLog for more information about the Changelogs and how to read them.

Step 5: Non-compatible Extensions

You will need to do your best to make compatibilities for all the TYPO3 extension with TYPO3 patches, hooks, new standards etc., You will need to provide you list of "not-feasible" TYPO3 extension with a possible "alternative solution" to your customer.

Step 6: Upload it to DEV Server

Once complete everything at the LOCAL server then upload it to DEV server eg., dev.yourdomain.com.

Step 5: Customer’s Approval

Your customer will need to test drive the whole site &  provide an approval that everything is fine.

Step 6: Go-Live

Finally, You can upload everything from DEV to the LIVE server.

6) TYPO3 Core upgrader

This extension allows the upgrade of the TYPO3 core from v7.6 to v10.4 in one step by running upgrade wizards for multiple TYPO3 versions at once.

7) T3Monitor

T3Monitor TYPO3 extension closely monitors TYPO3 installation for updates and security issues.

I hope these extensions would definitely make your TYPO3 Upgrade experience easy, pleasant and smooth!

What do you think? Do you have any queries on the TYPO3 Upgrade process? What are your favourite TYPO3 upgrade extensions or tools? I would love to answer your questions.

Please feel free to write down any suggestions or queries using the comment box, Thank you!

Have a happy & secure TYPO3 upgrade :)