>>> [!note] Migrated issue <!-- Drupal.org comment --> <!-- Migrated from issue #3357582. --> Reported by: [ressa](https://www.drupal.org/user/102134) >>> <h3 id="summary-problem-motivation">Problem/Motivation</h3> <p>Drupal 7 has so far been been supported for 12 years (2011-23) and Drupal 8 was supported for six years. But the current life span for major releases is much shorter:</p> <pre>Version&nbsp; Released&nbsp; Years supported<br>7&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 2011&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 12 <br>8&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 2015&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 6 <br>9&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 2020&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 3<br>10&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 2022&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ?<br>11&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 2024&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ?<br>12&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 2026&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ?</pre><p>From <a href="https://www.drupal.org/about/core/policies/core-release-cycles/schedule">Drupal core release cycle: major, minor, and patch releases</a></p> <p>With the current pace of major version releases, there's a lot of playing catch-up for contrib module maintainers and users.</p> <p>Even fairly popular modules installed on hundreds of web sites were quite late to start preparing for Drupal 10 and get a stable release. Some are still not downloadable or installable on Drupal 10, even with Drupal 9 being EOL in six months as of today (May 2023).</p> <p>This blocks faster adoption of the next version, is frustrating for current and potential Drupal users, and becomes a stumbling block for wider Drupal adoption, making us lose users.</p> <p>Allowing dev-version of contrib modules to be installed could yield these benefits:</p> <ol> <li>Lowering the bar of entry (download+install in next release) would result in more activity in the issue queue</li> <li>These issues could be reviewed by the community</li> <li>This would be a big help for the maintainers, and could be the nudge needed to review and commit and make it Drupal 11 ready</li> </ol> <p>If there are no "Drupal 11 readiness" issues (or few with little activity) it can much more easily stay off the radar of the maintainer, who can more easily forget about it. If there were oven-ready RTBC patches, it would be a big help.</p> <h3 id="summary-proposed-resolution">Proposed resolution</h3> <p><em>Always</em> allow downloading (Composer) and installing (Drush/GUI) the dev-version of a contrib module in the next major version. The contrib module maintainer shouldn't have to do anything, it should be the default, and happen automatically.</p> <p>This would yield several benefits:</p> <ul> <li>It's much easier to install any contrib module, so bugs and new features will get more eye balls, and get fixed sooner, making sure the contrib module is ready well in advance, when the next major release becomes the official release</li> <li>Users who want to build a web site with the next major release are not blocked from installing the contrib module, without resorting to Composer plugins and versionxx--readiness-patches</li> </ul> <p>Allow installing dev-release in next version, models:</p> <ol> <li> Automatically append the next major release in <em>contrib_module.info.yml file</em>:<br> <ul> <li> <pre># From<br>core_version_requirement: ^9.2 || ^10</pre></li> <li> <pre># To:<br>core_version_requirement: ^9.2 || ^10 || ^11</pre></li> <li> <pre># ... or even?<br>core_version_requirement: &gt;=10</pre></li> </ul> </li> <li> Have 2 dev-releases:<br> <ol> <li>The current dev-branch, which goes to stable</li> <li>A next-version-release branch for preparing, sort of a pre-dev?</li> </ol> <p>This would add extra maintenance and complexity for module maintainers ... </p></li> <li> ? </li> </ol> <h3 id="summary-remaining-tasks">Remaining tasks</h3> <ol> <li>Decide if it's a good idea or not</li> <li>If yes, decide how to implement it</li> </ol> <h3 id="summary-ui-changes">User interface changes</h3> <h3 id="summary-api-changes">API changes</h3> <h3 id="summary-data-model-changes">Data model changes</h3> > Related issue: [Issue #3357734](https://www.drupal.org/node/3357734) > Related issue: [Issue #3267143](https://www.drupal.org/node/3267143) > Related issue: [Issue #3238652](https://www.drupal.org/node/3238652)