Which change notices need to be included from Drupal?

[docwilmot]

These are change notices for Drupal 7 and 8 copied from Drupal.org. Divided into three groups: the first group is all Drupal 7 change records, the second is D8 pre-Backdrop (i.e. change notices dated before September 2013) and third D8 changes up to 6 months post-Backdrop (changes dated after the fork). Would be great if @quicksketch and @jenlampton can have a look to see if any of these would also apply as change notices for Backdrop.

same list as Google doc here to make it easier to annotate: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HN33UcLodVgSzWoVh6iLqulj0iGPYOuh40MhHLxXRXc/edit?usp=sharing

Drupal 7 change records

• Added entity_view_mode_prepare() to allow entity-providing modules to invoke hook_entity_view_mode_alter() correctly
• form_set_cache() now validates the passed-in form build ID
• Modules which use custom Ajax form page callbacks require updates for Drupal 7.27
• Content viewing counter statistics can now be collected asynchronously
• Human-readable labels have been added to image styles
• The default ordering of CSS files has changed for sites using right-to-left languages
• The Field API's memory usage has been optimized (includes recommended changes to contributed modules to leverage the changes)
• The Locale module has changed its handling of comment field language
• .clear-block CSS class has been changed to .clearfix
• Added hook_taxonomy_term_view() and standardized the process for displaying taxonomy terms
• Options list callbacks now receive addition context
• Entities now have generic language support
• Use of $user->cache and {session}.cache deprecated in favor of $_SESSION['cache_expiration'][$bin]
• hook_node_search_result() now returns an associative array
• DrupalCacheArray set method has changed
• db_select 'conditions' parameter added for menu_build_tree()
• $uri is no longer an available variable in node.tpl.php
• Reset button is removed from the system settings form
• hook_image_effect_info() now has optional dimensions keys
• Database field {files}.pathinfo renamed to {files}.uri
• Alternative OpenID authentication method for invalid OpenID accounts transition
• Change in Openid discovery methods registered by hook_openid_discovery_method_info()
• New #ajax 'prevent' property added.
• New functions to dynamically set active trails
• Data must be truncated in PHP before written to varchar fields
• 404s for static resources are now handled through drupal_fast_404()
• "Run the clean URL test" UX has been improved
• hook_mail_alter() implementations may cancel mail sending by setting $message['send'] to FALSE.
• Field types should be defined by one module and implemented by a separate module.
• Entity label callbacks now receive $entity_type as second parameter

Drupal 8 change records (Pre-fork)

• Configuration entities support the links annotation for much easier URI specification
• drupal_parse_dependency() is now \Drupal\Core\Extension\ModuleHandler::parseDependency()
• Generic solution available for entity editing overwrite avoidance
• New EntityChangedInterface interface added for entities with change timestamps
• [REVERTED] Themes and modules can now define individual layouts
• Flexible image style system
• API and UI changes for language negotiation settings.
• Languages are now stored in configuration, langcode property changed to id
• Entity translation module added to core (named content_translation)
• Removed st() and get_t(), just use t() in place, simple!
• Entity list operations can now be altered
• Per-region block markup and per-region block templating feature removed
• All core themes are now responsive
• LANGUAGE_* constants are moved to the Language class
• Zebra striping variables removed from templates
• Node properties are made multilingual
• One page overview settings added for content/field translation settings
• Book administration has been moved to admin/structure
• Configuration translations are now created based on community translations
• Configuration entities save in site default language by default
• Language support added to node access grants and records
• Custom blocks are now content entities, in separate module
• New configuration override and context system
• Aggregator feeds and items got language support
• New configuration metadata/schema system added
• {authmap} deprecation
• New language configuration form element
• "Default language" negotiation option swapped for "Selected language", provides more flexibility
• drupal_mail(), hook_mail() and hook_mail_alter() now take langcode instead of language objects
• User's can now have an administration specific language preference
• Made translations permissions more granular (translate all and translate own)
• When installing Drupal with a foreign language, English is not added anymore
• Entity titles unified under $label name in templates
• token_replace(), hook_tokens(), hook_tokens_alter(), user_mail_tokens() now take langcode
• When creating new languages, always instantiate Language
• Added ability to map external language codes to Drupal configured languages
• Usage of $term->name replaced by $term->label()
• Core search now supports entity language variance
• Runtime node access system gains language support
• Much improved interface translation interface in locale module
• Locked languages added, three new special languages exposed for language setup
• Konqueror (-khtml- prefix) is no longer supported
• Constants are defined for taxonomy hierarchy instead of integers
• field_ui_field_type_options(), field_ui_widget_type_options() and field_ui_formatter_options() have been renamed
• The {file_usage}.id column has moved to varchar.
• Archiver classes are plugins
• Image toolkits are plugins
• theme_options_none() is replaced by hook_options_list_alter()
• Updated to jQuery UI 1.10.2
• Page "delivery" system removed
• Transliteration class added
• Storage (API) for persistent non-configuration state
• Attributes and classes arrays have been combined together into Attribute object
• More flexible settings for node type specific language defaults
• Drop textarea.js in favor of CSS3 resize
• HTML5shiv now ships with Core
• jQuery updated to 1.7 for Drupal 8
• Refactor conf_path() to provide new find_conf_path() function.

Drupal 8 change records (Post-fork)  

• field_access() / hook_field_access() are replaced by the Entity access API
• \Drupal\Core\Entity\Field\Field, related subclasses and interfaces renamed to *FieldItemList
• field_behaviors_widget() is removed
• LocalActions use YAML as the main discovery and handle routes with parameters
• Legacy node-copy based content translation module removed
• Image type was decoupled from the image file extension
• field_bundle_settings() has been removed.
• BreadcrumbBuilderBase is added to remove the boilerplate code from BreadcrumbBuilders
• DBTNG condition() and NULL handling have changed
• ConfigEntityInterface::setOriginalID() is now setOriginalId() and returns self
• Route access checker default mode is changed from ANY to ALL
• Entity Access allows to specify an admin permission
• Quick string overrides are now in $settings, not $conf
• Translatability can now be configured on any field
• Configurable and non-configurable field types can be defined as @FieldType plugins
• CommentManagerInterface for common functions to manage comment fields
• \Drupal\Core\TypedData\AccessibleInterface is now Drupal\Core\Access\AccessibleInterface
• Introduced \Drupal\Core\Access\AccessInterface for unified access control
• Drupal 8.x-dev will now properly download Drupal 8 (alpha) translations
• Dynamic routes can now be registered easier using the RouteSubscriberBase
• The pluginBase class contains a t() method
• Modules and themes removed from core in Drupal 8
• Non reusable access checkers can be defined directly in the routing definition
• Move Widget, Formatter, and FieldType plugin types to the Core\Field system
• Page callbacks converted to controllers
• drupal_form() and form() methods are replaced by a form builder service and methods on $form_state
• Routes, tabs and local actions got title text context support
• theme('item_list') has a new 'empty' variable
• The language fallback logic has been moved onto the language manager
• EntityManager::getFieldDefinitions() replaces entity_get_all_property_info and entity_get_property_info
• Introduced hooks to extend field formatters and widgets with third-party settings
• CSRF tokens now integrated directly into the routing/access system
• Entity menu_* annotation keys removed in favor of links annotations
• FIELD_CARDINALITY_UNLIMITED constant moved to FieldStorageDefinitionInterface
• theme_links() supports linking by route name
• Theme registry is now theme.registry service
• New configuration translation user interface module added
• Migration API in core
• Image field default value has now alt and title attributes
• Form error functions now moved to FormStateInterface
• image_dimensions_scale() moved to \Drupal\Component\Image\Image::scaleImage()
• Supported formats and authentication are now defined explicitly per each REST resource
• Content field translation settings are easily reversible
• Language codes for original field values always match entity language regardless of field translatability
• Audible star character removed from require field labels; required-ness now indicated semantically with ARIA and visually with CSS; HTML change
• Function theme_exposed_filters() removed
• PHP Super-globals replaced with Symfony Request object
• list_themes(), theme_enable() and theme_disable() have been replaced with a new service
• New #post_render_cache property for Render API: personalization without breaking render cache
• Per-user block visibility customization functionality removed
• Aggregator no longer supports categories
• Node and comment ops links must be altered/extended using hook_node_links_alter()/hook_comment_links_alter()
• The configuration system will not change data types anymore
• Added a rebuild script
• theme_system_powered_by() has been removed
• hook_field_extra_fields() 'label' is no longer sanitized
• Modules can now inject attributes into fields formatters with the _attributes array
• Core markup clean up
• COMMENT_NOT_PUBLISHED & COMMENT_PUBLISHED constants are moved to CommentInterface
• Shortcuts are standalone entities
• 'theme callback' and hook_custom_theme() replaced by theme negotiators
• Make datatype callback handling more flexible
• drupaladd*() deprecated in favour of #attached
• drupal_add_tabledrag() has been replaced by drupal_attach_tabledrag
• Configuration schemas now optionally used for type casting
• Content viewing counter statistics can now be collected asynchronously
• $user->theme and per-user custom theme check removed
• Modules (or Drupal 7 module-equivalent features) added to core in Drupal 8
• Structure of $config_directories variable in settings.php changed
• drupal_mail() now uses 'reply-to:' instead of 'from:' header
• Contextual Links are provided by plugins implementing ContextualLinkInterface and using YAML discovery instead of being defined in hook_menu()
• Improved DX and altered keys for local tasks definitions
• Entity label() method does not have a $langcode argument anymore
• Each image toolkit is able now to provide its own requirements
• Additional $types argument in hook_node_load() removed
• Setting the "active" class on links is now deterministic and an opt-in feature of l(), LinkGenerator and theme_links()
• ControllerBase implements ContainerInjectionInterface and makes the container() method private
• ControllerBase implements ContainerInjectionInterface like FormBase
• field_attach_preprocess() is removed
• Generic CSS moved to new file in Seven theme
• drupal.base.css replaced by normalize.css
• Files got creation time tracking, standardized changed time tracking
• drupal_add_css(), drupal_add_js() and drupal_add_library() removed in favor of #attached
• Configuration override API simplified, built-in language support included
• Normalize Controller/View-listener behavior with a Page object
• drupal_get_form() to initiate an existing or new class name
• The $reindex parameter has been removed from search_reindex
• element_* functions deprecated; use Element class methods instead
• format_plural has moved to translation service as formatPlural. format_interval has moved to date service as formatInterval.
• EntityManager::getAdminPath() is replaced with EntityManager::getAdminRouteInfo() and FieldUI::getOverviewRouteInfo()
• The language system has been converted to OOP
• Methods on \Drupal\Component\Utility\Random are no longer static, added optional validation of randomly generated strings.
• Dynamic Routes can be defined in routing.yml
• Most first/last/odd/even classes removed in favor of CSS3 pseudo selectors
• bundle_keys removed from EntityType annotation, field_extract_bundle() removed
• Various sorting callbacks have moved to \Drupal\Component\Utility\SortArray
• Moved file_chmod_directory and file_chmod_file into settings system
• Moved FAPI callbacks for file/image widgets in classes
• Use symfony request & response objects
• Use EntityManagerInterface instead of EntityManager for typehints
• EntityType is now a domain object
• Renamed methods in ViewExecutable.
• theme_field() receives field values as a FieldItemList object rather than as a plain array
• plugin.manager.entity service is replaced by entity.manager
• Installer: 'db_prefix' in database configuration form renamed to 'prefix'
• drupal_cron_run() replaced by cron service
• language_default converted to CMI
• Element::properties() replaces element_properties(), must be passed an array
• Language negotiation settings moved to configuration from variables
• Configuration override API unified with configuration language API
• Supply CacheBackendInterface::CACHE_PERMANENT as Cache::PERMANENT
• Use standard indentation in JavaScript files
• The variable_get/set/del API is now removed
• CacheableInterface added to describe methods needed by Drupal Cache API
• entityType() method renamed to getEntityTypeId(), entityInfo() to getEntityType() in EntityInterface and EntityStorageControllerInterface
• UUID service added to generate unique identifiers
• simpletest - added a drupalProcessAjaxResponse() method to WebTestBase
• Converted user_page() to a new style controller
• Modules primarily providing field types are now in the 'Field type' package
• Added form modes UI and configuration entity
• Drupal 7 sites can no longer be upgraded to Drupal 8 with update.php
• CacheCollector added to support maintaining a single cache of a set of data, CacheArray removed
• Widgets and formatters can be used on base fields in a ContentEntity
• form_set_error() in FormStateInterface classes replaced with setFormError method
• Router rebuilding is lazy now
• Blocks are stored as configuration entities
• user_is_blocked() now returns a boolean value
• EntityOwnerInterface added that allows to identify and change the owner of an entity
• system_get_module_info()/ModuleInfo removed from Core
• Removed default value for 'nomask' option in file_scan_directory()
• BlockPluginInterface::access gets passed in the account
• Drupal::hasService() added
• Modules cannot be in a disabled state anymore, only installed and uninstalled
• Simpletests now run as clean multi-site installations in /sites/simpletest/
• hook_forms() has been removed
• config.inc has been removed
• Configuration events have their own class
• Introduce composer.json files for Drupal\Component*
• filterdom*() and _filter_htmlcorrector() have been replaced with Html utility class
• theme() renamed to _theme() and should not be called directly
• ContentEntityType and ConfigEntityType objects and annotations have been added
• hook_entity_info() renamed to hook_entity_type_build(), hook_entity_info_alter() to hook_entity_type_alter()
• field_attach_view() and field_attach_prepare_view() removed, field formatter output is generated by EntityViewDisplayInterface::build() / buildMultiple()
• Node base field widgets are now at the top of the node form
• drupal_hash_salt global removed
• hook_library_info() is replaced by *.libraries.yml file
• ContentEntityBase::getPropertyDefinitions() is replaced by ContentEntityBase::getFieldDefinitions()
• Field item properties are now declared in FieldItemClass::propertyDefinitions()
• TypedData metadata introspection moved to definition objects
• Removed menu_get_item() and menu_set_item()
• Config entities are guaranteed to start with the module that provides the entity type
• #collapsed property of #type details has been renamed to #open (and negated)
• Mail backends are now annotated plugins, drupal_mail_service() has been removed
• drupal_system_listing(), SystemListing, SystemListingInfo replaced with ExtensionDiscovery
• drupal_map_assoc() has been removed
• Book module no longer depends on menu links
• Added ability to define fields and field alterations for specific entity bundles
• PluginBags have been moved to Drupal\Core
• drupal_implode_tags() and drupal_explode_tags() replaced with Drupal\Component\Utility\Tags class
• drupal_get_filename() always returns pathname of main extension file
• show and hide functions removed from Twig in favor of a new "without" Twig filter
• user_authenticate() has been replaced by a 'user.auth' service
• COMMENT_HIDDEN & COMMENT_CLOSED & COMMENT_OPEN converted to constants on CommentItemInterface
• 'show' variable removed from admin_block theme hook
• Shortened directory structure for some plugin types
• drupal_load() has been removed
• Distribution level settings added to install profiles
• .module and .profile files are no longer required; ModuleHandler::getModuleList() now returns Extension objects
• Plugins can depend on a module
• REST URI paths changed to canonical paths
• Block Cache API is removed; blocks now use standard caching patterns
• Use the \Drupal\Core\Url object in place of arrays of route info
• Admin paths are now defined as part of route definitions
• Autocomplete behavior updated to jQuery UI (10.3)
• Remove the concept of active / inactive (field types, storage) from Field API
• Encoding method added to \Drupal\Component\Utility\Tags
• View modes and form modes listing functions moved to EntityManager
• Default field type / widget / formatter settings have been moved out of annotation and into methods
• Entity list operations can now be declared and altered by any module
• aggregator_refresh() and aggregator_remove() removed
• Use entity hooks instead of hook_language_insert/update/delete/presave
• Routing, tabs, actions and contextual link titles support replacement arguments again
• Extra field definitions and retrieval has changed
• Menu tree building is now a service
• Remove 'scripts' and add 'libraries' key to theme info files
• hook_menu_link_defaults() moved to *.links.menu.yml files
• drupal_json_encode() and drupal_json_decode() moved to \Drupal\Component\Serialization\Json
• New and updated Entity URL methods
• X-Drupal-Cache-Tags header
• hook_url_outbound_alter was replaced by OutboundPathProcessorInterface
• Session management functions have been converted into a SessionManager service
• filter_xss() and filter_xss_admin() moved to a new Xss component
• Temporary file deletion window is now configurable
• menu_get_active_trail(), menu_set_active_trail(), and menu_link_get_preferred() removed
• Default active config changed from file storage to DB storage
• The Attribute object now prints all attributes by default
• Form errors should only be set during validation
• edit.module renamed to quickedit.module
• Modules which provide alternative page cache implementations require updates for Drupal 6.31 and Drupal 7.27
• Modules which use custom Ajax form page callbacks require updates for Drupal 7.27

[quicksketch]

Hi @docwilmot, thanks for putting this together.

I don't think the pre/post fork separatation is correct. I think you assumed the creation of the repository (Sept 2013) was the forking date, but we actually forked a much earlier version of Drupal 8, from Feb 29, 2012. So there are many more "post-fork" change notices and a lot fewer pre-fork notices.

We shouldn't need any of the post-fork change notices at all. Either the way we implemented changes was different, or we did not make the change at all. Any of our post-fork issues that need change notices should have been tagged with needs change notice.

I also don't think we need to document any of the Drupal 7 change notices, since we should assume users are upgrading from the latest version of Drupal 7.

So the window of change notices we need to include are change notices in the 8.x branch, before Feb 29, 2012. I would trim down this list myself, but I'm not sure what work went into generating it, and since we don't have revisions on Github, I don't want to permanently delete items that don't apply.

[quicksketch]

I updated the Google doc:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HN33UcLodVgSzWoVh6iLqulj0iGPYOuh40MhHLxXRXc/edit#gid=1236376375

The short of it is basically: none of the change notices in that list really apply (at least directly). I noticed that some change notices that do apply were not in the list in the first place. In particular:

Improved Cache system Rename $language global

These are the most common porting API change I run into when updating Drupal 7 modules, however, I feel that both of these should have compatibility wrappers. Although Drupal doesn't believe in such things, for Backdrop, updating from D7 is one of our biggest concerns. I made two issues to add compatibility wrappers for these two changes:

https://github.com/backdrop/backdrop-issues/issues/445 https://github.com/backdrop/backdrop-issues/issues/446

[docwilmot]

Cool, so nearly everything is covered on the change records page then, since all the tagged github issues are on there already. Just need to finish documenting them a bit better. And sorry, I know this looked like a mountain of links, but I wanted to be sure I didnt miss anything. And it wasnt any work at all, just quick cut and paste.

[quicksketch]

@docwilmot++

[jenlampton]

Wow, thanks @docwilmot for putting all this together! Question, do we need the Drupal 7 change records, if there's not actually a change between Backdrop and the latest version of Drupal 7? Or are these just here for reference?