PORTLAND, Ore., 6 May 2024—Twenty-three years after creating Drupal as a university student and hundreds of thousands of websites later, Dries Buytaert announced today that a new, parallel version of Drupal will launch at the end of 2024. Built on top of Drupal core and common contrib modules, and released in parallel, this new version will make the incredible power of Drupal more usable for all. Drupal is an Open Source CMS that is foundational to a great digital experience platform. Its reliable, highly secure, and flexible tools build the versatile, structured content needed to create dynamic web experiences.
Drupal Starshot is not a fork of Drupal - rather it is the aggregation of Drupal Core with the best of the contrib ecosystem and our most innovative strategic initiatives to make the power of Drupal easier to unlock for everyone. Empowering users with those capabilities is as crucial at the enterprise scale as it is for SMBs.
This new, parallel version of Drupal will incorporate the best of the 50,000+ modules created over the past decade into a curated, out-of-the-box experience for organizations wishing to build powerful websites quickly.
“We built this amazing platform to power the most robust digital experiences. And now we will make it more accessible to non-developers,” said Dries. “Drupal Starshot is an initiative that will deliver this new version of Drupal within eight months.”
“The Drupal Association is excited to support the Drupal Starshot initiative and to begin marketing this version of Drupal as the first, best stop for those interested in understanding what Drupal can do,” said Owen Lansbury, Chair of the Drupal Association’s board of directors.
On 6 May, founder and project lead Dries Buytaert gave an inspiring keynote—also known as the Driesnote—introducing this new initiative: Drupal Starshot.
Dries described how, much like the race to space in the 1960s, Drupal is also in a race. The web is moving forward, with or without Drupal. Drupal has a long history of being a leader in the Open Web, but it needs its “Moonshot” moment. Dries reiterated how the future of Drupal’s success will come from broadening its usability to a wider audience. The way to do this, Dries said, is to open Drupal’s powerful tools to non-developers.
What is Drupal Starshot, and how does it differ from the Drupal we know today? Drupal Starshot does not replace the existing Drupal Core. In fact, Drupal Starshot will be built on top of Drupal Core, but have a different governance model to move fast, allowing for more innovation more quickly.
After Drupal Starshot is introduced, when someone visits the Drupal.org download page we will promote two Drupal experiences: Drupal Core will still be promoted to expert users who want to build their Drupal solution from the core framework up. When Drupal Starshot is selected, it will automatically download core and a collection of recipes that take Drupal from a framework to something closer to a complete product, making it easier for new users to try and test out Drupal, all from right in their browser.
Drupal Core will still be the fundamental building block of Drupal Starshot and can still be used independently from Drupal Starshot for custom builds.
How will this new Drupal be different?
The Drupal that exists today, known as “Drupal Core,” will continue to exist and will be maintained by core maintainers. The Drupal Starshot initiative will introduce this parallel version of Drupal with a fully featured out-of-box experience. Starshot is not a fork, and not a separate migration or upgrade path from Drupal core, but instead helps guide Drupal users through many of the decisions they need to make to build on top of Drupal core as base.
Features that Drupal Starshot will include are:
- Next generation page builder
- Project Browser + Recipes
- Automatic updates
- Key contributed modules
- Easy configuration
- Default content
- And possibly more!
Drupal community members who are interested in contributing to the development of Drupal Starshot can submit their interest on this page.
Watch the full Driesnote on the Drupal Association YouTube Channel.
About DrupalCon
This year, DrupalCon North America is a four-day conference held in Portland, Oregon, from 6-9 May. Over 1,300 professionals and Drupal users collaborate on the project for a week. The Drupal Association is a non-profit organization that caters to the needs of Drupal and its worldwide community. It focuses on the growth of the Drupal community and supports the project’s vision to create a safe, secure, and Open Web for everyone.
About Drupal and the Drupal Association
Drupal is a powerful open-source content management system for everyone, from small nonprofits to enterprises. It is used by millions of people and organizations worldwide, made possible by a community of 100,000-plus contributors and enabling more than 1.3 million users on Drupal.org. The Drupal Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating the Drupal software project, fostering the community, and supporting its growth.