Core Confidential #1: Day in the life of a Core Maintainer & notes on Drupal 9 readiness

What is the day-to-day life of a Drupal core committer like? Besides squashing bugs and shepherding the Drupal project, the maintainers responsible for Drupal core are also constantly thinking of ways to improve the developer experience and upgrade process for novice and veteran Drupal users alike. With Drupal 9 coming just around the corner, and with no extended support planned for Drupal 8 thanks to a more seamless transition to the next major release, Drupal's core developers are hard at work building tools, approving patches, and readying Drupal 9 for its day in the spotlight. But Drupal 9 isn't the only version that requires upkeep and support—other members of the Drupal core team also ensure the continued longevity of earlier versions of Drupal like Drupal 7 as well.

The impending release of Drupal 9 has many developers scrambling to prepare their Drupal implementations and many module maintainers working hard to ensure their contributed plugins are Drupal 9-ready. Thanks to Gábor Hojtsy's offer of #DrupalCares contributions in return for Drupal 9-ready modules, there has been a dizzying acceleration in the growth of modules available as soon as Drupal 9 lands. In addition, the new Rector module allows for Drupal contributors to have access to a low-level assessment of what needs to change in their code to be fully equipped for the Drupal 9 launch.

In this inaugural episode of Core Confidential, the insider guide to Drupal core development and Tag1's new series, we dive into the day-to-day life of a core committer and what you need to know about Drupal 9 readiness with the help of Fabian Franz (VP of Software Engineering at Tag1), Michael Meyers (Managing Director at Tag1), and your host Preston So (Editor in Chief at Tag1 and author of Decoupled Drupal in Practice). Learn more about how Drupal's core team continues to support the Drupal project as it gets ready for the latest and greatest in Drupal 9, due to be released this summer for eager CMS practitioners worldwide.