Foreword

My first experience with Drupal was in late 2006, when I started using it to build the site of an NGO I was volunteering for. What was making Drupal stand out then is what, in many ways, still sets it apart today: a large set of ready-to-use building blocks, backed up by a community of dedicated maintainers.

Over the years, that community has taken on some of the most complex problems for a content management system. Things like extensible data modeling, multilingualism, a performant caching system or safe deployment of configuration changes are not just Drupal specificities but, in many ways, they are what defines the content management industry in the first place.

Thanks to their relentless efforts, people have fought for the heart of that community in order to have their own proposals, their own take on those defining problems, being adopted by the larger audience. We have all witnessed a few of those struggles and, in one way or another, rooted for one or the other school of thought.

I remember championing across several DrupalCons for an efficient, features-driven deployment process myself, until the Configuration Management Initiative came along. I was struck by how far that looked from what we were advocating, only to discover that the new configuration management system was its natural, most powerful, evolution.

And this book is about just that: evolution.

As it's undeniable that Drupal 8 was a rough jump ahead from Drupal 7, Drupal 9 is Drupal 8's natural, most powerful, evolution. And I can't think of anyone better suited to walk you through it than Daniel.

Already the author of Drupal 8 Module Development, in this excellent book, Daniel covers in great detail all of Drupal 9's sub-systems, from the unique perspective of a long-time, prominent, Drupal community member.

Whether you are a seasoned Drupal developer, or you are taking your first steps in this powerful system, the content of this book truly is an essential travel companion for any modern Drupal developer.

Antonio De Marco

Co-founder, Nuvole