Rails 8.1 has officially landed!
Announced on October 24th, it brings with it a host of excellent updates, including Lexxy– a slick, modern new rich text editor – and a much more reliable way of handling batch processing through Active Job Continuations. In short: Rails just got better, faster, and even more productive to work with.
On the back of this release, and following their maintenance policy, the Rails core team has now confirmed that version 7.1 is officially end-of-life. That means they will no longer release security updates or bug fixes and it’s time to upgrade your old Rails apps.
Now, while it’s been some time since Rails has had a major security issue, it’s still essential to stay up to date. Researchers discover new attack methods all the time that require new defences, and problems in your app’s other dependencies can introduce vulnerabilities that you can’t easily patch if those gems rely on a modern Rails version.
Keeping your Rails version current is one of the most effective ways to keep your application secure and stable.
If your app is now running an unsupported Rails version you don’t have to tackle upgrades alone. If your team is flat out working on feature delivery, or if you don’t have ongoing support in place, Storm can help. We handle Rails upgrades all the time – assessing the size, complexity, and age of your app so you know exactly what to expect before we begin. We can take the stress out of the process and make sure your app stays secure. Get in touch and let’s have a chat.
Planning your ongoing Rails upgrades
As part of this latest announcement, Rails has also extended support for version 8.0 by six months (since 8.1 arrived a little behind schedule). So, 8.0 will now receive bug fixes until May 7th, 2026, and security updates until November 7th, 2026.
With new releases arriving roughly every six months, it’s more important than ever to have a clear maintenance plan. Small, regular upgrades are far easier and less risky. Waiting years and trying to leapfrog multiple major versions in one go can be painful.
If you’d like help keeping your Rails app healthy, Storm offers affordable ongoing support packages that can start from just half a developer day a month. It’s a simple, reliable way to make sure your app stays secure and running smoothly.
Efficient. Robust. Scalable. Secure.
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