Adobe is on the finish line of beta-testing a new Magento 2.4.4 version, and it will publicly release it on 8 March. Although it is a minor version change from Magento 2.4.3, the latest release can be called a massive update.

The new Magento includes backwards-incompatible changes and brings a lot of significant changes and additions. For example, support of PHP 8.1, and updated versions of ElasticSearch, jQuery and MySQL, among others.

Stores based on Adobe Commerce can already try out the Magento 2.4.4 beta by joining the Adobe Commerce Beta program. Stores on Magento Open Source edition will have to wait until the general release since the beta editions of new Magento versions are unavailable for them.

We have prepared an overview of the Magento 2.4.4 peculiarities, so you can find out what it brings.

PHP 8.1 support

Adobe has changed the Magento release cycle to align with the PHP versions end of life since this component is the most critical for this e-commerce platform.

Magento 2.4.4 in March means the transition from PHP 7.4 to PHP 8. Although Adobe is testing the Magento 2.4.4 beta versions against PHP 8.0, the new version of the e-commerce platform will support PHP 8.1.

The support for PHP 7.3 will be removed in Magento 2.4.4.

Despite stores can upgrade to Magento 2.4.4 using PHP 7.4, Adobe claims full functional support only for PHP 8.1.

PHP 8.1 is considered a significant update of this language which brings a lot of new features. Here is a shortlist of the main ones: enums, read-only properties, explicit octal numeral notation, first-class callable syntax, fibres, pure intersection types, never return type, and final class constants.

That’s not mentioning the performance improvements. PHP 8.1 brings a 23.0% speedup in Symfony Demo. Read more on the official PHP 8.1 release page.

Preliminary performance tests conducted on Magento with PHP 7.4 and 8.1 show that the latter makes the store work somewhat faster. The performance figures on a particular Magento setup will be different since they depend on multiple factors, including server CPU, its architecture (x86/ARM), hosting environment, installed extensions, executed Cron jobs, etc.

OpenSearch support added

Adobe adds support for another in-store search engine. Along with Elasticsearch, stores can use OpenSearch.

In case a store continues using Elasticsearch, it is recommended to use Elasticsearch 7.16.x to mitigate Log4j vulnerability.

Note: Users of Adobe Commerce 2.4.4 on Cloud will have to transition from Elasticsearch to OpenSearch.

Vendor Bundled Extensions (VBE) decoupled.

Prior versions of Magento were packaged with a list of 3rd-party extensions and 3rd-party modules.

With the new version of its e-commerce platform, Adobe has decoupled almost all third-party modules from the Magento core set. Adobe has left only the Braintree extension in the list of vendor-bundled extensions for Adobe Commerce 2.4.4.

Extensions removed from a Vendor Bundled Extension list will be available for optional download from a Magento Marketplace.

Updated software components

• The latest Adobe Commerce 2.4.4-beta4 has the following software updates:
• All project libraries and dependencies are made compatible with PHP 8.1.
• Added ElasticSearch 7.16.1 and OpenSearch 1.1 support.
• jquery-ui has been upgraded to version 1.13.0.
• Deprecated in jQuery 3.6.x methods have been removed.
• jquery.tabs updated to the latest version.

Backward incompatibility

Backward incompatible changes in Magento may have significant implications on the third-party modules since they should work in a new way. Check your list of installed extensions if they are imposed to these changes.

Magento 2.4.4 has the following backwards-incompatible changes:

Inventory check on cartload

In Magento 2.4.4. in the Stock Options section, a new Enable Inventory Check On Cart Load option has been added. By default, it has Enabled status and controls the inventory check when a product is loaded to a shopping cart.

The inventory check may require significant server resources, so disabling it may speed up the checkout when the cart consists of multiple products. However, disabling this option may cause errors. For example, a customer may receive the message Unable to place an order: There are no source items with the in stock status.

TinyMCE

There are three significant changes to the Magento embedded content editor Tiny MCE.
tinymce4 name changed to tinymce. The editor can become unavailable in the admin panel and break the Magento Page Builder extension. This change impacts the store if it uses custom TinyMCE with tinymce4 alias in requirejs or the Page Builder JavaScript file was renamed in any other place except PageBuilder’s di.xml file.

TinyMCE MFTF tests have been refactored. The store is impacted if it uses tests that use elements (selectors) from duplicated sections and extend core tests with TinyMCE.
TinyMCE4 MFTF tests have been refactored. The store can be impacted if it uses or extends the TinyMCE4 MFTF tests.

Removed and updated libraries

Magento 2.4.4 brings a long list of other enhancements in addition to moving to PHP 8.1. Here are some other important updates to the platform:

• updated RequireJS to 2.3.6
• endroid/qr-code updated to the latest version
• PHP Unit 9.5
• TinyMCE 5
• Updated JavaScript libraries:
• script.aculo.us
• Chart.js
• moment.js
• moment-timezone-with-data.js
• matchMedia.js
• underscore.js
• PrototypeJS
• Removed JavaScript libraries:
• es6-collections.js
• MutationObserver.js
• Modernizr
• FormData.js

GraphQL errors to be fixed

Adobe promises a list of GraphQL errors to be fixed upon the release of Magento 2.4.4. Here are some most prominent bugs to be closed in this version:

Configurable child products are returned by GraphQL, although they are turned off at the website level. The MDVA-39935 patch will also be compatible with Magento 2.4.1 – 2.4.3.

For products with equal relevance or price, GraphQL sorting by DESC/ASC may not be working. MDVA-40120 patch will also be available for Magento 2.4.1 – 2.4.3-p1.

Hiding categories through a GraphQL categories query for a B2B shared catalogue feature does not work. Stores on Adobe before Magento 2.4.4 will have to request a patch individually.

GraphQL can’t add a configurable product to the cart if the website ID differs from the store ID. Patch MDVA-37779 is compatible with 2.4.2 – 2.4.2-p1.

GraphQL error when setting shipping address on carts with an empty phone number. MDVA-39521 patch is available for Magento 2.4.0 – 2.4.3.

GraphQL query returns products not assigned to a shared catalogue. The patch MDVA-37748 is available for 2.4.2 – 2.4.2-p2.

Summary

Magento 2.4.4 will offer a lot of improvements in performance and security for online stores. The public release of this platform became available on 8 March 2022, and it is time to start preparing your online store for the transition onto it.

Keep your Magento-based business efficient and protected while providing customers with a speed and error-free shopping experience.