Rails 5 update and support options
All information about Rails 5: What's new in this version, your Rails 5 EOL version today and support alternatives to a costly Rails update.
Each new version of Rails builds on the strengths of its predecessors and offers developers improved tools, higher performance and new features to create web applications more efficiently and effectively.
A Rails update to the latest version allows developers to benefit from these advances. In addition, for security reasons, at a certain point it is essential to either upgrade to a new version or to guarantee the security of the applications in some other way.
Here you can find out everything about Rails 5, what EOL (End of Life) means in the Rails world and how you can protect your outdated Rails version today.
End of Support (EOL) Rails 5 is no longer officially supported
Commercial applications still run on Rails 5, but community support for Rails 5 expired in 2021.
The voluntary open source community no longer provides patches for security vulnerabilities. As a result, applications based on Rails 5 are susceptible to critical security risks.
Users should at least upgrade to Rails 7 to regain community support or switch to a commercial support option - such as Rails LTS.
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Rails 5: Real-Time Apps and API Mode
Released in June 2016, Rails 5 brought real-time capabilities, API-first development, and performance improvements. It introduced Action Cable for WebSockets, streamlined app development with Rails API mode, and merged key libraries like rails-api into the core framework.
Key Updates in Rails 5
- Action Cable for real-time functionality
Rails 5.0 introduced Action Cable, providing seamless WebSocket integration. This made it easier for developers to build real-time features like chat applications and live notifications directly within Rails. - API mode for lightweight APIs
Rails 5.0 introduced an API mode that stripped away unnecessary middleware and modules, allowing developers to build lightweight and high-performance JSON APIs more efficiently. - Yarn and Webpack for modern JavaScript management
Rails 5.1 integrated Yarn for dependency management and added optional support for Webpack, making it easier to incorporate modern frontend libraries and frameworks into Rails applications. - Encrypted secrets for better security
Rails 5.1 introduced encrypted secrets, providing a more secure way to store sensitive application credentials and configurations. This improved security by keeping secrets out of version control in an encrypted format. - Active Storage for file management
Rails 5.2 introduced Active Storage, a built-in framework for handling file uploads. It allows seamless integration with cloud storage services like Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, and Microsoft Azure, while also supporting local storage for development and testing. - Redis cache store for performance optimization
Rails 5.2 added built-in support for Redis as a cache store, improving performance by efficiently handling application-level caching. - Content Security Policy (CSP) for enhanced security
Rails 5.2 introduced a new DSL for configuring a Content Security Policy (CSP), helping developers prevent the execution of untrusted content and enhancing application security.
Rails 5 laid the foundation for modern web applications, making it easier to build real-time, API-driven, and JavaScript-heavy applications. With Action Cable, Rails became a powerful choice for real-time apps, while API mode helped developers build scalable backends for mobile and frontend frameworks like React, Vue, and Angular.
These updates laid the groundwork for the even more powerful features introduced in Rails 6.
Challenges when updating Rails 5
There are good reasons that prevent companies from updating to the latest version of Rails. Here are some challenges you might run into when planning your upgrade.
- Extensive gem upgrades are necessary
Any gem that integrates with Rails needs to be updated to a newer version. Unmaintained gems must be replaced with a newer version. - Monkey patches will break
Any monkey patches that hook into the internals of Rails or other gems typically break with an upgrade. - Upgrades can be hard to execute
When a Rails application has poor test coverage, testing an update is challenging. In addition, all feature development must be paused during the upgrade. - Secrets.yml is no longer supported
Rails 7 has dropped support for secrets. Any secrets must be migrated to use encrypted credentials. - New handling for frontend assets
Rails has overhauled its asset pipeline three times—first moving to Sprockets, then to Webpacker, then to Propshaft with external build tools (like esbuild) for JavaScripts. - API changes
As the Rails API evolves with every major version, various classes, methods and options have been renamed or removed. - Webpacker has been removed
The Webpacker gem has been removed from Rails 7 and is no longer maintained. JavaScript files must be processed using import maps, esbuild oder another external build tool.
The creators of Rails LTS About makandra
makandra are the sharpest team of Rails developers I've worked with in my career. I was very impressed how they jumped into an old, hairy codebase and were able to immediately start improving our testing and reliability, without much management from us. The business value we received was off the charts.
Let’s talk about Rails LTS
We’re happy to assist if you need support managing an older Rails version. Whether you want to avoid an upgrade with Rails LTS or need a partner to modernize your application, we’re the right choice for you as a Rails agency with 15+ years of experience.