Magento 2.4.2: New version, new possibilities

After the major upgrade Magento 2.4, the shop software manufacturer is delivering another release with the new version Magento 2.4.2. This version offers some important innovations. The expected innovations at a glance.

Extensive security and platform updates

After the function update Magento 2.4.1 in the last quarter of 2020, the continuation to the new version Magento 2.4.2 follows seamlessly. This version brings further function updates - in addition to some security enhancements of course. The pre-release version for developers and service providers (Magento partners) is activated on 26.1 a few days before the official release.

The security release 2.3.6-p1 for the older distribution will also appear parallel to the latest Magento version. This is also the last Magento 2.3.x version that still supports PHP version 7.3.

We have listed below what the latest Magento version 2.4.2 brings with it:

Security and Performance

This version has over 35 security improvements and 280 performance points ready for the user - again an indication that Magento will not let up on these issues. It is also important to mention with regard to the security innovations that these have also been made backwards compatible for the update of the older version 2.3.6-p1. This is certainly very good news for customers who are still using Magento 2.3.x. Most of the security patches are mainly measures to further improve the protection of personal data.

Platform updates

The support of some technologies used in Magento has been increased to newer versions. These include, among other things:

• Support for Elasticsearch 7.9x
• Redis 6.x
• Varnish 6.4
• Composer 2.x

Among these components, the update for Composer deserves special mention. With the new version, shop installations on the server are much faster. This is particularly advantageous if there are any bugs that arise, as it is much faster to upload the code with the respective bug fixes.

Magento PWA Studio

Magento's own development environment PWA Studio, for PWA applications / front ends, was increasingly trimmed for internationalization and localization. For this reason, the Venia development concept now supports many different languages ​​and currencies as well as new “My Account” components. In addition, support for shop operators with multiple stores was implemented.

B2B edition

The B2B edition , which is very popular with Magento Commerce customers, has once again expanded its functionality. Most of the improvements relate to online payment via the various payment providers. Merchants can now choose any payment method to complete individual orders.

GraphQL

The database technology GraphQL was adapted especially in the course of the work on the Magento B2B Edition. GraphQL can now accept catalog requests and is also compatible with the following Magento B2B modules:

• Company Credit : The Company Query now has credit check details.
• Requisition Lists : With this support, shop operators are able to create Requisition Lists including all their functions in connection with GraphQL.

Conclusion and outlook

Magento 2.4.2 is a so-called minor update, but it has some innovations in store that make an upgrade from Magento 2.3 to 2.4 even more attractive.

It is important to emphasize once again that Magento is also thinking of the users of the older version 2.3 and, in addition to the downward compatible security patches, will also release another version with the number 2.3.7. It is interesting that this version also requires PHP 7.4. This is due to the fact that PHP 7.3 will reach the end of life at the end of 2021 and will then no longer receive any updates. In the course of the update to PHP 7.4, it should therefore be worth considering switching directly to Magento 2.4. The PHP basis is the same, but the current Magento distribution offers a lot more functionality.