As part of a recently completed project, our team successfully implemented a software modernization project for a mechanical engineering customer from Augsburg. The aim was to bring an existing Laravel application up to date technically and at the same time significantly increase the long-term maintainability, stability and security of the application.
The starting point was a historically grown Laravel-based application that was still running on an older version of PHP. Both possible security aspects due to outdated software packages and the technical basis required a comprehensive update. At the same time, the development environment needed to be modernized in order to make future developments more efficient and stable.
To make the migration as low-risk as possible, a new, locally usable development environment based on Docker Compose was initially set up, which worked with the previous PHP version 7.2. This meant that all adaptations could be tested under realistic conditions without affecting the production environment. At the same time, an anonymized test database with production-related templates was provided, which enabled secure and data protection-compliant development.
A central component of the project was the gradual update of the code base from PHP 7.2 to PHP 8.3 and the Laravel framework from Laravel 6 to 11. Specialized migration and quality assurance tools were used for this. The Laravel versions were largely updated automatically. In addition, phpstan and Rector were used to automatically analyze the source code, make necessary adjustments and at the same time sustainably improve the code quality. By refactoring and setting up comprehensive unit and integration tests with PHPUnit, the functionality of the application was continuously safeguarded throughout the entire migration process. Coverage reports ensured that all relevant functionalities were covered by tests.
The frontend has also been extensively modernized: JavaScript dependencies and the build toolchain (Webpack, Laravel Mix) were updated, CSS components were transferred to a SASS basis and external dependencies – in particular Google Web Fonts – were replaced with locally hosted resources. These adjustments not only improved performance, but also ensured greater security and better compliance with data protection requirements.
Once the development work was complete, the application was migrated to a new server environment. Automated deployment processes based on a makefile were used to enable updates to be rolled out quickly and easily in future. The entire development was closely organized via an internal Trello board and versioned via a Git repository in Bitbucket.
Despite the complexity of such a migration, the project was extremely successful. The biggest technical challenge was to carefully adapt a code base that had grown over the years without jeopardizing existing functionalities. Thanks to the systematic approach, comprehensive testing and close coordination with the customer, all challenges were overcome on schedule. The partnership-based cooperation, which made a significant contribution to the success of the project, was also highlighted as particularly positive.
The result is a modern, stable and high-performance application that offers the customer significantly greater future security. Thanks to the new development environment, the system can now be maintained and further developed much more easily. The consistent quality assurance also ensures that future adaptations can be carried out with significantly less risk.
This project is an example of how individually grown systems can be successfully modernized and equipped for the future. With tried-and-tested strategies and practical implementation, we can also bring your application up to the latest technical standards – feel free to contact us!
Photo: scaldra2 on flickr.com