---
title: Brace Yourselves, Rails Upgrade is Coming
teaser: How to prepare your Rails application so you won't get left out in the cold.
tags: ruby,rails,web
author: Prem Sichanugrist
published_on: 2016-02-23
---

Now that the final release of [Ruby on Rails 5.0][rails-5-blog] is on the
horizon, it's a good time to start preparing your Rails applications for an
upgrade. Here are some tips that should help you get your apps ready.

![](https://images.thoughtbot.com/brace-yourselves-rails-upgrade-is-coming/EYvaVUZHSAqN9sh78mSR_brace-yourselves.jpg)

_Photo Credit: HBO, "The Game of Thrones"._

[rails-5-blog]: http://weblog.rubyonrails.org/2016/2/2/Rails-5-0-beta2/

## Ensure good test coverage

It's most desirable during the upgrade process to have good test coverage of the
whole application, especially with integration tests, as it will help you
quickly identify any issues with your upgrade.

If you currently don't have adequate test coverage, consider starting to write
several integration tests now. You should have the test to cover your user's
crucial interaction. For example, if your application is an online store, you
should at least have a test for a user completing the purchase process and
managing their account.

## Use the latest version of Ruby

Rails 5.0 will require at least Ruby 2.2.2. However, given Ruby 2.3.0 is the
latest stable version of Ruby, it's better to upgrade your application all the
way to Ruby 2.3.0 instead.

Unless you're upgrading from an ancient version of Ruby, this process should be
simple and straightforward, provided you have good test coverage.

Note that upgrading to newer version of Ruby may cause your application to [use
more memory][heroku-memory], so you should monitor your application's memory
usage after the upgrade.

[heroku-memory]: https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/ruby-memory-use#ruby-2-0-upgrade

## Upgrade your dependencies

It's a good idea to upgrade your dependencies to the latest version, or at least
the latest minor version of each dependencies' major version. With a [good
version requirement], this could be as easy as running `bundle update`. Doing so
will ensure that upgrading them again for Rails 5 compatibility should be a
breeze. It's also generally a good idea to keep your dependencies up-to-date, as
it might introduce some bug or security fixes that you have missed.

[good version requirement]: https://thoughtbot.com/blog/a-healthy-bundle

If you are using a forked version of the gem, you should revisit your forked
version and see if you can go back and use a public release version. If not
possible, you should try to merge those upstream changes to your fork.
Submitting a patch to that project is also a great idea, as it's possible that
your patch is going to fix a problem others are suffering.

## Try out the beta

While it's not recommended to run a beta version on your production environment,
trying out the beta version on a separate branch will let you know what you are
getting yourself into if you have some time and resources. It can also help
identify potential upgrade pitfalls so you have time to prepare changes to you
application to make upgrading as smooth as possible.

However, keep in mind that some functionality in Rails can change dramatically
from one version to another during the beta period. You can also wait until the
release candidates are out (denoting by `.rc` in the version name) before trying
it out.

## Prepare your timeline and budget

Apart from the time you spend on fixing your code for compatibility issues,
which should take about 1-2 weeks with sufficient test coverage, you should plan
for 1-2 more weeks of QA work as well. While sufficient acceptance test coverage
should guarantee that your upgraded app is working, it's still a good idea to
have someone going in and poking around in the app to see if there are other
places that are broken and not covered under tests, and to see if new acceptance
tests should be introduced or not.

If your team is limited, it might be a great idea as well to bring in an
external consultant team to help with your upgrade process, especially with some
complicated upgrade involving upgrading from a legacy version. I have upgraded
several Rails applications in the past, and I found out that the experience of
upgrading previous app helped me on upgrading the new apps. If that interests
you, [let us know][hire-us].

[hire-us]: https://thoughtbot.com/hire-us