Magento Commerce 2.4.6 – Why it’s a big deal

Adobe has just released Magento Commerce 2.4.6, specifically the beta2 version which now has PHP 8.2 support as well as other much needed performance improvements.  Version 2.4.6 is scheduled to be released on March 14, 2023.  If you are familiar with Magento Commerce or Adobe Commerce, you know that each one of its upgrades comes with exciting new features and improvements. Now that version 2.4.6 beta2 has been released, we cannot wait to see what new upgrades are in store for users.

Magento 2.4.6: New Features and Improvements

One of the most exciting features of Magento Commerce 2.4.6 is its PHP 8.2 support. PHP 8.1 will still enjoy support, but PHP 7.4 will be phased out since it has already attained end-of-life (EOL) status. Thus, Adobe Commerce libraries and other third-party dependencies will be upgraded to become compatible with PHP 8.2.

In addition, version 2.4.6 version features 300 quality enhancements and fixes. These also include major scalability and performance upgrades. The section below discusses some of the major highlights listed in the Adobe Commerce 2.4.6 beta release notes:

Security Improvements

There are only eight security upgrades and platform security improvements in Magento 2.4.6. These include:

• No fails during reCAPTCHA validation that takes place at the checkout section
• No more gaps in admin action logs. Magento 2.4.6 features more specific action audits within exports, mass actions, and grid views

Platform Improvements

As mentioned earlier, Magento Commerce 2.4.6 now supports PHP 8.2, in addition to PHP 8.1. This version release also supports the following:

• Composer 2.2.x
• Redis 7.0.x
• OpenSearch 2. x
• ElasticSearch 8.x
• DHL Schema 10.0
• MariaDB 10.6 (LTS version)
• Page Builder v1.7.3
• PWA Studio v.13.0.x
• The latest versions of Javascript libraries
• Removal of outdated dependencies
• Removal of PHP 7.4
• Upgrade of symphony dependencies, including symphony/console, symphony-event dispatcher, friendsofphp/php-cs-fixer, symphony/process, symphony/finder, web-token/jwt-framework, and many more, to the latest LTS version

Scalability and Performance Enhancements

• Magento merchants can use the ‘Real-time check if segment’ setting matches a customer to enhance performance by decreasing the time used in processing since customer validation is performed against customer segments
• Increased product grid performance thanks to the new setting that limits the number of products on the product grid
• Enhanced import performance as merchants can import up to 100,000 records within a minute
• Boosted order processing capabilities via load balancing
• Accessibility Improvements
• Users can now enjoy a more robust, perceivable, understandable, and functional storefront experience on PWA (Venia)

Braintree Upgrades

• The pay-later messages and buttons are available in Spanish and Italian
• PayPal Vault’s Pay Later messaging is now available
• Increased ACH, Added LPM (Local Payment Methods) and Fraud Protection webhooks
• GraphQL Performance Improvements
• Reduced response time by enabling the querying categories with category permissions setting enabled
• Enhanced GraphQL category tree rendering performance as merchants can now browse over 1500 categories with up to 5 nested subcategory levels seamlessly
• Optimized add product mutation categories for enhanced query performance during bulk cart operations

Additional Fixed Issues in Magento Commerce 2.4.6

The Magento Commerce 2.4.6 has addressed hundreds of issues detected in the Magento 2.4.6 core code. Some of these fixed issues include:

• Merchants can now receive an informative message if the compile command fails
• Users can no longer overwrite .gitignore files when carrying out the composer install function
• The static content deployment command does not fail or time out during compact or standard deployments with multiple websites and locales
• The var/log/exception.log now includes exception stack inputs and other exceptions
• Buttons at checkout now work flawlessly when using a keyboard
• Merchants using the command line to establish a Redis connection without using a password will now receive a parameter validation error from Magento
• The order history page’s screen reader now has the proper image description
• Magento users can now enjoy improved performance and quality fixes related to Magento deployment, installation, and upgrades
• No more Google ReCAPTCHA errors related to validation and identification
• Users can now import bulk images to page builder using the new drag-and-drop feature
• The new release comes with an enabled Minimum terms to match setting, which supports various search queries

System Requirements

• MySQL 8.0
• Apache 2.4
• Composer 2.x
• Nginx 1.8
• Varnish 7.0
• PHP 8.x
• OpenSearch 2.x
• Redis 7.0
• MariaDB 10.6
• ElasticSearch 7.16
• RabbitMQ 3.9

Conclusion

Currently, Adobe has released the Magento Commerce 2.4.6 beta2 version for early testers only, which is available at repo.magento.com. As per the Beta release notes, users are in for quite the upgrade. This new version’s release features better code, enhanced performance, and improved security, among many other upgrades. Thus, it is best to pre-register for the new version release to make sure you get all these exciting upgrades. Note that the official pre-release date for Magento 2.4.6 is scheduled for 28 February 2023. Contact us today for more information about the Magento Commerce 2.4.6-beta2 release.