TYPO3 - Is our old TCA setup migratable to newer TCA/Overrides?

Question

I see how one should rearrange older TCA configurations from ext_tables.php to still work on newer TYPO3 versions, e.g. explained here: TYPO3 - TCA in ext_tables.php check and TCA/Overrides for v8

But from the TYPO3 reference (https://docs.typo3.org/typo3cms/CoreApiReference/8.7/ExtensionArchitecture/ExtendingTca/StoringChanges/Index.html) I read:

Be aware that you cannot extend the TCA of extensions if it was configured within its ext_tables.php file, usually containing the "ctrl" section referencing a "dynamicConfigFile". Please ask the extension author to switch to the Configuration/TCA/.php setup.

This "ctrl" thing is the case for us.

I'm not an extension developer and wonder if this is a huge thing. We have about 20 of old extension in this style.

Answer 1

Every old TCA can be migrated to the new style. You have to move every TCA configuration (including the 'ctrl' section) to the new files under Configuration/TCA/ as you can see in this extensions TCA configuration: https://github.com/TYPO3GmbH/blog/blob/552556cb28252b376e6d4cfbbbee547b4b82d65c/Configuration/TCA/tx_blog_domain_model_author.php If your extensions are public available in the TYPO3 Extension Repository you maybe find an update for them which already contains those migrations. For all other extensions including your own you have to migrate the TCA by yourself but it's not a "huge thing"... it's like copy & pasting.