Page History

Milestones

DSpace 7.0 will be the largest release in the history of DSpace. It is the culmination of strategic planning by DSpace Governance in response to community feedback, use cases and needs (for additional details see Strategic Planning)

Achievement	More details
(2014-15) Governance creates a Strategic Plan for modernizing & refreshing DSpace for the future. A key goal of this plan is a "single, out of the box user interface" to replace the aging XMLUI and JSPUI.	DSpace 2015-18 Strategic Plan
(2015-16) Community competition for different UI prototypes. Nine were reviewed / analyzed for inclusion as the single, future DSpace UI.	DSpace UI Prototype Challenge
(2016) Formal selection of Angular as new UI framework, replacing both the XMLUI and JSPUI. New Angular UI that is modern, responsive, and built using a Bootstrap theme for easy customization.	"Introducing the new DSpace User Interface" talk at OR2016 DSpace 7 UI Project Plain Language Summary
(2017) Adoption of a standards based REST API to maximize exposure of all DSpace features for integration purposes: A completely redesigned REST API that is self-documenting and human browsable.	"On the Road to DSpace 7 : Angular UI + REST" at OR2017 DSpace 7 UI Project Plain Language Summary
(2017-19) Redesigned submissions and workflows  featuring a one page submission process with a drag-and-drop interface & a searchable MyDSpace.	Configuration changes in the submission process
(2017-19) Configurable entities, an optional new item type inspired by the DSpace-CRIS project that allows for complex linked relationships between items. For example, Items can now represent a Person (Entity) to provide a way to support "researcher profiles", and link that person to the works they authored.	Initial Investigation WG: DSpace Entities Working Group Implementation WG: DSpace 7 Entities Working Group
(May 2019) Preview release, including Entity demonstrator and associated data set	DSpace 7 Preview Release
(2019-20) Docker installation and deployment procedures	Try out DSpace 7 ("Install via Docker" section)
(Jan 2020) Established a new Staged Beta Release Process for 7.0, spacing out major features over a series of smaller Beta releases & delaying some low priority features for later 7.x releases. Paid/funded development began.	DSpace Release 7.0 Status
(March 2020) Beta 1 released	Beta 1 Release Notes
(April 2020) Beta 2 released	Beta 2 Release Notes
(July 2020) Beta 3 released	Beta 3 Release Notes
(Oct 2020) Beta 4 released	Beta 4 Release Notes
(April 2021) Beta 5 released	Beta 5 Release Notes
Testathon	April 19 - May 7, 2021
OR2021 Talks / Workshop	June 7-10, 2021
Final bug & accessibility fixes prior to 7.0 release	See 7.0 work board
(Aug 2, 2021) 7.0 release	DSpace 7 Press Release Release Notes
(Nov 1, 2021) 7.1 release	Release Notes
(Feb 7, 2022) 7.2 release	Release Notes
(June 27, 2022) 7.3 release	Release Notes
(To be announcedOctober, 2022) 7.4 release (IN PROGRESS)	v7.4 development in progress. See DSpace 7 Working Group
Later 7.x releases (see "What features are coming in a later 7.x release?")

The 7.3 4 release will concentrate on maintenance tasks (bug fixes, usability fixes, etc) to help ensure that sites planning upgrades to 7.x have an excellent experience. We will also attempt to include features which just missed the 7.3 release (listed below in "Tier 1: Highest Priority" and "Tier 2: Medium-High Priority". The latest status of each feature may be found by clicking on its ticket, or browsing our 7.3 Development Board.as "Delayed until 7.4"), along with any features donated by community members. Donated features must be submitted based on the following deadlines to be included in 7.4 (otherwise, they will be rescheduled for 7.5):

• By August 1, institutions wishing to donate features should "announce" their intentions by either creating a GitHub issue ticket for the donated feature, or commenting on an existing ticket asking to claim it for 7.4.  Tim Donohue and the DSpace 7 Working Group will discuss suggested donated features & provide advice and/or suggestions based on available reviewer resources.  Very large or complex feature may be delayed for 7.5, though development can begin immediately as necessary.
• By August 26, any donated features must have Pull Request(s) containing suggested code changes corresponding to the feature.  These PR(s) will then be assigned to reviewers to provide feedback on code, etc.
• During September, the DSpace 7 Working Group will review/approve donated PRs.  Members of this team may provide feedback or requests for changes to the PR(s).  We ask that you be responsive, as all PRs must be merged before the end of September – any not merged will be delayed for 7.5.

Volunteer development may impact the order in which features are completed. To encourage volunteers to contribute code to DSpace 7.3, volunteer developers are welcome to contribute any feature (listed in any tier below or prior approved) to the 7.3 release. These donated features will be included in the 7.3 release, provided they are contributed before the 7.3 Pull Request deadline (around one month prior to release) and pass code reviews.  Please get in touch with Tim Donohue or add a comment to an existing issue ticket if you wish to volunteer to implement one of the features listed belowhave any questions about donating features back to this release.