Page History

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Important warnings

Enabling Item Level Versioning

By default, Item Level Versioning is enabled in DSpace 7.1.  You may choose to disable it by updating this configuration in your local.cfg: 

versioning.enabled = false

Initial Requirements

The Item Level Versioning implementation builds on following requirements identified by the stakeholders who supported this contribution: Initial Requirements Analysis

1. What should be Versionable
   
   1. Versioning happens at the level of an Individual Item
   2. Versioning should preserve the current state of metadata, bitstreams and resource policies attached to the item.
2. Access, Search and Discovery
   
   1. Only the most recent version of an item is available via the search interface
   2. Previous versions of Items should continue to be visible, citable and accessible 
   3. The Bitstreams for previous versions are retained. If something was once retrievable, it should always be retrievable.
3. Identifiers
   
   1. Each version of an Item is represented by a separate "versioned" identifier
   2. A base "versionhistory" Identifier points to the most recent version of the Item. 
   3. A revision identifier also exists that is unique to the specific version.
   4. When a new version of an Item is deposited, a new revision identifier will be created.
4. Presentation
   
   1. On the item page, there is a link to view previous/subsequent versions.
   2. By examining the metadata or identifiers, it is possible to determine whether an item is the most recent version, the original version, or an intermediate version.
5. Access Control and Rights
   
   1. Certain roles should be able to generate a new version of the item via submission.
   2. To submitters, collection manager, administrators will be given to option to create new version of an  item.
   3. Rights to access a specific Item should transmute as well to previous versions
   4. Rights to access a specific Bitstream should also transmute to previous versions.
6. Data Integrity
   
   1. The relationships between versions should not be brittle and breakable by manipulating Item metadata records.
   2. The relationships between versions should be preserved and predictable in various Metadata Exports (OAI, Packagers, ItemExport)
   3. The relationships between versions should be maintained in SWORD and AIP packaging and be maintained in updates and restorations.

User Interface

General behaviour: Linear Versioning

From the user interface, DSpace offers linear versioning. As opposed to hierarchical versioning, linear version has following properties:

• A new version can be created started from any available version but will be always be put at the end of the version history (it will be the latest)
• Only one in-progress version can exist at any time. When new version has been created and still needs to pass certain steps of the workflow, it is temporarily impossible to create another new version until the workflow steps are finished and the new version has replaced the previous one.

Disabling Item Level Versioning

By default, Item Level Versioning is enabled in DSpace 7.  You may choose to disable it by updating this configuration in your local.cfg: 

versioning.enabled = false

Additionally, you will need to make the following changes to disable all versioning-related features:

• Switch to using the basic "HandleIdentifierProvider" in your [dspace]/config/spring/api/identifier-services.xml .  Make sure to comment out the "VersionedHandleIdentifierProvider" and replace it with this:

  Code Block
  <!-- This HandleIdentiferProvider should be used when versioning is disabled --> <bean id="org.dspace.identifier.HandleIdentifierProvider" class="org.dspace.identifier.HandleIdentifierProvider" scope="singleton"> <property name="configurationService" ref="org.dspace.services.ConfigurationService"/> </bean>

  
  

• Remove the "versioning" consumer from the list of default Event Consumers in either your dspace.cfg or local.cfg.  Look for this configuration:

  Code Block
  # Remove the "versioning" entry in this list # (NOTE: Your list of consumers may be different based on the features you've enabled) #event.dispatcher.default.consumers = versioning, discovery, eperson # For example: event.dispatcher.default.consumers = discovery, eperson

  
  

Once these changes are made, you will need to restart your servlet container (e.g. Tomcat) for the new settings to take effect.

Initial Requirements

The Item Level Versioning implementation builds on following requirements identified by the stakeholders who supported this contribution: Initial Requirements Analysis

1. What should be Versionable
   
   1. Versioning happens at the level of an Individual Item
   2. Versioning should preserve the current state of metadata, bitstreams and resource policies attached to the item.
2. Access, Search and Discovery
   
   1. Only the most recent version of an item is available via the search interface
   2. Previous versions of Items should continue to be visible, citable and accessible 
   3. The Bitstreams for previous versions are retained. If something was once retrievable, it should always be retrievable.
3. Identifiers
   
   1. Each version of an Item is represented by a separate "versioned" identifier
   2. A base "versionhistory" Identifier points to the most recent version of the Item. 
   3. A revision identifier also exists that is unique to the specific version.
   4. When a new version of an Item is deposited, a new revision identifier will be created.
4. Presentation
   
   1. On the item page, there is a link to view previous/subsequent versions.
   2. By examining the metadata or identifiers, it is possible to determine whether an item is the most recent version, the original version, or an intermediate version.
5. Access Control and Rights
   
   1. Certain roles should be able to generate a new version of the item via submission.
   2. To submitters, collection manager, administrators will be given to option to create new version of an  item.
   3. Rights to access a specific Item should transmute as well to previous versions
   4. Rights to access a specific Bitstream should also transmute to previous versions.
6. Data Integrity
   
   1. The relationships between versions should not be brittle and breakable by manipulating Item metadata records.
   2. The relationships between versions should be preserved and predictable in various Metadata Exports (OAI, Packagers, ItemExport)
   3. The relationships between versions should be maintained in SWORD and AIP packaging and be maintained in updates and restorations.

User Interface

General behaviour: Linear Versioning

From the user interface, DSpace offers linear versioning. As opposed to hierarchical versioning, linear version has following properties:

• A new version can be created started from any available version but will be always be put at the end of the version history (it will be the latest)
• Only one in-progress version can exist at any time. When new version has been created and still needs to pass certain steps of the workflow, it is temporarily impossible to create another new version until the workflow steps are finished and the new version has replaced the previous one.

Creating a new version of an Creating a new version of an item

Administrators, collection/community administrators and eventually the original submitter can create new versions of an item from the Item View page. By default the original submitter is not allowed to create new version but the permission can be granted with the following property

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An overview of the version history, including links to older versions of an item, is available at the bottom of an Item View page. The repository administrator can decide whether the version history should be available to all users or restricted to administrators. Since DSpace 6 the repository administrator can decide whether all users should be able to see the version submitter/editor or if this information is restricted and can be seen by administrators only. As this may expose data that my be considered personal (name and email address of the submitter), we encourage everyone to leave the default setting and reveal those information to administrators onlyBy default, this information is available to all users.  Information displayed includes the version number, Submitter/Editor name (only if enabled), date, and summary/description.  As necessary, you may change the visibility of this table or the "Editor" column using the "Version History Visibility" configurations below.

Architecture

Versioning model

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In DSpace 4 and 5 only the strategy using canonical handles (one handle that always points to the newest version) were implemented. In DSpace 6 the strategy of creating a new handle for each version was implemented. With DSpace 6 this new strategy become the default. The strategy using canonical handle still exists in DSpace but you have to enable the VersionedHandleIdentifierWithCanonicalHandles in the file [dspace]/config/spring/api/identifier-sericeservice.xml. With DSpace 6 versioned DOIs were introduced using the strategy that every new version gets a new DOI (extended by a dot and the version numbers for versions >= 2). To use versioned Handle you have to enable DOIs, you have to use DataCite as registration agency and you have to enable the VersionedDOIIdentifierProvider in the named configuration file.

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By default, all users will be able to see the version history. To ensure that only administrators can see the Version History, enable versioning.item.history.view.admin in the [dspace]/config/modules/versioning.cfg OR in your local.cfg file.

versioning.item.history.view.admin=false

Allowing submitters to version their items

With DSpace 6.0 it became possible to allow submitters to create new versions of their own items. The new versions are going through the normal workflow process if the collection is configured this way. To allow submitters to create new versions of Item they originally submitted, you have to change the configuration property versioning.submitterCanCreateNewVersion and set it to true. It is part of the configuration file [dspace]/config/modules/versioning.cfg but can be overridden in your local.cfg too.

Identified Challenges & Known Issues

Item Level Versioning has a substantial conceptual impact on many DSpace features. Therefore it has been accepted into DSpace as an optional feature. Following challenges have been identified in the current implementation. As an early adopter of the Item Level Versioning feature, your input is greatly appreciated on any of these.

Conceptual compatibility with Embargo

Lifting an embargo currently does not interact with Item Level Versioning. Additional implementation would be required to ensure that lifting an embargo actually creates a new version of the item. 

Conceptual compatibility with Item Level Statistics

Both on the level of pageviews and downloads, different versions of an item are treated as different items. As a result, an end user will have the impression that the stats are being "reset" once a new version is installed, because the previous downloads and pageviews are allocated to the previous version.

One possible solution would be to present an end user with aggregated statistics across all viewers, and give administrators the possibility to view statistics per version.

Exposing version history

The version history is added on the bottom of a versioned item page. A repository administrator can either decide to show this to all users, or restrict it to admins only. If it is shown to admins only, an end user will have no way to find the way to an older version. Since DSpace 6 you can also configure if the submitter's name and email address should be part of the version history or if they should be hidden. To show the submitter might actually be useful if the editor account is always a generic institutional email address, but may conflict with local privacy laws if any personal details are included.

Image Removed

Hide Submitter details in version table

In either the [dspace]/config/modules/versioning.cfg configuration file or your local.cfg, you can customize the configuration option versioning.item.history.include.submitter. By default this is set to false, which means that information about the submitter is only viewable by administrators. If you want to expose the submitters information to everyone (which be useful if all submitters uses generic institutional email addresses, but may conflict with local privacy laws if personal details are included) you can set this configuration property to true.

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# Setting this to "true" will hide the entire "Version History" table from
# all users *except* Administrators
versioning.item.history.view.admin=false

Hide Editor/Submitter details in version table

In either the [dspace]/config/modules/versioning.cfg configuration file or your local.cfg, you can customize the configuration option versioning.item.history.include.submitter. By default this is set to false, which means that information about the submitter is only viewable by administrators. If you want to expose the submitters information to everyone (which be useful if all submitters uses generic institutional email addresses, but may conflict with local privacy laws if personal details are included) you can set this configuration property to true.

# This property controls whether the name of the submitter/editor
# of a version should be included in the version history of an item.
# Set to "true" to show the submitter to all users who have access to the table.
# Set to "false" to hide the submitter information from everyone except Administrators
versioning.item.history.include.submitter=false

Allowing submitters to version their items

With DSpace 6.0 it became possible to allow submitters to create new versions of their own items. The new versions are going through the normal workflow process if the collection is configured this way. To allow submitters to create new versions of Item they originally submitted, you have to change the configuration property versioning.submitterCanCreateNewVersion and set it to true. It is part of the configuration file [dspace]/config/modules/versioning.cfg but can be overridden in your local.cfg too.

Identified Challenges & Known Issues

Item Level Versioning has a substantial conceptual impact on many DSpace features. Therefore it has been accepted into DSpace as an optional feature. Following challenges have been identified in the current implementation. As an early adopter of the Item Level Versioning feature, your input is greatly appreciated on any of these.

Conceptual compatibility with Embargo

Lifting an embargo currently does not interact with Item Level Versioning. Additional implementation would be required to ensure that lifting an embargo actually creates a new version of the item. 

Conceptual compatibility with Item Level Statistics

Both on the level of pageviews and downloads, different versions of an item are treated as different items. As a result, an end user will have the impression that the stats are being "reset" once a new version is installed, because the previous downloads and pageviews are allocated to the previous version.

One possible solution would be to present an end user with aggregated statistics across all viewers, and give administrators the possibility to view statistics per version.

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