Contribute to the DSpace Development Fund
The newly established DSpace Development Fund supports the development of new features prioritized by DSpace Governance. For a list of planned features see the fund wiki page.
Version 7.0
DSpace 7.0 is under active development, and is tentatively scheduled to be released in late 2018 or early 2019.
Table of Contents:
Overview
What will be included in DSpace 7?
The DSpace 7.0 release will concentrate on two primary major features:
- A new User Interface based on Angular 2 (to replace XMLUI and JSPUI). This work is going on at https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular
- The goal of the new UI is to implement all major features of both XMLUI and JSPUI in a single, modern UI.
- While additional UI-related features/improvements may come in this release (especially any that are made easier by Angular), we do not anticipate any significant changes to the DSpace backend (except for the REST API, as noted below).
- A refactored/enhanced REST API (using modern REST best practices). This work is going on in the "master" branch of https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace
- Additionally, a new REST Contract (describing all API interactions) is being written at https://github.com/DSpace/Rest7Contract
For much more information on the history behind these decisions, see DSpace 7 UI Project Plain Language Summary
Where is this work happening? How can I track it?
This work is actively taking place in the DSpace 7 Working Group (this is the development team). This group meets on a weekly basis (see working group wiki page for scheduling information). All meetings are open (anyone can attend) and meeting notes are publicly available off the group's wiki page.
We also use Slack to communicate between meetings. Anyone can request a Slack invite (see link) to listen in or join discussions. The DSpace 7 development team primarily uses the #angular-ui and #rest-api channels within Slack, to discuss the UI and REST API work respectively.
Where can I see the latest work? Is there a demo site?
We host two demonstration sites of the latest DSpace 7 work. You can try them yourself to see how the work is progressing!
- DSpace 7 User Interface demo: https://dspace7-demo.atmire.com/
- This site is automatically updated each time a UI code change is merged into https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular
- It also points at the REST API demo (see below) and uses data from it.
- Currently, the site is anonymous access only, as authentication / authorization features are still in progress.
- DSpace 7 REST API demo: https://dspace7.4science.it/dspace-spring-rest/
- This site is updated after major changes to REST API.
- REST API design/interaction is described in the REST Contract at https://github.com/DSpace/Rest7Contract
Presentations / Webinars on DSpace 7
- Coming in June 2018: DSpace 7 Update talk and Workshops at OR2018
- At the OR2018 conference, a DSpace 7 update talk will be presented along with two 1/2 day developer workshops on the DSpace 7 UI and DSpace 7 REST API.
- February 2017: DSpace 7 updates webinar. An update on the DSpace 7 work was presented as part of the DuraSpace "hot topics" webinar series
- Video recording is available at: http://www.duraspace.org/node/3103
- Slides are available at https://www.slideshare.net/DuraSpace/22817-introducing-dspace-7-webinar-slides
- As this talk was highly technical (at parts), a higher level summary of the main points is at: DSpace 7 UI Project Plain Language Summary
- June 2016: Introducing DSpace 7 talk at OR2016. At OR16, the plans for DSpace 7 were presented as part of the "Introducing the New DSpace User Interface" talk.
- Slides are available at: http://www.slideshare.net/tdonohue/introducing-the-new-dspace-user-interface
- Video recording is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbxQ60wjPXs&index=1&list=PLER-v9UmiFBut2SVfA2uUSuBFhSFnqlXh
Current Status of new UI
We are tracking the current status of all active DSpace 7 development on this Google Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18brPF7cZy_UKyj97Ta44UJg5Z8OwJGi7PLoPJVz-g3g/edit#gid=0
- The "Overview" tab contains a list of all high-level features currently available in either the DSpace 6.x JSPUI or XMLUI. (If you feel a feature is missing, let Tim Donohue know) Our development workflow is generally described below:
- Green features are considered "completed" (or have an early implementation completed). These features should already exist on the demo site (https://dspace7-demo.atmire.com/).
- Red features are waiting for review (i.e. code is nearly ready, and this feature is likely to be coming soon to the demo site)
- Blue features are work in progress (i.e. one or more volunteers are currently working on this feature)
- Yellow are ready to be worked on (i.e. waiting for volunteer)
- White/Gray are not yet fully described in a development "ticket". They will still be part of DSpace 7. These features will move up this workflow (to Yellow → Blue → Red → Green) once other features are completed.
Other possible changes in DSpace 7.0 (not comprehensive)
The following is an (unordered) list of changes / new features that we'd like to see added to DSpace 7.0. If you have additional features to add, please feel free. We also NEED volunteers to make these features happen, so please do volunteer if you are willing to work on a particular change! Please note that we reserve the right to reschedule/reject any feature that may not align well with the longer term RoadMap.
Feature | Notes / Tickets | Priority | Volunteer(s) |
---|---|---|---|
Single Embargo system |
| Medium | |
Single built-in Statistical Engine (SOLR Statistics) |
| Low | |
Enhanced Solr Statistical Reports |
| Medium | |
Oauth authentication plugin | Dryad (a fork of DSpace) has already implemented this, and reportedly is interested in contributing it to DSpace | Medium | |
Inline video player | Required: Closed caption capability for accessibility | Low |
Pull Requests to review for possible inclusion
Code Changes in DSpace 7.0
New Features in 7.0
General Improvements in 7.0
Bug Fixes in 7.0
Organizational Details
Release Coordination
Instead of a single "Release Coordinator", the DSpace 7.0 release will be managed by a "Release Team".
Release Team
Please volunteer (by emailing Tim Donohue), if you are interested in joining the team!
Timeline and Processing
Your contributions are welcome now! Code and documentation need not be finished, so long as it is working and we can all see what it is for. Time is set aside for fixing, polishing, and integration. We have some general Code Contribution Guidelines available, but you are also welcome to ask questions on the dspace-devel mailing list.
Release Timeline
Please note that the dates below are estimates of when particular activities may occur. As there are many factors involved in a major release, these are subject to change.
Date | Milestone | What it means |
---|---|---|
(ongoing) | New UI and REST API development | Development of the new UI and REST API is still ongoing. See Status above. |
OR2018 conference | Developer Workshops on DSpace 7 (REST API and Angular UI training) | |
TBA | Deadline for feature pull requests | If you wish to contribute features to DSpace 7.0, you must submit a pull request by this date. |
TBA | Weekly developers' meeting devoted to review of feature pull requests for 7.0 | The entire hour's meeting will be used to discuss proposed features submitted by the deadline. |
TBA | Weekly developers' meeting devoted to review of feature pull requests for 7.0 | The entire hour's meeting will be used to discuss proposed features submitted by the deadline. |
TBA | Feature freeze | DSpace 7.0 is considered feature-complete on this date. Only bugfixes will be pulled between this date and final release. |
TBA | Release Candidate 1 tagged | A DSpace 7.0 Release Candidate will be available for wider testing. |
TBA | Release Candidate 2 tagged | |
TBA | Testathon | Intensive public testing of the 7.0 Release Candidate is invited. The Release Team will focus on getting problems resolved. |
TBA | Release Candidate 3 tagged | An updated DSpace 7.0 Release Candidate will be available for wider testing. |
TBA | DSpace 7.0 is publicly released | DSpace 7.0 is released for download and general use. |
Release Process needs to proceed according to the following Maven release process: Release Procedure