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.

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(January 2020) All of the below release schedule/timelines should be considered tentative goals. This scheduling assumes a consistent developer contribution of 4FTE from the period of January - June 2020.  While we are working closely with the DSpace Steering Group and DSpace Leadership Group to ensure this consistent level of effort, it is highly dependent on ongoing fundraising to alleviate our reliance on volunteer-based development resources.  Therefore, the below timeline goals may change within the coming months.

Overview of 7.x Release Process

Because of the complex nature of recreating an entirely new User Interface (and REST API), the DSpace v7.x will adopt a slightly different release plan (than seen in v5.x or v6.x).

  • Staged Beta Release Process for 7.0
    • We will be releasing v7.0 features over several months in a staged Beta release process (see goals below). 
    • Individual Betas will not be "feature complete". Instead, each Beta release will layer additional features on the previous Beta. 
    • Betas will be announced publicly & available for download or via Docker.
    • Community members are encouraged to test each Beta and report back any issues so that they can be resolved in a subsequent Beta (prior to the final 7.0 release)
  • Some lower priority features may be delayed for 7.1 or 7.2.
    • Because of the complexity of merging features of two UIs (XMLUI and JSPUI) into one, and the desire to make 7.0 available as soon as possible, we have chosen to release 7.0 as soon as the highest priority features (those deemed most widely used) are completed. This means that, if lower priority features have not yet been completed, they may be rescheduled for 7.1 or 7.2.  However, to retain backwards compatibility, every 6.x feature will be completed in a 7.x release.
    • For a list of prioritized features/tasks (and their tentative release schedule) see our DSpace 7 GitHub Project Boards.  Keep in mind, this schedule is fluid. For example, if additional community developers volunteer to implement a lower priority feature, then that feature might still be released in 7.0 even if it is tentatively scheduled for 7.1 or 7.2.

7.x Release Goals

Below are the very rough 7.x Release Goals. Keep in mind, these timelines may shift (backwards or forwards) based on our available developer resources and/or community volunteers.

  • 7.0 Beta 1 (released March 3, 2020) : Initial beta release, focusing on Security, Performance and Browse updates
  • 7.0 Beta 2 (released April 20, 2020): Beta release focusing on Authentication / Authorization enhancements/fixes. Administrative Editing. Item Versioning.
  • 7.0 Beta 3 (released July 2, 2020): Beta release focusing on Account Profiles, Submission/Workflow enhancements, Administrative tools
  • 7.0 Beta 4 (released: Oct 12, 2020): Beta release focusing on SEO enhancements, Batch processing, Solr-based Statistics, GDPR
  • 7.0 Beta 5 (goal: Nov/Dec? 2020): Theming enhancements. This beta is also an opportunity for general bug fixing & cleanup before the final release. Might include finishing up any unfinished features (e.g. Configurable Entities or OpenAIREv4). Might also include resolving outstanding major bugs, documentation, etc.
    • With the release of Beta 5, we will be running a Community-wide 7.0 Testathon (similar to v6.0 Testathon) to help locate any remaining major bugs that need to be resolved prior to 7.0 final.
  • 7.0 Release: Final, production ready release of 7.0. Will be released as soon as all above Betas have been completed & any outstanding major bugs have been resolved.  Roughly estimated at 1-2 months after last Beta.
  • 7.1 Release (timeline TBD): Will include all features flagged as "7.1final" in Release Plan spreadsheet (see below) which were not completed in time for 7.0. Final timeline dependent on developer resources available after 7.0.
  • 7.2 Release (timeline TBD): Will include all features flagged as "7.2final" in Release Plan spreadsheet (see below) which were not completed in time for 7.1. Final timeline depends on development resources available after 7.1.

The final list of tasks to complete are listed in our DSpace 7 GitHub Project Boards.

How you can help

  • Development: If you are a developer & wish to get involved with the 7.x development process, get in touch with Tim Donohue or join one of our weekly DSpace 7 Working Group meetings.
    • We especially have a need for developers willing to help with testing Pull Requests and Code Reviews (Java or Angular).  This is a good way to "get your feet wet" and better understand the platform before doing development.
  • Translations: If you are interested in helping create translations of the new UI, see DSpace 7 Translation - Internationalization (i18n) - Localization (l10n)
  • Documentation: If you are interested in helping us improve our documentation (especially user-facing documentation) for 7.x, we could use some volunteers to help "comb" through the old docs and update/improve examples based on the new User Interface.  See DSpace 7 Documentation for more info, or contact Tim Donohue.
  • Try out DSpace 7 early! As we move forward in the 7.0 Staged Beta Release process, we really need community testers!  If you ever want to try out the latest & greatest code, we have a guide to do so at Try out DSpace 7.  If you notice any issues or bugs, please feel free to report them to us!  See the section on Reporting Issues on that same wiki page.



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