Developers Meeting on Thurs, January 30, 2025

Time/Location

30 Jan 2025 from 15:00-16:00 UTC

Location: https://lyrasis.zoom.us/my/dspace?pwd=RTk4QUhISnhPRi9YenVrTFJKbDllQT09 (Meeting ID: 502 527 3040). Passcode: dspace

More connection options available at DSpace Meeting Room

New Feature Development Deadlines
- Feature PR Creation Deadline: Friday, February 21, 2025
- Feature PR Review/Test Deadline: Friday, March 14
- Feature PR Merge Deadline: Friday, March 28
9.0 Release Candidate: Friday, April 4
9.0 Testathon: April 7-18 (two weeks)
9.0 Translation updates: April 7-18 (during Testathon)
Bug Fix Deadlines
- Bug Fix PR Creation Deadline: Friday, May 2
- Bug Fix PR Merge Deadline: Friday, May 16
Documentation & Release Week: May 19-23
9.0 Release Announced: Monday, May 26, 2025

Agenda

Discussion Topics - If you have a topic you'd like to have added to the agenda, please just add it.
1. DSpace 9.0 release (see release schedule above)
  1. 9.0 Board is created: https://github.com/orgs/DSpace/projects/31/
  2. Early ideas/brainstorms captured at DSpace Release 9.0 Status
2. DSpace 8.1 / 7.6.3 releases (Tentative Release Date: Jan 30 or Feb 6?)
  1. 8.1 / 7.6.3 "To Do" List:
    1. Using both public/private REST API URLs for better performance (Frontend PR: https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/3358, Backend PR: https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/pull/9856) (Needs updating / bug fixing by developer)
    2. Exclude search & browse components from Angular SSR (https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/3709) (PORT for 7.x needed!)
    3. Prevent request with page size of 9999 (https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/3694) (PORT for 7.x needed!)
    4. (Optional) Browse Performance Fixes (https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/3846) (NEEDS REVIEW/TESTING)
    5. (Optional) Accessibility: Make reorder buttons keyboard accessible: https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/3372 (NEEDS REVIEW/TESTING)
    6. (Optional) Accessibility: Support for disabled elements for screen readers: https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/3268 (APPROVED)
    7. (Optional) Support configurable limit for exporting items (https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/pull/10030) (NEEDS REVIEW/TESTING)
    8. (Optional) On error in DOI organizer bulk operations, continue instead of stopping (https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/pull/9835) (NEEDS REVIEW/TESTING)
  2. 8.1 / 7.6.3 COMPLETED
    1. Restrict Angular SSR to paths in sitemap (https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/3682)
    2. Exclude search & browse components from Angular SSR (https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/3709) (For main & 8.x only)
    3. Prevent request with page size of 9999 (https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/3694) (For main & 8.x only)
    4. Fix issue where scoped browse throws errors (https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/3845)
    5. Add ORCID icon with tooltip (https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/3345)
    6. Handles versioning for ORCID publications (https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/pull/9718)
    7. Fix redirect of bitstream URLs with spaces in filename (7.x only) https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/3876
    8. Processes should only be failed after a Tomcat restart (https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/pull/10158)
3. Other topics
  1. (Add other topics here)
Board Review:
- 9.0 Project Board - Review PRs collaboratively or Assign new PRs to volunteers to code review and/or test.
- Backlog Board - Are there any tickets here stuck in the "Triage" column? We'd like to keep this column as small as possible.
- 8.x and 7.6.x Maintenance Board - Known bugs can be found here, along with any backported bug fixes.
Upcoming Topics: (Let us know if there are topics you want to discuss in future weeks)
- Ongoing Discussions (temporarily put on hold until there are updates):
  1. High CPU with DSpace 7 SSR: https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/issues/3110 (This should be alleviated through several SSR related performance improvements coming in 7.6.3 and 8.1)
  2. Simplifying the Installation Process: https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/issues/3184
- Discussion: how to keep message catalogues in sync? https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/issues/3334
- Discussion/proposal around refactoring and simplifying Live Import and External Data frameworks: https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/issues/9758
  (nothing concrete yet but would be great to get thoughts added to this issue and maybe find some collaborators)

Attendees

Current Work

Project Boards

DSpace 9.0 board: https://github.com/orgs/DSpace/projects/31
DSpace 8.x and 7.6.x board: https://github.com/orgs/DSpace/projects/29

To quickly find PRs assigned to you for review, visit https://github.com/pulls/review-requested (This is also available in the GitHub header under "Pull Requests → Review Requests")

Goals for 9.0

To be decided by DSpace Steering Group with feedback from Leadership Group.

Early brainstorms at DSpace Release 9.0 Status. Please feel free to add your own brainstorms or link in tickets that you wish to be considered.

Goals for 8.1 / 7.6.3

Deadline is TBD for both 8.1 and 7.6.3. Bug fix releases do not have fixed/scheduled deadlines. Instead, the developer team will determine when to create a release based on the significance of the issues to solve. (e.g. If major issues are fixed, then a bug fix release will occur more rapidly. If minor issues are found, then a bug fix release may be delayed until sufficient fixes have been made to warrant a release)

Bug/security fixes only. These minor releases will not include any new features.
- New "themeable components" (for dspace-angular) are allowed in bug fix releases, provided that they don't significantly modify component behavior or similar.
- Accessibility fixes are also allowed in bug fix releases, provided they don't significantly modify component behavior or similar.
Bug fix PRs should be created against "main" branch where possible. The "main" branch has the most strict code style rules. (i.e. PRs created against dspace-7_x are becoming more difficult to port forward.)
Per our support policy, bug fixes are only guaranteed to be ported back to 8.x. That said, where possible, we'll try to backport bug fixes (especially significant ones) to 7.6.x.
- Keep in mind, if a specific bug fix is important to you in 7.6.x, then it is best to create two PRs (one for main and one for "dspace-7_x"). If you are able to provide a backport version of the PR, then we will merge it alongside the "main" branch version.
- NOTE: In many scenarios, a backport to "dspace-8_x" should be possible to automate using the "port to [branch]" labels & the "Port merged Pull Request" GitHub Action

Try "Pull Request Trading" for a quicker review

Do you have a PR stuck in "under review" that you really want to see move forward? Or maybe it's someone else's PR but you want to get it more attention?

See Trading reviews on Pull Requests for how to get immediate attention to that PR!

Notes

Reminders about 9.0 deadlines coming up (see note at the top of the agenda)
- Will be strict about the Feature PR deadline. Any major features or changes not in PR form by Feb 21 will not be considered for 9.0 (unless you notify Tim in advance of Feb 21 and we work something out)
Discussion of Giving someone Workflow privileges (Reviewer, Editor, Final Editor) also gives them submit privileges: https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/issues/3849
- Several Committers not surprised by this behavior. We are only checking for "ADD" privileges to determine if you can ADD content to a Collection (i.e. submit). Workflow privileges also require ADD privileges in order to allow them to edit in-progress submissions (for Editor & Final Editor roles).
- This doesn't seem high priority for 8.1 at least. Needs more discussion to determine if there's a way to separate these permissions better
- Several note they are not concerned about this. Not seen as a major issue as those who are doing workflow approval are "trusted". They do not gain submit to other collections. They only can submit items back into the same workflow approval process.
- Tim will update the ticket with this feedback
Most of the meeting was spent on 8.1/7.6.3
- Reviewed everything in TO DO list which is not already merged.
- Using both public/private REST API URLs for better performance (Frontend PR: https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/3358, Backend PR: https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/pull/9856)→ WILL BE Updated by Giuseppe Digilio (4Science) by next week. Pascal-Nicolas Becker will help to test these PRs.
- Exclude search & browse components from Angular SSR (https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/3709) → Will be merged after meeting
- Prevent request with page size of 9999 (https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/3694) → Approved by Art. Just needs a second set of eyes for Testing. Tim Donohue will test.
- Support configurable limit for exporting items (https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/pull/10030) → Deemed as not high priority. It has been changed to "optional" for 8.1/7.6.3. That said, Atmire staff are working on cleaning this up. Cleanup will involve adding a UI warning when a export limit is in effect.
- Processes should only be failed after a Tomcat restart (https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/pull/10158) → Tim plans to test and merge this as-is. Andrea's feedback is valid & should be moved to a separate ticket for future work. However, we cannot wait on that work, as we have a severe bug on "main" branch caused by https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/pull/9728 (already merged). This new PR (10158) fixes that severe bug. We cannot release 8.1/7.6.3 without this bug fix. But, Tim agrees that Andrea's approach would be better for the long term.
- Browse Performance Fixes (https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/3846) → Needs review/testing. Tim will review. This will be optional
- Accessibility: Make reorder buttons keyboard accessible: https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/3372 → Needs review/testing. Tim & Art will review. This will be optional
- Accessibility: Support for disabled elements for screen readers: https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/3268 → Needs review/testing. Tim & Giuseppe will review. This will be optional.
- (Optional) On error in DOI organizer bulk operations, continue instead of stopping (https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/pull/9835) → Needs review/testing. Tim & Kim will review. This will be optional.
Goal for 8.1/7.6.3 is still January 30. However, because of the large number of PRs still open, this may be a difficult deadline . It may be more likely that the release will occur by February 6.
- That said, we are doing our best to get this out on/by Jan 30. If we miss that deadline, it will be out by Feb 6 (assuming no other complications, obviously)