Version 10.0

Table of Contents:

The timelines for the DSpace 10.0 release are still being worked on. However it is likely to be released approximately one year after 9.0, i.e. in May 2026.

On October 21, 2024, the DSpace Steering Group announced that DSpace and DSpace-CRIS are investigating a possible merger. While this merger would not occur in the 9.0 release, the 9.0 priorities are taking into account a possible future merger (in 10.0 or later). Any donated features which make a potential merger more difficult would not be included in 10.0.

Release Notes

Release Notes for this release are not yet available.

Priorities for 10.0

Because decisions have not yet been made regarding a possible merger of DSpace-CRIS and DSpace, the priorities for DSpace 10.0 are temporarily general in nature. Once a decision is made regarding a possible merger with DSpace-CRIS, these priorities will be updated to align with that decision

Anyone is welcome to donate features / development work which aligns with these priorities. If there are alignment questions, get in touch with Tim Donohue or ask in a Developer Meeting.

Improving performance / scalability in general. Some examples include...
- Serve REST configuration more efficiently: https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/issues/9056
- User permissions should be obtained in fewer REST requests: https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/issues/3161
- Submission Form should be loaded using fewer REST requests: https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/issues/3162
- Search Results should be loaded using fewer REST requests: https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/issues/3163
Easier Installation and Upgrades. Some examples include...
- Discussions around simplifying installation process: https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/issues/3184
- Can we simplify the installation/upgrade process of DSpace, especially now that there's a frontend & backend to manage?
Code Cleanup / Maintenance. Some examples include...
- Dependency upgrades: Upgrade to latest Angular and latest Spring / Spring Boot
- Replace Submission Form library (as the one we use is unmaintained): https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/issues/2216
- All collections should have a workflow – a default noninteractive workflow would facilitate applying curation tasks (such as virus scanning) to all submissions: https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/issues/8820
- DOIs
  - Changing the field a DOI is using (dc.identifier.uri vs. dc.identifier.doi)
  - Changing the resolver (https://doi.org vs. http://dx.doi.org)
Modularization
- Angular : library-based architecture proposal - As of 8.0, we've already migrated to "standalone components". We can now consider whether to potentially migrate to using Nx.
- Do we need a UI/UX guide to enable module developer to achieve a common "DSpace" look and feel? https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/issues/3211
Bitstream persistence URLs (if it does not interfere with a potential DSpace-CRIS merger) - As of DSpace 7+, there are no persistent URLs for bitstreams. The URL is based on UUID, and if you replace or version a bitstream the URL will change: https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/issues/9083
Accessibility fixes and other major bug fixes.
Features or fixes that make a potential DSpace-CRIS merger easier. (For more information on the potential merger, see the announcement from DSpace Steering.)

Features likely tabled until a decision is made regarding a potential merger

The following features may conflict with a potential DSpace-CRIS merger (see above) because they are (primarily) features already available in DSpace-CRIS. Therefore, they have been temporarily tabled until a decision on the possible merger has been made. If you have questions, get in touch with Tim Donohue or join a Developer Meeting.

Enabling Configurable Entities by default (Basic improvements to make Entities easier to work with are already available in DSpace-CRIS)
- What do we need to achieve to enable Entities by default?
- How can entities be made more usable? (Several features to improve Entity usefulness already in DSpace-CRIS)
- Improving scalability/performance/functionality of Relationships
- Basic Nested/hierarchical metadata (e.g. dates on a Person's affiliation with an OrgUnit). Related also to https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/issues/9736 (Already available in DSpace-CRIS)
- If entities are enabled by default how could a migration look like? Shall we offer a script to add a field dspace.entity.type="Publication" to all items without an entity type?
- Convert a Relationship to a DSpaceObject - it will benefit of all the DSpaceObject has to offer, like: metadata, resource policies
Enhanced Statistics for DSpace (Enhanced statistics, including exporting of reports, is already available in DSpace-CRIS)
- Paulo Graça volunteered to perhaps start an interest group / working group around Statistics enhancements as his organization is interested in enhancing this for DSpace.
Features which existed in DSpace 6 (and earlier)
- CMS - bringing back old features to new the DSpace version like the ability to the admin user to change content like: news, default license,... https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/issues/3200 (This ability to edit news / default license already exists in DSpace-CRIS)
Administrative User Interface enhancements/improvements (Several of these features already exist in DSpace-CRIS)
- Associate submission forms to collections in the UI - https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/issues/3194 (Already available in DSpace-CRIS)
- The bitstream permissions flow is confusing, we should improve the usability - https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/issues/3203
- Any DSpaceObject, like a Bitstream can have custom fields. After creation, there should be a place in the UI to view and edit them (Exists somewhat in DSpace-CRIS. In DSpace-CRIS, it's possible to modify Item/Entity displayed fields from Admin UI tools)
- Communities/Collections: there should be a way in the UI to move sub-communities to a different place: https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/issues/3196, https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/issues/3198
- Permissions: Possibility of granting granular permission to individuals and groups to edit / see only some metadata (Already available in DSpace-CRIS)

Tickets & Pull Requests to review for possible inclusion

All potential tickets & pull requests may be found on our 10.0 Project Board.

10.0 Project Board: https://github.com/orgs/DSpace/projects/32

If there is a feature you wish to work on which is not on that 10.0 Project Board, please create a GitHub issue ticket to describe it (or find one if it exists) and contact Tim Donohue (via email or Slack) about possible inclusion in 10.0.

Keep in mind, even if a ticket/PR exists on the 10.0 Project Board, that does not guarantee it will be completed in time for 10.0. All development & testing/reviewing is volunteer based. You can help ensure a PR's inclusion by volunteering to help test or review the code! Any work that cannot be achieved in time for 10.0 will be rescheduled for a future release.

Organizational Details

Release Coordination

The 10.0 Release will be coordinated by Tim Donohue and the DSpace Committers.

Updates and discussions will take place in weekly Developer Meetings.

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. If you are interested in more information, please see the notes from our Developer Meetings.

Date	Milestone	What it means
Friday, February __, 2025	Deadline for feature pull requests	If you wish to contribute features to DSpace 9.0, you must submit a pull request by this date.
Friday, March __	Feature PR Review/Test Deadline	Initial reviews/testing of PRs should be completed by all assigned reviewers.
Friday, March __	Feature PR Merge Deadline (Feature Freeze)	DSpace 9.0 is considered feature-complete on this date. All Feature PRs should be merged. Only bug fixes will be pulled between this date and final release.
Friday, April __	Release Candidate 1 tagged	A DSpace 9.0 Release Candidate will be available for wider testing. This release is not production ready, but is made available for early testing.
April __ (two weeks)	9.0 Testathon	Intensive public testing of the 9.0 Release Candidate is invited. The Release Team will focus on getting problems resolved.
April __ (two weeks)	Translation Updates	During Testathon, we invite translators to work on translating DSpace 9.0.
Friday, May __	Deadline for bug-fix pull requests	Bug fixes should ideally be submitted by this date.
Friday, May __	Bug-Fix PR Merge Deadline (Code Freeze)	Ideally all bug fixes are merged by this date. Code is "frozen", with exceptions only made if major issues are discovered.
May __	Final Cleanup / Documentation	This week is set aside for any final cleanup (or very late bug fixes) that need to be applied to the code. Also used to finalize Documentation, Release Notes, etc.
Tuesday, May __, 2025	DSpace 9.0 is publicly released	DSpace 9.0 is released for download and general use.

Release Process needs to proceed according to the following Maven release process: Release Procedure