Developers Meeting on Thurs, October 16, 2025

Time/Location

16 Oct 2025 from 14:00-15:00 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

Agenda

• Discussion Topics - If you have a topic you'd like to have added to the agenda, please just add it. 
  1. DSpace & DSpace-CRIS potential merger discussions
     
     1. DSpace and DSpace-CRIS Planning Groups - wiki pages to follow along with ongoing discussions.
  2. Other topics
     1. Add your topics here.
• Board Review:
  • 10.0 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.
  • Maintenance Board (9.x, 8.x, 7.6.x) - 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)
  • (Revisiting on Thurs, Oct 23) Updates on Nx / modularization discussion. Prototyping Nx vs Angular CLI Workspaces?
    • Preparation PR (preparing for possible Nx migration): https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/4629
    • Original PR (example full migration): https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/4019
  • Restore Angular dynamic decorators: https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/4528  (somewhat dependent on Nx / modularization discussions)
  • Follow-up on "aggressive bot" discussion:  https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/issues/4565
    • PR to update our built-in "rate limiter": https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/4620

Attendees

• Tim Donohue 
• Holger Lenz 

• Art Lowel (Atmire) 

• Andrea Bollini (4Science)

• Giuseppe Digilio (4Science) 
• Paulo Graça
• Mark H. Wood 
• Grazia Quercia (4Science)
• Stefano Maffei (4Science)
• Julian Timal (eScire) 
• Martin Walk 
• Melissa Anez 
• Oliver Goldschmidt 
• Pascal-Nicolas Becker 
• Pierre Lasou 
• Kim Shepherd 
• Nicholas Woodward 
• Sascha Szott 
• Marsa Haoua 
• Jesiel Viana 
• Arturo Garduño Magaña 
• Scholaris Team

Current Work

Project Boards

• DSpace 10.0 board: https://github.com/orgs/DSpace/projects/32
• DSpace 9.x, 8.x and 7.6.x maintenance 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 10.0

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

Priorities listed at DSpace Release 10.0 Status. 

Goals for 9.2 / 8.3 / 7.6.5

Deadline is TBD for 9.2, 8.3 and7.6.5.  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 9.x.  That said, where possible, we'll try to backport bug fixes (especially significant ones) to 8. x and 7.6.x.

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

1. Merger Updates

• Status:
  Both the Strategic Planning Group and Technical Planning Group are finalizing their reports to the DSpace Steering Group.
  Reports are expected to be submitted by the end of October or early November.

• Next Steps:

  • Steering and Leadership will review the reports to decide on:

    • Moving forward with the proposed merger.

    • Providing feedback or requesting clarifications from working groups.

  • Decision may come within the next month, depending on review progress.

• Action:
  Tim will continue to provide updates in upcoming meetings.

2. Upcoming Discussion: NX and Angular Workspaces

• Scheduled for next week’s meeting.

• Will focus on:

  • Testing conducted by Art Lowel.

  • Related development work from Giuseppe and the 4Science team.

• Other ongoing topics:

  • Angular Dynamic Decorators: now resolved and can be removed from the agenda since Alex confirmed compatibility with both possible solutions.

  • Aggressive bot protection: no current updates.

3. Provenance and Audit Trail Discussion (Milan Majchrák – DataQuest)

• Topic: Enhancing provenance metadata for better auditing of item and bitstream changes.
  Milan proposed using provenance metadata to track edits and deletions.

• Key Points:

  • Tim noted challenges with using provenance alone for auditing deletions, since deleted objects also remove their provenance records.

  • Milan clarified that DataQuest’s enhanced provenance tracks deletions as metadata before removal.

  • Tim and others agreed this approach could complement the separate audit trail.

• Consensus:

  • Provenance and audit trail serve distinct but related purposes:

    • Provenance: chain of custody.

    • Audit trail: operational log within DSpace.

  • Both may coexist or be configurable.

  • Stefano (4Science) emphasized keeping the Solr-based audit trail.

  • Tim recommended creating a JIRA ticket describing DataQuest’s approach with screenshots and examples for future review.

• Action:
  Milan will create a ticket documenting the enhanced provenance approach.

4. Pull Requests and Code Reviews

a. Escaping HTML in Search Results (Art Lowel)

• Two PRs (backend and frontend) address HTML escaping in search and MyDSpace results.

• Goal: Prevent HTML tags from rendering improperly or causing security issues.

• Status:

  • Backend changes focus on Solr configurations and escaping logic.

  • Frontend implements consistent escaping through metadata handling.

• Reviewers:

  • Giuseppe (4Science) volunteered to review.

  • Tim added himself for oversight.

• Priority: High.

b. Accessibility Improvement: Language Attributes (Andrea Barbasso – 4Science)

• Adds lang attributes to elements for accessibility compliance.

• Issue:
  Metadata language codes use the POSIX format (e.g., en_US) while web standards require en-US.

• Discussion:

  • Debate over whether to convert format in frontend or backend.

  • Art suggested backend conversion for consistency.

  • Tim agreed it warrants deeper analysis.

• Decision:

  • Implement a temporary conversion on the frontend.

  • Create a separate ticket to evaluate proper long-term format handling and multi-language support.

c. Pagination Improvements (Andrea Barbasso – 4Science)

• Proposal: More flexible pagination component allowing:

  • Skipping large page ranges.

  • Jumping directly to a specific page via input or ellipsis pop-up.

• Feedback:

  • Art and Tim supported simpler, flexible pagination, with mobile-friendly variations.

  • Avoid embedding a “search box” within pagination, as it may confuse users.

  • Consider reviewing designs from other systems (e.g., Google, admin tools).

• Outcome:

  • Andrea to refine the PR for simplicity.

  • Possible multi-mode pagination (basic/advanced).

5. Other Technical Topics

• Team Code Review Session:
  Meeting concluded with collaborative review of the HTML escaping PR.

6. Next Meeting

• Main topic: NX and Angular workspace testing and integration.

• Follow-up discussions: Language code handling, pagination improvements.