Developers Meeting on Thurs, April 3, 2025

Time/Location

03 Apr 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. DSpace 9.0 release (see release schedule above)
     
     1. REMINDER: Tomorrow is the "9.0 Release Candidate"
     2. Next week is 9.0 Testathon
     3. Feature Documentation to prepare for 9.0 Testathon. 9.0 Documentation Wiki Space: https://wiki.lyrasis.org/display/DSDOC9x
     4. High Priority Bug: Downloads are not working on "main" branch: https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/issues/4122
     5. 9.0 High Priority Dependency / Feature PRs should be reviewed/merged in this order:
        1. Refactor menu resolvers: https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/3994
        2. (Time permitting) Migration to NX & refactor into libraries: https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/4019  (This may be delayed to immediately post-9.0 if we don't have time to give it a thorough test/review)
  3. Other topics
     
     1. (Please add any here that you'd like to discuss)
• 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

Attendees

• Tim Donohue 
• Holger Lenz 

• Art Lowel (Atmire) 

• Andrea Bollini (4Science)

• Giuseppe Digilio (4Science) 
• Paulo Graça
• Mark H. Wood 
• Grazia Quercia (4Science)
• Corrado Lombardi (4Science) 
• Julian Timal (eScire) 
• Martin Walk 
• Melissa Anez 
• Oliver Goldschmidt 
• Hrafn Malmquist 
• Pascal-Nicolas Becker 
• Pierre Lasou 
• Kim Shepherd 
• Nicholas Woodward 
• Sascha Szott 
• Marsa Haoua 
• Scholaris Team

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. 

Priorities listed at DSpace Release 9.0 Status. 

Goals for 8.2 / 7.6.4

Deadline is TBD for both 8.2 and 7.6.4.  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

• Overview of upcoming activities related to 9.0
  • Tomorrow is the 9.0 Release Candidate.  This is not considered a stable release and should not be used in production.  It's only to be used during the 9.0 Testathon for testing the new 9.0 features
  • Before Testathon: As much as possible, please document new features on our wiki .  New features listed at 9.0 Release Notes. Most of these need to be linked up to documentation in the 9.0 docs.
    • If this cannot be completed before Testathon, then they can be worked on during  testathon.  However, undocumented features are unlikely to be as thoroughly tested.
  • 9.0 Testathon starts next Monday (April 7) through April 18.  Everyone is encouraged to participate. 
    • It's important for developers to concentrate most on testing local installations  and features/integrations that are not easy to test from the Sandbox Site (https;//sandbox.dspace.org)
    • DCAT members primarily test via the Sandbox site. Developers can help there as well if desired
  • 9.0 Translations - During testathon is a good time to start translations of 9.0.  As we have all features merged, it's less likely for new translation keys to be added to 9.0 in the coming weeks.  
• Pascal & Kim note they are working on improvements to saving Submission forms.  On save, sometimes a large number of requests are dispatched at once.  By using debouncing, they are able to minimize the requests.  See https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/issues/3162#issuecomment-2758029112
  • Should have a PR in the coming week(s).
  • Giuseppe volunteered to look at the PR once it is ready, as he has an interest in this work.
• High Priority Bug: Downloads are not working on "main" branch: https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/issues/4122
  • Art noted that the issue is related to Matomo.  He notes "If I leave this switchmap out, it works again: https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/blob/4ba9a4bf8f5151852128ca8707cb621f95ad8b60/src/app/bitstream-page/bitstream-download-page/bitstream-download-page.component.ts#L124-L129 "
  • Giuseppe & Andrea at 4Science have been assigned to it.
  • Tim should be assigned to the PR once it is ready.
• Reviewed a few PRs from our Board
  • https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/pull/9845 - Assigned to Giuseppe.  Needs some examples of how to test or maybe automated tests?  (Kim notes this is lower priority)
  • https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/3390 - Assigned to Giuseppe & Tim.  Need to understand new ESLint rules better
  • https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/pull/4121 - Seems to have a lot of recent attention as it fixes search filters sometimes not loading on MyDSpace.  Has several testers & this affects all branches.  Alex & Tim assigned.
• Next week's meeting:  We'll check in about Testathon progress and see if anyone has found issues to discuss.

Action items