Welcome to Testathon 8.0!

DSpace Development never stops! DSpace 8.0 is almost here, and with it arrive new features, improvements, bug-fixes, changes, etc.

We ask that you take a few minutes of your time in these coming weeks to help us fully test this new release! We want to ensure we are maintaining the same level of quality that you come to expect out of a new DSpace release. We'd also love to hear your early feedback on 8.0!

WHO: You! Everyone is invited to take part. Whether you manage multiple instances, or are interested in trying it out, we welcome your feedback.

WHAT: Help beta-test DSpace 8.0 to ensure that it passes its ultimate test: that it does what users expect it to. We've added new features that could use more eyes, browsers, and mouse-clicks to make sure that things aren't missing, that they don't break, that they don't lose your data, and that they easily do what one expects them to do. So if any features have issues while your testing it.

WHEN: Monday, April 8 through Friday, April 19, 2024. You can keep visiting the site and post your feedback, as part of continual improvement.

WHY: The sooner we find and fix bugs, the higher quality the software will be when it comes time to upgrade or install DSpace 8.0.

HOW: Go to https://sandbox.dspace.org/ and test-drive the new user interface. We're looking for feedback on the DSpace software, as well as feedback on our unreleased DSpace 8.0 documentation.

• Optionally, you can also run and test DSpace 8 locally.
  • Download and install 8.0-rc1 (See Installing DSpace or Upgrading DSpace)
    
    • Frontend/UI download: https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/releases/tag/dspace-8.0-rc1
    • Backend/REST API download: https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/releases/tag/dspace-8.0-rc1 
  • Or, use Docker to quickly install DSpace 8 locally (see Try out DSpace 8)

WHERE: The test plan to record test results for https://sandbox.dspace.org/ is available at https://bit.ly/dspace-8-test-plan

Questions?  Ask them on our DSpace Tech Support list (https://groups.google.com/d/forum/dspace-tech) or Slack

Updated Documentation for 8.0

There are upgrades to the DSpace documentation for version 8.0. Volunteers are needed to review it for clarity and accuracy. Visit the DSpace 8.x Documentation page for more info.

Test Plan and Instructions

The test plan for the DSpace 8.0 testathon is available at https://bit.ly/dspace-8-test-plan. 

Instructions are available at https://bit.ly/testathon-instructions.

Co-working sessions

New to testing? Want to test with others? We're offering testathon coworking sessions on Zoom at the following dates/times:

• Tuesday, April 9th, 1 pm ET. 
• Wednesday, April 10th, 1 pm ET.
• Thursday, April 11th, 1 pm ET
• Friday, April 12th, 1 pm ET
• Monday, April 15th, 1 pm ET
• Tuesday, April 16th, 1 pm ET
• Wednesday April 17th, 1 pm ET
• Thursday, April 18th, 1 pm ET

The above sessions will be held at this Zoom link: https://arizona.zoom.us/j/82004507292 (Meeting ID 820 0450 7292) (Passcode: dspace)

Reporting Bugs that you find

If you find something that looks like unexpected behavior, or a definite bug, we encourage you to report it in a new bug ticket in our GitHub Issues:

1. Visit https://github.com/DSpace/dspace-angular/issues while logged in via GitHub
2. Click on "New Issue" button
3. Click on "Get started" in the "Bug report" section
4. Describe the bug you found and the steps that a developer can take to reproduce the bug. (It is VERY important that a developer can reproduce the bug, otherwise it will be more difficult for us to solve it.)
   1. If you cannot reliably reproduce the bug, ask someone else on Slack or our Mailing Lists to see if they have seen similar behavior.  If multiple people see the same behavior, please report it!
5. Don't worry if you accidentally report the same bug as someone else.  In that scenario we'll just close one of the tickets & link everyone to a single ticket.

Reporting Security issues

Even though DSpace 8 is still in beta, it cannot be excluded that institutions are already running it on publicly accessible (test) servers right now.

Please report security issues to security@dspace.org according to the DSpace Software Support Policy. This way, investigation and resolution of security issues can be fast tracked, after which they can be publicly disclosed.