Version 1.8.0

DSpace 1.8.0 is a scheduled, "time-based" release. In order to decrease delays in releasing new features and increase transparency, the DSpace Developers have scheduled 1.8.0 in advance and are basing its features on what we are able to complete within that timeframe.

Scheduling releases benefits us all as it should decrease the delays in releasing new features, and increase the transparency of the development process. The DSpace Developers feel that these benefits will far outweigh the cost of potentially having fewer major features in a given DSpace release. We hope the DSpace Community will also realize the immediate benefits, which should allow them to receive new features more quickly, rather than potentially waiting years for the next major release of the software. The DSpace Developers hope to continue this trend of "time based" releases with all future releases.

Want to contribute to this release of DSpace? Please see the HowToContribute page for ways that you can help out!

New features in DSpace 1.8 (very tentative)

If you have ideas or code you'd like to see make it into DSpace 1.8.0, please submit it to our Issue Tracker.
Please see our HowToContribute page for more ways (both technical and non-technical) that you and your institution can contribute to 1.8.0!

For a list of all features/improvement/bugs currently scheduled for 1.8.0, see the 1.8.0 Version in our Issue Tracker.
- NOTE: This listing is not finalized, and is likely to change. Not all features/improvements/bugs currently scheduled for 1.8.0 are guaranteed to be in that release.

Developers: Add what you are working on to this list. Please try and link off to additional documentation (on Wiki) or related JIRA issues.

More Curation Tools/Plugins (MIT & Others). Obviously, some could potentially even be release asynchronously, and also formally "bundled" with 1.8.0
Configurable Reviewer Workflow (@mire) a project that enhances Reviewer Workflow configurability that is orthogonal to Curation Tooling.
Refactoring ConfigutationManager to use ConfigurationService (@mire with others welcome)
Refactoring PluginManager to use ServiceManager (@mire with others welcome)
REST API formal release? It missed 1.7.0, but there seemed to be interest there. Volunteer(s) to stabilize/improve for 1.8.0? (Still working on it, also volunteers/testers are welcome :) Bojan Suzic
DSpace "Easy" Installer (Tim Donohue)? See DS-802 and InstallerPrototype for more details
- Perhaps, alongside this, an easier way to "install" plugins/addons (like Curation Tool plugins)??
SWORD Client for DSpace (Robin Taylor, and possibly Richard Jones & Stuart Lewis)
- would allow DSpace to push/submit content to other SWORD enabled repositories
- For closed & open access repositories – add a button to transfer content from a closed to an open repository.
Context Guided Ingest (Richard Rodgers/MIT) – define an interface, where any submission code can write "attributes" and can retrieve those again later on. Can add any new attributes/values that you want for your submission code. Could be serialized to XML (using input-forms.xml) OR have an implementation of that service that stores in DB (recommended). JPA2?
- would allow for type-based submission processes (e.g. Theses/Dissertations could have different submission steps than articles/papers).
- based on the Item type based submission patch picked up by Robin Taylor (initially a GSoC project)
- seems similar to SimpleStorage Service (user centered storage of state info) – Mark Diggory.
Usability improvements / new Theme work (Peter Dietz)
Context Sensitive Help for XMLUI (@mire)
Discovery Enhancements (@mire)
Asynchronous Release Process / Release various modules/addons separate from base install (Mark Diggory/@mire & others)
Metadata on all DSpaceObjects (Mark Diggory/@mire & others?)
Rewrite of Creative Commons licensing (MIT)??
- would improve upon the features of the current CC licensing submission step
- Currently only against XMLUI from MIT
- Legacy problem – do we update old license to new or not? Currently MIT runs 'split version' with old licenses looking like old, and new look like new.

Organizational Details

Release Coordination

Release Coordinator: Robin Taylor (EDINA)

Timeline and Proceeding

It has been decided that DSpace 1.8.0 will be released in Oct 2011. The exact date is still being worked out. What follows is a tentative release timeline - it may change slightly, but the final release will still come out sometime in Oct 2011.

Very Tentative Release Timeline (This should not be considered final)
- June 3, 2011 : Beta 1 release (Note: Open Repositories 2011 Conference is June 7-11)
- July 8, 2011 : Beta 2 release
- August 19, 2011 : Feature Freeze Date
- August 26, 2011 : Final Documentation "Due Date"?
- September 2, 2011 : Release Candidate 1 release
- September 5-16, 2011 : Testathon
- September 30, 2011 : Release Candidate 2 release
- October 3-12, 2011 : Final Testing / Bug Fixing
- October 14, 2011 : 1.8.0 Final Release

A few definitions:
- "Beta" Releases - These are a newly proposed idea for 1.8.0. Essentially a "Beta" release would be an very early release of the software, even before all features are finalized. They give developers an opportunity for early feedback from the community or other developers around a new features. They should not be considered stable (though hopefully they are relatively stable). Rather they are previews of upcoming features. Only features that are completed will be released into the Beta Release (i.e. the Beta Release waits for nothing – we release a new Beta even if there's not many new features completed). After and between Beta releases, features may change, up until the "Feature Freeze"
- "Feature Freeze" - After this date, the feature listing cannot change. All new features must be completed by this date. After this date, the system is being stabilized in preparation for the first "Release Candidate"
- "Release Candidate" releases - These are initial releases after all features have been finalized. Features may not change, but bug fixes can be made. They are meant for very broad testing (e.g. Testathon), in order to find & fix any last bugs before the Final Release.

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