DSpace Community, One of the major upgrades that is forthcoming with the 1.5 release of DSpace is a new Maven-based build system. I wanted to take some time to explain why we have made this choice and what it means for the community. Maven is a software tool from the Apache Foundation that allows developers to compile and distribute software projects. One of the key features of the Maven system is that it is network aware; it is able to dynamically resolve dependencies and download needed components from remote locations. We are able to take advantage of this build system in DSpace to provide several benefits over our previous build system.
1) Modularity - The DSpace project is not a monolithic application, but instead is broken down into several sub-components: a core API, several network interfaces such as OAI or Sword, and two web-based user interfaces (the new Manakin interface and the traditional JSP- based interface). The Maven build system allows these multiple sub- projects to be built and packaged separately but work together to provide the complete DSpace service. 2) Customization - The ability for individual universities to customize their repository to meet the needs of local users has been a driving influence of DSpace since its inception as an open source project. Traditionally, it has been difficult for local developers to sustain these local customizations from one DSpace version to the next. While nothing can completely eliminate this problem, the new Maven-based build system provides developers a basic set of tools to to ease this process. 3) Maintenance - As DSpace continues to grow at an accelerating rate, the task of managing these new components increases. Maven gives us the ability to easily add new projects and features into the repository and provides the modularity to maintain those projects through their life-cycle. In the 1.5 release of DSpace, three major components are being added: Manakin (a new user interface), Sword (a package ingesting tool), and the Light Network Interface (a programmatic interface for remote deposit and management). Each of these major projects was able to be incorporated into DSpace through the modularity provided by Maven, and in the future we will be able to expand support for many other new and exciting projects. Without the maven-based build system it would have been harder to develop and integrate these new features. What does this mean for the community? The change to a maven-based build system has several implications for the community. Those most affected by this change are developers, who will need to learn and work with a new build system. For the most part, all the developers working on the DSpace 1.5 release have already accomplished this task. Next are the system administrators who install and maintain a DSpace repository. For these administrators, the process of installing DSpace has changed. Finally, for content curators and end-users this change has no effect. Thanks to Mark Diggory @ MIT for taking the lead on the Maven transition. For more information about the new installation procedures see the DSpace manual and for more information on Maven see their website: http://maven.apache.org/. Scott-- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2008. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ DSpace-tech mailing list DSpace-tech@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/dspace-tech