August 23, 2011
Contact: Carol
Minton Morris <cmmo...@duraspace.org>
NOW AVAILABLE: Fedora 3.5
The latest release of Fedora is ready for integration into large repository systems
Ithaca, NY Today the Fedora Committers Group and the
DuraSpace organization announced the release of Fedora 3.5. This release of Fedora, the
robust framework for building digital repositories, focuses on several
"under the hood" changes that improve Fedora's ability to be integrated
and tested as part of larger repository systems. Version 3.5, led
by Aaron Birkland, Developer, Cornell University, also sets
the stage for a full move to Spring-based pluggability (http://www.springsource.com/)
and configuration. Several of the most popular issues are
addressed in this release, including dropping the requirement to use
DBXML if you elect to use FeSL for policy enforcement.
Download here: https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/FEDORA35/Fedora+3.5+Documentation
Features
- Spring-based configuration. Fedora has adopted Spring as a means of
configuring its internal components. This move to a modern,
enterprise-grade framework offers greater flexibility for integrating
repository components, and allows Fedora to more easily adapt to
challenging deployment environments. While fedora.fcfg is considered
deprecated as of this release, due to time constraints some module
configuration has not yet been moved out of fedora.fcfg and into native
spring xml. See also Spring Configuration in the documentation.
- Standard WAR file distribution. Fedora runtime configuration has
moved entirely outside of the WAR file, allowing a single standardized
war file to be included in each release. This allows bugfix releases to
be distributed and applied in a much simpler fashion than before: merely
replace the old WAR file with the updated one.
- FeSL policy enforcement improvements. Numerous enhancements have
been made to FeSL authZ. Notably, the requirement of installing dbxml
has been removed. This had been a barrier to FeSL testing and adoption.
With the various improvements in FeSL authZ, we consider this feature
"beta" and encourage users of Fedora to give it a try and provide
feedback.
- FEDORA_HOME environment variable no longer required to run fedora
server. Outside of running commandline utilities, FEDORA_HOME is now
ignored, and has been completely replaced with more flexible means of
specifying the location of the fedora home directory.
- JSON support for RISearch Resource index searches now support JSON, allowing greater ease of use with javascript clients.
- DC datastream fixes. The DC datastream, with contains information
needed for the internal functioning of Fedora, is now more robust. If a
user inadvertently removes the necessary dc:identifier fields, this will
be automatically corrected.
- Build and testing improvements. Numerous testing and development
improvements are part of 3.5. Perhaps most notably, deployment and
running of a live Fedora instance can now be managed automatically as
part of a standard maven build.
Fedora is an open source project of the DuraSpace organization.
About DuraSpace
DuraSpace is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. DuraSpace
provides leadership and innovation in the use of open source and
cloud-based technologies to serve libraries, universities, and research
centers, for managing and preserving digital content. The
organization’s open source technology portfolio includes the DSpace open
access repository application and the Fedora open repository platform.
DuraSpace is the home of DuraCloud, an emerging cloud-based service that
leverages existing cloud infrastructure to ensure durability and enable
access to digital content. http://duraspace.org/.
--
Carol Minton Morris
DuraSpace
Director of Marketing and Communications
cmmo...@DuraSpace.org
Skype: carolmintonmorris
607 592-3135Twitter@DuraSpace
Twitter@DuraCloud
http://DuraSpace.org