Upgrade ICAAtoM 1.3 to 1.4

[Moe G]

The release of ICAAtoM version 1.4 was scheduled for mid 2013. Is this due to be released soon?

We are currently running version 1.3. I was wondering if it is worth skipping version 1.3.1 and going straight to 1.4?

Please advise.

Moe

[Dan Gillean]

Hi there,

It's true, our scheduling projections on 1.4 have shifted significantly since we began work on 1.4. However, this is due to a number of exciting reasons:

First, the revisions we have been undertaking to improve the metadata mappings in AtoM have become quite extensive - we have already closed 146 issues on 1.4! This includes vast improvements to data roundtripping and metadata mapping for EAD, EAC, SKOS, and DC; repair of regressions such as the return of OAI-PMH repository exposure; bug fixes and optimizations, as well as a few UI improvements (such as a datepicker for the advanced search).

The second reason is that we have been hard at work on the future of AtoM, and will be releasing AtoM 2.0 on September 30th. Our 2.0 release, in addition to incorporating all the 1.4 improvements described above, will also introduce a new theme, faceted search results and typeahead results in the main search bar, per-institution theming options in a multi-institutional repository environment, and more. Additionally, we've done several back end changes to improve AtoM's responsiveness and scalability, such as introducing ElasticSearch.

We've also been making some significant project management changes, so you can expect a faster release cycle going forward after 2.0.

At the moment, 2.0 is our priority, and it represents the direction that AtoM, and Artefactual, will be moving forward after its release. Our 1.4 release will be made available shortly after, as we have time to prioritize it - it is work that Artefactual is freely taking on to ensure that, as AtoM moves forward and we stop actively developing ICA-AtoM, we are leaving the ICA-AtoM application in a strong place for our users who wish to stay with the earlier application branch.

I don't have a firm release date for 1.4, though I would expect it to be complete before the end of 2013. After that, the only releases that may arrive on the 1.x ICA-AtoM branch will be security patches or minor maintenance releases if necessary - active development will continue on the 2.x branch, and we've already got an exciting roadmap shaping up for the future. As always, AtoM (and all of Artefactual's endeavours) remains open-source and freely available.

To answer your question directly, Moe - if you're happy with the current installation and don't mind waiting a bit longer, there is no problem upgrading from 1.3 directly to 1.4. I might encourage you, however, to consider looking into 2.0 once it is released - the upgrade process from 1.x to 2.0 will be a bit different than previous upgrades due to some of the changes and new dependencies, but we're working on documenting the process now to help get our users up to speed if they decide to make the switch. Since there are a few new dependencies in 2.0, and since it is designed with scalability in mind, some users with less technical resources and smaller institutional holdings may choose to stay with our older releases - this is why we're committed to providing a final ICA-AtoM 1.4 release to our users. If that's not the case for your institution, I suggest waiting until the end of the month, and then checking out 2.0.

You can always check out the status of things yourself by looking in our issue tracker.

Here's all the bugs that were fixed as a part of 1.3.1 (there were 31 issues closed)
https://projects.artefactual.com/projects/atom/issues?utf8=%E2%9C%93&set_filter=1&f[]=status_id&op[status_id]=%3D&v[status_id][]=5&f[]=fixed_version_id&op[fixed_version_id]=%3D&v[fixed_version_id][]=53&f[]=&c[]=project&c[]=tracker&c[]=status&c[]=priority&c[]=subject&c[]=assigned_to&c[]=fixed_version&c[]=category&c[]=cf_5&c[]=start_date&group_by=

You can also check out the 1.3.1 release page and decide if the fixes listed are important enough for you to get now. See: https://www.ica-atom.org/doc/Release_1.3.1

Here are the issues we've already closed on the 1.4 release (146 so far)
https://projects.artefactual.com/projects/atom/issues?utf8=%E2%9C%93&set_filter=1&f[]=status_id&op[status_id]=%3D&v[status_id][]=5&f[]=fixed_version_id&op[fixed_version_id]=%3D&v[fixed_version_id][]=9&f[]=&c[]=project&c[]=tracker&c[]=status&c[]=priority&c[]=subject&c[]=assigned_to&c[]=fixed_version&c[]=category&c[]=cf_5&c[]=start_date&group_by=

Here are all the remaining issues currently listed for 1.4
https://projects.artefactual.com/projects/atom/issues?query_id=30

You can also see a summary of 1.4 here: https://projects.artefactual.com/versions/9

Hope that helps,

Dan Gillean
AtoM Product Manager / Systems Analyst,
Artefactual Systems, Inc.
604-527-2056

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[Moe G]

Hi Dan:

Thanks for the details you provided. It's really made me understand your roadmap, and so given me a chance to plan for my organization.

I'm looking forward to version 2.0.

Good luck with this endeavour.

Moe