Dataverse Software 5.12.1

This release brings new features, enhancements, and bug fixes to the Dataverse Software. Thank you to all of the community members who contributed code, suggestions, bug reports, and other assistance across the project.

Release Highlights

Bug Fix for "Internal Server Error" When Creating a New Remote Account

Unfortunately, as of 5.11 new remote users have seen "Internal Server Error" when creating an account (or checking notifications just after creating an account). Remote users are those who log in with institutional (Shibboleth), OAuth (ORCID, GitHub, or Google) or OIDC providers.

This is a transient error that can be worked around by reloading the browser (or logging out and back in again) but it's obviously a very poor user experience and a bad first impression. This bug is the primary reason we are putting out this patch release. Other features and bug fixes are coming along for the ride.

Ability to Disable OAuth Sign Up While Allowing Existing Accounts to Log In

A new option called :AllowRemoteAuthSignUp has been added providing a mechanism for disabling new account signups for specific OAuth2 authentication providers (Orcid, GitHub, Google etc.) while still allowing logins for already-existing accounts using this authentication method.

See the Installation Guide for more information on the setting.

Production Date Now Used for Harvested Datasets in Addition to Distribution Date (oai_dc format)

Fix the year displayed in citation for harvested dataset, especially for oai_dc format.

For normal datasets, the date used is the "citation date" which is by default the publication date (the first release date) unless you change it.

However, for a harvested dataset, the distribution date was used instead and this date is not always present in the harvested metadata.

Now, the production date is used for harvested dataset in addition to distribution date when harvesting with the oai_dc format.

Publication Date Now Used for Harvested Dataset if Production Date is Not Set (oai_dc format)

For exports and harvesting in oai_dc format, if "Production Date" is not set, "Publication Date" is now used instead. This change is reflected in the Dataverse 4+ Metadata Crosswalk linked from the Appendix of the User Guide.

Major Use Cases and Infrastructure Enhancements

Changes and fixes in this release include:

• Users creating an account by logging in with Shibboleth, OAuth, or OIDC should not see errors. (Issue 9029, PR #9030)
• When harvesting datasets, I want the Production Date if I can't get the Distribution Date (PR #8732)
• When harvesting datasets, I want the Publication Date if I can't get the Production Date (PR #8733)
• As a sysadmin I'd like to disable (temporarily or permanently) sign ups from OAuth providers while allowing existing users to continue to log in from that provider (PR #9112)
• As a C/C++ developer I want to use Dataverse APIs (PR #9070)

New DB Settings

The following DB settings have been added:

• :AllowRemoteAuthSignUp

See the Database Settings section of the Guides for more information.

Complete List of Changes

For the complete list of code changes in this release, see the 5.12.1 Milestone in GitHub.

For help with upgrading, installing, or general questions please post to the Dataverse Community Google Group or email support@dataverse.org.

Installation

If this is a new installation, please see our Installation Guide. Please also contact us to get added to the Dataverse Project Map if you have not done so already.

Upgrade Instructions

Upgrading requires a maintenance window and downtime. Please plan ahead, create backups of your database, etc.

0. These instructions assume that you've already successfully upgraded from Dataverse Software 4.x to Dataverse Software 5 following the instructions in the Dataverse Software 5 Release Notes. After upgrading from the 4.x series to 5.0, you should progress through the other 5.x releases before attempting the upgrade to 5.12.1.

If you are running Payara as a non-root user (and you should be!), remember not to execute the commands below as root. Use sudo to change to that user first. For example, sudo -i -u dataverse if dataverse is your dedicated application user.

export PAYARA=/usr/local/payara5

(or setenv PAYARA /usr/local/payara5 if you are using a csh-like shell)

1. Undeploy the previous version

    $PAYARA/bin/asadmin list-applications
    $PAYARA/bin/asadmin undeploy dataverse<-version>

2. Stop Payara

    service payara stop
    rm -rf $PAYARA/glassfish/domains/domain1/generated

6. Start Payara

    service payara start

7. Deploy this version.

    $PAYARA/bin/asadmin deploy dataverse-5.12.1.war

8. Restart payara

    service payara stop
    service payara start

Upcoming Versions of Payara

With the recent release of Payara 6 (Payara 6.2022.1 being the first version), the days of free-to-use Payara 5.x Platform Community versions are numbered. Specifically, Payara's blog post says, "Payara Platform Community 5.2022.4 has been released today as the penultimate Payara 5 Community release."

Given the end of free-to-use Payara 5 versions, we plan to get the Dataverse software working on Payara 6 (#8305), which will require substantial efforts from the IQSS team and community members, as this also means shifting our app to be a Jakarta EE 10 application (upgrading from EE 8). We are currently working out the details and will share news as soon as we can. Rest assured we will do our best to provide you with a smooth transition. You can follow along in Issue #8305 and related pull requests and you are, of course, very welcome to participate by testing and otherwise contributing, as always.