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DSpace

EDTECH
Velocity0.0

Open-source repository software for digital archives and libraries

dspace.org ↗

DSpace 10.0 lands and the 7.x line that most repositories run is now end-of-life.

institutional-repositoryrest-apiheadlessmajor-releaseend-of-lifeopen-source
◆Current state
DSpace is the open-source repository platform behind a large share of university and institutional archives, released as a headless backend and REST API with a separately installed frontend. Four major lines were being maintained in parallel — 7.x, 8.x, 9.x and now 10.x — with coordinated patch releases going out to all of them on the same day. The May 2026 batch shipped 10.0, 9.3, 8.4 and 7.6.7 within twenty minutes of each other.
◆Where it's heading
The support matrix is contracting deliberately. With 10.0 out, the software support policy moves the supported set to 8.x, 9.x and 10.x, and 7.6.7 is explicitly the last 7.x release ever. The backend-only framing in every release title, plus the note that it can run headless against the REST API alone, keeps pointing at the same architectural bet: the API is the product and the user interface is an interchangeable client.
◆Prediction
Expect the next coordinated batch to drop 7.x entirely and ship 8.x, 9.x and 10.x patches together, with 10.0.x fixes arriving fastest as institutions begin upgrading. A 10.1 with the first post-release feature work is the likely follow-up.

◆Recent moves

  1. 2mo ago

    DSpace 10.0 (Backend / REST API Only)

    ⚡ SPARK

    The major release the whole 10.0 RC cycle was building toward, shipped as backend and REST API only with a matching frontend released separately. Its arrival is what triggers the support-policy shift that ends the 7.x line the same afternoon, making this the release that resets which versions institutions are allowed to stay on.

    View source ↗
  2. 2mo ago

    DSpace 9.3 (Backend / REST API Only)

    A bug-fix release for the 9.x platform, shipped in the same coordinated batch as 10.0. It carries no new capability — its role is to keep 9.x current for institutions that will not jump straight to 10.0.

    View source ↗
  3. 2mo ago

    DSpace 8.4 (Backend / REST API Only)

    Bug fixes for the 8.x line, released minutes after 9.3 as part of the same multi-branch batch. With 7.x retiring, 8.x becomes the oldest supported line, so this is the floor of the new support matrix.

    View source ↗
  4. 2mo ago

    DSpace 7.6.7 is the final 7.x release

    Nominally a bug-fix release, but it carries the end-of-life notice for the entire 7.x series — the supported versions now shift to 8.x, 9.x and 10.x. For any institution still on 7.x this is the last patch they will receive, which makes it more consequential than its contents.

    View source ↗
  5. 3mo ago

    DSpace 10.0 Release Candidate 1 (Backend / REST API Only)

    The public preview of 10.0, released explicitly as not production ready and aimed at the 10.0 Testathon. Shipping a candidate for community testing nearly two months before the final release is what let the four-branch May batch go out cleanly.

    View source ↗
  6. 7mo ago

    DSpace 9.2 (Backend / REST API Only)

    A December bug-fix release for 9.x, part of an earlier coordinated batch that also patched 8.x and 7.6.x. It shows the same-day multi-branch release discipline predates the 10.0 cycle.

    View source ↗