New features of v6.6 not available

[sergejzr]

Dear Dataverse developers. we updated our test server to 6.6 and could not find some of the new features - like linking ORCID from user profile, or adding Version notes to published datasets. Some features seem to be partially available only.

What steps does it take to reproduce the issue?

1. Update Dataverse to version 6.6 (build 1829-192cdc4). (from v. 6.5 build 1682-d9cc5eb)
2. Test features expected in this release:
   • Prompt for version notes during dataset publishing.
   • Ability to link user profiles to ORCID.

• When does this issue occur?
  After updating the Dataverse installation to version 6.6.

• Which page(s) does it occur on?

• Dataset publishing workflow
• User profile settings

• What happens?

• "Version Notes" column appears on the published dataset page.
• However, users are never prompted to add version notes during the publishing process.
• Also, the expected feature to link user profiles to ORCID is not visible.

Other features might also be missing. We are still working through the update on our test system.

• To whom does it occur (all users, curators, superusers)?
  All users.

• What did you expect to happen?

• Users would be prompted to add version notes during dataset publishing.
• Option to link user accounts to ORCID would be available.

Which version of Dataverse are you using?
v. 6.6 build 1829-192cdc4

Any related open or closed issues to this bug report?
None known at this time. Investigation ongoing.

Screenshots:

ORCID row is missing

Notes column available, but never filled

Are you thinking about creating a pull request for this issue?
Not at this time. We are still determining whether the issue is related to the upgrade process or a bug in the release. Maybe the features have to be enabled separately?

[pdurbin]

Version notes are off by default. Please see the last feature flag at https://guides.dataverse.org/en/6.6/installation/config.html#feature-flags

ORCID requires set up as well. Please see the second paragraph at https://guides.dataverse.org/en/6.6/installation/orcid.html#configuration

Thanks for opening this issue! We should probably make the 6.6 release notes more clear on these points!

[qqmyers]

FWIW: I am planning to make the point that we have a lot of functionality off by default at DCM 2025 and in most cases, you won't see any clue in the UI until you turn them on (a reason to attend the meeting!).

In the case of version notes, there's a bug, fixed in v6.7 that made the versionNotes column appear even when it wasn't enabled.

[sergejzr]

Thank you very much! I was thinking that there should be a way to enable them, but could not find it, so the update notes would benefit from this information.

It looks to me as those features are still experimental (because enabling them requires additional effort). Is it planned to put them as regular features at some point in time? In this case, we will wait until it happens and enable only on user requests.

BTW: I enabled ORCID linking in the profile settings, but it automatically activates authentication via ORCID, which we need to avoid since we only support Shibboleth-based authentication.

[pdurbin]

BTW: I enabled ORCID linking in the profile settings, but it automatically activates authentication via ORCID, which we need to avoid since we only support Shibboleth-based authentication.

"To avoid also enabling ORCID login, the provider can be registered with "enabled":false." -- https://guides.dataverse.org/en/6.6/installation/orcid.html#configuration

I am planning to make the point that we have a lot of functionality off by default at DCM 2025

For years I've threatened to give a "Hidden Features of Dataverse" talk. 😄

[qqmyers]

W.r.t. "experimental features", I think the loose definition we use is "an experimental capability in that the mechanism is expected to evolve and using it may require additional effort when upgrading to new Dataverse versions". These are also areas where we'd love feedback (more than usual) about bug or ideas for improvements, so if you're able to test/provide feedback, you can help the whole community.

Although I know we've used "experimental" since at least 2021, I don't know that anyone has ever gone back to remove that label. I would say it's rare (so far) that we go back to enable optional features by default.

My general (personal) advice would be to go ahead and use experimental features now if you think they're of value in your installation and if you can handle the possibility of some changes between versions. I'd also say you should assume that "experimental" doesn't mean much after a subsequent release or two - experimental things may still change after that, but probably not any more than Dataverse overall.