Hooray -- Fedora 3.0 released

Hooray -- the highly anticipated (at least by me) formal release of Fedora 3.0 is available.

Excerpted from the press release:

Fedora 3.0 features the Content Model Architecture (CMA), an integrated structure for persisting and delivering the essential characteristics of digital objects in Fedora. The software is available at
<http://www.fedora-commons.org/> and at <http://sourceforge.net/projects/fedora-commons>. The Fedora CMA plays a central role in the Fedora architecture, in many ways forms the over-arching conceptual framework for future development of Fedora Repositories. Fedora 3.0 features include:

• Content Model Architecture - Provides a model-driven approach for persisting and delivering the essential characteristics of digital content in Fedora
• Fedora REST API - A new API that exposes a subset of the Access and Management API using a RESTful Web interface contributed by MediaShelf
• Mulgara Support - Fedora supports the Mulgara 2.0 Semantic Triplestore replacing Kowari -Migration Utility - Provides an update utility to convert existing collections for Content Model Architecture compatibility
• Relational Index Simplification - The Fedora schema was simplified making changes easier without having to reload the database and significantly increasing scalability
• Dynamic Behaviors - Objects may be added or removed dynamically from the system moving system checks into run-time errors
• Error Reporting - Provides improved run-time error details
• Multiple Owner as a CSV String - Enables using a CSV string as ownerID and in XACML policies
• Java 6 Compatibility - Fedora may be optionally compiled using Java 6 while retaining support for Java Enterprise Edition 1.5 deployments
• Relationships API - API-M has been extended to enable adding, removing, and discovering RDF relations between Fedora objects
• Revised Fedora Object XML Schemas - The new schemas are simpler, supporting the CMA and removing Disseminators
• Atom Support - Fedora objects can now be imported and exported in the Atom format
• Messaging Support - Integrates JMS messaging for sending notification of important events
• Validation Framework - Provides system operators a way to validate all or part of their repository, based on content models
• 3.0-Compatible Service Releases - New versions of the OAI Provider and GSearch services are compatible with Fedora 3.0. The GSearch release also enables messaging support for GSearch, which allows for more robust and seamless integration with the Fedora repository.

I have been waiting for the CMS for some time -- this update to the architecture will greatly improve the flexibility of a Fedora implementation by removing the tight bindings between objects and disseminators and allowing for easier disseminator updating. The validation support is also key if one is interested in working with workflow engine to automatically process tasks and validate production outcomes. I am intrigued by the Atom support -- Dan commented on BagIt/SWORD as a possible repository SIP in one of our discussions at RepoCamp. This could become a very real experiment.