Read-only mode on OJS / OPS / OMP (aka. "mantainance mode")

A read-only mode in OJS would be interesting.

Some use cases:

1) Server migration
OJS needs to be offline to extract a dump from the database, copy files, etc. With a read-only mode, it could always be in the air, returning to its full functionality at the end of the migration.

Large OJS installs would benefit most from this feature.

2) OJS upgrades
The upgrade process is often time-consuming, and an OJS read-only mode would allow the public to continue viewing your journals.

3) Journal disabled
There is no more editorial flow and the writing mode just makes it less safe to keep the site up.

Perhaps it is interesting to think with this feature request:

5 Likes

Hi @abadan

I thought that there should be a way to do this already, but I can’t find a setting that sets the journal to read only.

Assuming I just didn’t look hard enough, I think you could effectively set a journal to read-only though by disabling new registrations:
Users → Users & Roles → User Registration - select “The journal manager will register all new accounts”

And then go to “Roles” and remove everyone’s submission privileges. This would disable new user registrations and new submissions, which would effectively make everything read-only.

But does OJS need to be offline to dump the database? I have used both mariabackup and mysqldump while the database is going. But then again, I am not running a large installation.

I thought that there should be a way to do this already, but I can’t find a setting that sets the journal to read only.

This option is not present in the OJS.

Assuming I just didn’t look hard enough, I think you could effectively set a journal to read-only though by disabling new registrations:
(…)

Removing the roles of all users and closing the records starts to become unviable in larger journals, or in installations with dozens of journals.

But does OJS need to be offline to dump the database? I have used both mariabackup and mysqldump while the database is going. But then again, I am not running a large installation.

To extract a dump for backup, for example, you can keep OJS running.

But if you need to migrate OJS to another server, or do an version upgrade, you need it to be read-only. Today, in fact, you need to make it totally unavailable.

What happens in these cases is that we cannot have a user registering, a review being made, an article submitted, etc. during this process, because if these data enter the database after the dump, they will be lost.

Hi… I upgraded ojs 3.1.1.four to the modern model 3.2.0. Suddenly the arabic text in TITLE, ABSTRACT and REFERENCE are missing and was query marks ??? assist please

Hello @thomasecoello.

Welcome to the forum!

Please search for a forum thread about your question and, if you don’t find it, create a new one.
Off topic subjects leaves confusing forum.

You will like to read this:

2 Likes

Did somebody tested Henrique’s work? Sounds promising.

Till the feature is included in core, why not adding this in the plugins gallery?

As we have this mechanism implemented directly on the Web server, I didn’t get to test this plugin.

In any case, it just displays a message indicating that the OJS is under maintenance, while what is wanted is for readers to be able to continue reading the OJS content, without, however, having write permission.

Yep. I did the same, but would be nice to let readers keep reading… as far as the only information we will miss would be a few statistics (that you are also losing when you disable the full site).

But acording to Henrique’s description of the plugin, it’s implementing the feature as we request it.

I will try to find time to test it and come back with feedback.
Please, let me know if any of you test it before me.

Cheers,
m.