RADAR Release v1.24: More download options, Git import generally available

Published: 09.12.2025

Overview

The new RADAR v1.24 software version offers numerous enhancements for improved usability, enhanced reusability, and more efficient data transfer capabilities. The most important new features at a glance:

Selective download of individual files and folders from published or archived datasets

With release v1.24, it is now possible for the first time to download individual files or entire folders from a published or archived dataset. Previously, accessing individual files or folders always required downloading the entire TAR archive.

The new feature in detail:

  • Dataset contents are available for direct access even after publication or archiving.
  • Selective access to individual files or folders is possible either via the new download icons in the “Contents” tab or via the “Download” buttons in the folder hierarchy (right navigation bar).
  • When accessed, files or folders are streamed on-the-fly from the TAR archive (BagIt-compliant).
  • After downloading, individual files are available in their original format, folders in .TAR format [foldername-timestamp.tar]. Only research data is downloaded, not metadata.

Technical background:

For the new functionality, RADAR Cloud permanently stores an additional copy of each dataset on disk — in addition to the three locally distributed copies on tape. This not only enables immediate, selective access to individual files/folders, but also further increases data redundancy without any additional costs.

Notes:

  • The function is initially only available for datasets that are published or archived with v1.24 or later. Existing datasets will be successively post-processed and will then also be available in the new “open” form. We will inform you as soon as the post-processing is complete.
  • The functionality will be made available for RADAR Local at a later date.

In future releases, we will further optimize user interaction for selective access to individual files/files and integrate additional functions. Stay tuned!

Improved usability for reviewers

Data sets “In Review” and “In Progress” can now be downloaded as TAR archives. This makes it easier for external reviewers in particular to access data prior to publication. Previously, reviewers could only download individual research data selectively; however, it was not possible to download the entire data set content.

The new feature in detail:

  • The new download option is available for all data sets in the “In Progress” and “In Review” statuses in the right-hand navigation bar.
  • The data set content is delivered as a TAR archive [foldername-timestamp.tar]. It contains the research data in its original structure, but no metadata. These can be downloaded separately as usual.

The optimization of usability for reviewers was recommended in particular by the RADAR User Advisory Board. We will continue to expand this function (“closed” data packages before archiving/publication) in future releases to make it even more user-friendly.

GitLab/GitHub import now generally available

The import option for data directly from GitHub or GitLab repositories is now available in all RADAR work environments.

  • The additional tab “GitHub/GitLab Repository” is now available to all RADAR Cloud users after clicking on “Create Dataset.”
  • The Git import option is no longer in beta. The known limitations remain for the time being (no processing of symbolic links, no import of Git LFS repositories).

The optimization was suggested by the RADAR User Advisory Board, which met at the end of November. 
Further information on GitLab/GitHub import can be found here.

WebDAV support activable by institutions themselves

The WebDAV option can now be activated directly by the institution itself:

  • at the contract level by administrators in the "General information and storage volume" form,
  • at the workspace level by administrators and curators in the "Edit workspace" form.

Once activated, the additional tab “Create WebDAV dataset” is immediately available to users after clicking on “Create dataset.” It is no longer necessary to contact FIZ Karlsruhe for activation.

This improvement was also suggested by the RADAR User Advisory Board at the end of November.
A detailed description and screenshots on how to use the WebDAV option can be found in the Quickstart-Guide zum Datentransfer per WebDAV (in German

Software Maintenance

We hope that the new features will further support and facilitate your use of RADAR.

As part of software maintenance, security-related updates were also carried out on system libraries, which were migrated to new versions.

 

Note: This software release also affects the community-specific publicaion services for research data based on RADAR: