COMAND - A Distributed Configuration Management Framework

Software development is becoming a more and more distributed process, which urgently needs supporting tools in the field of configuration management, software process/w orkflow management, communication and problem tracking. In this paper we present a new distributed software configuration management framework COMAND. It offers high availabilit y through replication and a mechanism to easily change and adapt the project structure to new business needs. To better understand and formally prove some properties of COMAND, we have modeled it in a formal technique based on distributed graph transformations. This formalism provides an intuitive rule-based description technique mainly for the dynamic behavior of the system on an abstract level. We use it here to model the replication subsystem

Project Flow Graphs - A Meta-Model To Support Quality Assurance in Software-Engineering

Since complexity of industrial software projects keeps growing, the limits in common software engineering methods become more and more obvious. Today, it is not the particular CASE method which makes up a successful project. Systematic quality assurance measures urgently need a supplement with a generic development plan, a so called meta model of software development processes. The method of project flow graphs allows for practically as well as for theoretically well founded meta modeling of software development and thus serves as an appropriate basis for examining and supporting various quality assurance methods in software engineering. This is illustrated with practical examples by describing typical processes and situations in the software life cycle with project flow graphs. Furthermore, the relations between project flow graphs and traditional graph theoretic concepts like petri nets and graph grammars are also evaluated. 1 Quality Assurance in Software Engineering The term of qu..

Geplanter Inner Source: Ein Weg zur Profit-Center-übergreifenden Wiederverwendung

Wiederverwendung von Softwarekomponenten verspricht, Softwareentwicklung schneller und günstiger zu machen und die Ergebnisqualität zu steigern. Trotz diverser methodischer Ansätze ist es für viele Softwareentwicklungsorganisationen schwierig geblieben, diese Ziele auch nur ansatzweise zu erreichen. Vor diesem Hintergrund bietet „Inner Source“, die Verwendung von Open-Source-Praktiken in der firmeninternen Softwareentwicklung, neue Chancen. Inner-Source-Software ist Software, die innerhalb eines Unternehmens über Profit-Center-Grenzen hinweg in Gemeinschaftsarbeit entwickelt wird und von allen Abteilungen genutzt werden kann. In diesem Artikel stellen wir die bisher gewonnenen Erfahrungen mit Inner-Source-Entwicklung dar, definieren organisatorische Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten und prognostizieren die Entstehung von Inner-Source-Organisationen, einer neuen Form der Organisation für die Wiederverwendung

A Database for Configuration Management

The checkin/checkout model of typical design databases only distinguishes a global repository with full consistency and global visibility from local workspaces with only local visibility and without consistency constraints. Communicating versions between developers means passing them through the global repository and checking consistency. Passing incomplete objects or prototypes is not supported by such databases. We suggest that visibility be linked to consistency and that there be arbitrary levels of visibility / consistency in a design database. We present an engineering repository, defined by a database scheme and a set of transactions allowing for maximum concurrency of development. According to different consistency assertions the design objects are arranged in a tree-like structure with the root corresponding to the globally visible, consistent repository and the nodes corresponding to local workspaces. 1 Introduction Most engineering databases assume that all items are held i..

COMAND - A Distributed Configuration Management Framework

Software development is becoming a more and more distributed process, which urgently needs supporting tools in the field of configuration management, software process/w orkflow management, communication and problem tracking. In this paper we present a new distributed software configuration management framework COMAND. It offers high availabilit y through replication and a mechanism to easily change and adapt the project structure to new business needs. To better understand and formally prove some properties of COMAND, we have modeled it in a formal technique based on distributed graph transformations. This formalism provides an intuitive rule-based description technique mainly for the dynamic behavior of the system on an abstract level. We use it here to model the replication subsystem

Inner Source in Platform-Based Product Engineering

Inner source is an approach to collaboration across intra-organizational boundaries for the creation of shared reusable assets. Prior project reports on inner source suggest improved code reuse and better knowledge sharing. Using a multiple-case case study research approach, we analyze the problems that three major software development organizations were facing in their platform-based product engineering efforts. We find that a root cause, the separation of product units as profit centers from a platform organization as a cost center, leads to delayed deliveries, increased defect rates, and redundant software components. All three organizations assume that inner source can help solve these problems. The article analyzes the expectations that these companies were having towards inner source and the problems they were experiencing or expecting in its adoption. Finally, the article presents our conclusions on how these organizations should adapt their existing engineering efforts

COMAND - A Distributed Configuration Management Framework

Software development is becoming a more and more distributed process, which urgently needs supporting tools in the field of configuration management, software process /workflow management, communication and problem tracking. In this paper we present a new distributed software configuration management framework COMAND. It offers high availability through replication and a mechanism to easily change and adapt the project structure to new business needs. To better understand and formally prove some properties of COMAND, we have modeled it in a formal technique based on distributed graph transformations. This formalism provides an intuitive rule-based description technique mainly for the dynamic behavior of the system on an abstract level. We use it here to model the replication subsystem. 1. Introduction Developing software is not an easily planable process. Not only that software projects are much bigger our days than they were before but stricter quality requirements make it even more ..