Untangling configuration management: Mechanism and methodology in SCM systems

Abstract

There is considerable diversity in the SCM methodological needs of today’s software teams. The SCM methods a team requires are a function of technical, social and corporate constraints that define how the project team must design, construct, test and deliver software. Most commercial and academic SCM systems created to date support particular SCM methodologies. Some created specific mechanisms to support their methodology, while others simply support the methods that work given the constraints and limitations of their mechanisms. If modern SCM systems are to be applicable to the broad spectrum of software development teams, the methodologies must be separated from the mechanisms, the mechanisms must be distilled into a flexible set of widely applicable capabilities, and the definition of methodologies using these mechanisms must be facilitated. The purpose of this paper is to explore the mechanisms needed to support advanced SCM methodologies, and process-based software configuration management in general.