Archive for category ITSLM
Items have history
Posted by Mark in CMCrossroads, Configuration Management, Plain Old Blog, SCM Tool, Software Configuration Management, Version Control on March 17, 2010
As those of you who have been following this blog for any time will know I am currently looking in some detail at parallel development, specifically how it can be managed safely by non-expert version managers. I have used parallel development with much success on many projects but codifying my knowledge into a tool is [...]
In the beginning…
Posted by Mark in CMCrossroads, Parallel Development Principles, Plain Old Blog, SCM Tool on February 18, 2010
…was the definition. In this article I am going to lay out my definitions for some terminology that will become increasingly important as I develop my CMS model. The terms I will be discussing are as follows. Stream Branch Configuration Item Revision Configuration Component Repository Configuration Management Database Record At this point I caution the [...]
CMS Tool: High-level architecture
Posted by Mark in CMCrossroads, Plain Old Blog, SCM Tool, Software Configuration Management on February 11, 2010
Continuing my musings about a universal configuration management tool I’ve drafted the basic architecture. This is summarised in the following diagram (after the break).
Parallel development: theory and practice
Posted by Mark in Configuration Management, ITSLM, Parallel Development Principles, Plain Old Blog, Software Configuration Management, Version Control on February 10, 2010
Having spent the past couple of weeks with a client working through the issues that need to be carefully considered when version controlling software, and in particular how to manage and control parallel development. I have come to three conclusions: People are often more afraid of the perceived problems than the practical realities of parallel [...]
Who’s afraid of the big bad merge?
Posted by Mark in CMCrossroads, Parallel Development Principles, Plain Old Blog, Software Configuration Management, Version Control on February 1, 2010
A common objection to using parallel development is the fear of the inevitable merging required to reintegrate the changes as the development proceeds. In this post I will take a look at some of the issues that arise from managing parallel development and, perhaps more importantly, provide some guidance on how to avoid the pitfalls [...]
Holographic Configuration Management
Posted by Mark in CMCrossroads, Configuration Management, Plain Old Blog on January 14, 2010
The advent of the ‘cloud’ and the idea of massively distributed systems (think grid computing and SaaS) is the latest technology swing with the potential to impact configuration management practice. I say ‘potential’ because a properly designed and implemented configuration management system will be able to copy without too much difficulty. The main impact will be [...]
Stubbing in build processes
Posted by Mark in Build Management, CMCrossroads, Configuration Management, ITSLM, Plain Old Blog on January 5, 2010
When developing systems of any size the development team inevitably encounters the following problem. The developers of one sub-system need access to functionality to be provided by another, but the second sub-system is not in a position to provide the functionality and probably will not be for some time. When this happens it is common [...]
Stabilizing builds
Posted by Mark in Build Management, CMCrossroads, ITSLM, Plain Old Blog on January 4, 2010
One challenge facing build managers is how to control the environment in which builds are performed. How to ensure that each repeated build uses the same sources, the same libraries, the same compilers, and so on. Only by ensuring all these elements can we truly claim to be able to reproduce a build reliably and [...]
Differentiating Configuration Items from Components
Posted by Mark in CMCrossroads, Configuration Management, Plain Old Blog, Software Configuration Management on November 17, 2009
Configuration management literature is replete with references to something called a ‘configuration item’ and most attempt to explain what a configuration item is. Despite this there remains confusion. “Should all files in my software system be a configuration item?” is a common enough question to raise concern that the concept of configuration item is not [...]
The importance of release identities
Posted by Mark in CMCrossroads, Plain Old Blog, Release Management on October 13, 2009
Having carefully avoided ‘release numbers’ in the title of this post, I shall now proceed to describe a release numbering scheme. The specifics of release numbering schemes are endlessly discussed. Each proponent of a specific scheme believing that their scheme is the best. I shall be no different.
