SCM Terminology

Contents


Software Configuration

From Juha-Markus Aalto, (NTC/MSG): The set of all software and related components that are required to develop, build, and maintain a software product.


Software Configuration Management

From Juha-Markus Aalto, (NTC/MSG): The action of planning, organizing, controlling and coordinating the identification, storage and change of software and related components through development and transfer.


Configuration Item

An element of a software configuration.
Note that this definition depends on the granularity at which one analyzes a software product, which in turn depends on the tools used, and on decisions made. It is thus largely a prescriptive (as opposed to descriptive) definition.


Baseline

A reference Software Configuration, for the purpose of specifying other configurations as incremental changes from it.

This implies in practice that a baseline is immutable, easily identifiable, and reproducible. It is formally designated.
This definition maps onto the first acception in ANSI/IEEE Std 729-1983.
The second acception binds to the identification of this reference, which can be formally moved onto successive configurations.


Fixed label

A label identifying one frozen (partial) Software Configuration, as opposed to the concept of Floating Label.

Our procedures for applying them, or naming them.

It is typically not intended to be used in configuration specifications, unless it is used alone (in a one-line configuration).


Floating Label

A label intended to be used in developer's configuration specifications. It conveys an information from a provider to consumers.
It will be moved over successive versions of elements, always in an intentional way. This is opposed to the concept of fixed label.

This is a convention, which is supported by the label name not containing any serial information. Examples are the ClearCase reserved LATEST and CHECKEDOUT, or our TOOLS and TOOLS11. These are the floating labels conventionally pointing at the official state of the art.

Our convention goes further: such labels should be convenient to use, and in particular not conflict with each other (at least within a certain set). This means that each one should be applied only under a certain directory. This simple rule insures that not two different floating labels can be found on any element, and thus that the order of configuration rules using them is indifferent.

Such labels may be temporarily locked, so as to enforce their moving according to some formal procedure.


ANSI/IEEE Std 729-1983: Glossary of Software Engineering Terminology, in Software Engineering Standards ,
ClearCase Concepts Manual, Wayne Babich book. .
Terminology for the SCM96 project
SCM ToC
Marc Girod
Last modified: Thu Dec 13 16:58:26 EET 2001