The core technologies underlying software configuration managementhave changed little in more than two decades. Developmentorganizations struggle to manage ever­ larger software systems with tools that were never designed to handle them. Their development processes are warped by the inadequacies of their building and version management tools. Developers must take time from writing and debugging code to cope with the operational problems thrust upon them by their build system's inade­ quate support of large-scale concurrent development. Vesta, a novel system for large-scale software configuration management, offers a better solution. Through a unique integration of building and version management facilities, Vestaconstructs software of any size repeatably, incrementally, and consis­ tently. Since modem software development occurs worldwide, Vesta supports con­ current, multi-site, distributed development. Vesta's core facilities are methodologi­ cally neutral, allowing development organizations a wide range of flexibility in the way they arrange their code repositories and structure the building of system com­ ponents. In short, Vesta advances the state of the art in configuration management.

This monograph, and accompanying open-source software Vesta, addresses two core problems in developing large software projects: versioning and building. In order to develop and sustain automated, scalable "software configuration management (SCM) systems," software systems engineers need to understand how large software code bases can be effectively managed and evolved. Using a well-known open-source software prototype system (Vesta developed at Digital and Compaq Systems Research Lab), the authors meticulously assess, develop, and demonstrate key concepts and methods to achieve such evolvable and scalable software systems. The concepts, lessons, and executable code allow researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the problems, and solution domains possible, for large-scale software construction practices. This book is primarily intended for researchers in the areas of software engineering and specialists in the construction of software development tools. In addition, those responsible for designing and deploying configuration management solutions for large software systems will also find it useful.

Introducing Vesta.- Essential Background.- The Architecture of Vesta.- The User's View of Vesta.- Managing Sources and Versions.- System Description Language.- Building Systems in Vesta.- Inside Vesta.- Inside the Repository.- Incremental Building.- Weeder.- Assessing Vesta.- Competing Systems.- Vesta System Performance.- Conclusions.