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Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!c-1996!news.algonet.se!uninett.no!news-stkh.gip.net!news.gsl.net!gip.net!news-peer.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!gip.net!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!su-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!news.shkoo.com!news.genuity.net!dwe From: dwe@eng.iac.honeywell.com (Dave Eaton) Newsgroups: comp.software.config-mgmt,comp.answers,news.answers Subject: comp.software.config-mgmt FAQ: General Questions Followup-To: comp.software.config-mgmt Date: 1 Oct 1997 00:07:45 GMT Organization: Genuity Inc. Phoenix, AZ Lines: 775 Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Expires: 23 Oct 1997 17:00:00 GMT Message-ID: <60s48h$aqg$1@news.genuity.net> Reply-To: dwe@eng.iac.honeywell.com NNTP-Posting-Host: adm02.iac.honeywell.com Summary: Software Configuration Management general questions. Part 1 of 3 related CM posts. Keywords: CM FAQ X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL1] Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu comp.software.config-mgmt:8796 comp.answers:28277 news.answers:113444 Archive-name: sw-config-mgmt/faq Last-modified: 1997/09/30 Version: 4.5 Posting-Frequency: monthly -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Configuration Management Frequently Asked Questions -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Introduction This is the Software Configuration Management Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) file for the newsgroup comp.software.config-mgmt. It has been compiled from many sources. Many thanks to all contributors. In the newsgroups, this message should be followed by two others, each summarizing a different area of configuration management: Subject: comp.software.config-mgmt FAQ: General Questions (this text) Subject: comp.software.config-mgmt FAQ: Configuration Management Tools Summary Subject: comp.software.config-mgmt FAQ: Problem Management Tools Summary Like most FAQ lists, these parts are archived at rtfm.mit.edu (and various other sites which archive FAQs.) The parts are named: o cm-tools = Configuration Management Tools Summary (this document) o faq = General Questions o prob-mgt-tools = Problem Management Tools Summary and may be found in directory pub/usenet-by-group/comp.answers/sw-config-mgmt. Those new to the newsgroups should read news.announce.newusers for general information. For those with World Wide Web access, hyperlinked HTML versions of these documents are available via: http://www.iac.honeywell.com/Pub/Tech/CM/index.html (If you type in this URL, remember that it *is* case sensitive.) These are updated throughout the month as changes come in. A letter is added to the version number and the date is changed with each edit to help you determine if you've already seen it. Not Official Statements Please use the summary below in the spirit with which it has been supplied: for information only. These statements are composites and *do not* represent official positions by any particular responder's company. Remember that these users may not be commenting on the current version of a product. It is recommended that you do your own research before making a tool decision for your company. Sharing Of Information This document, as a collection of information, is Copyright 1995-96 by David W. Eaton. It may be freely redistributed in its entirety provided that this copyright notice is not removed. It may not be sold for profit or incorporated in commercial documents without the written permission of the copyright holder. This article is provided as is without any express or implied warranty. The content is the sole responsibility of the author and contributors, and does not necessarily represent the position of their employers nor an official position or opinion of Honeywell Inc. Please contact the FAQ editor regarding changes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Newsgroups line: comp.software.config-mgmt Configuration management, tools and procedures. Other Information Various products mentioned in this FAQ are the trademarks of their respective companies. All parts of this FAQ are posted to this newsgroup on or about the 22nd of each month. (This is done manually and sometimes work interferes with this posting, please excuse any delays.) CHARTER Comp.software.config-mgmt is intended to be a forum for discussions issues related to configuration management (CM), both the bureaucratic procedures and the tools used to implement CM strategies. CM is a corner-stone in software development, and has a very broad spectrum. For small shops developing non-critical products, perhaps all you need is RCS or SCCS and some makefiles. For large or safety-critical systems, a more sophisticated process and implementation may be required - possibly one integrated with change management and problem management. *What this is not.* If you are not sure what we mean by CM, please see our definition in question [1.2] below. If you still think this will help you with your PC hardware or application configuration, you are mistaken. Please see question [1.10] below for some suggestions of other more appropriate newsgroups for your question -- do not post it to comp.software.config-mgmt. Thank you. This is not a definitive list of all available tools, nor is it intended to be. As noted above, it is a composit of opinions from the comp.software.config-mgmt newsgroup. If you have a tool you would like others to know about, please join the discussion. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ** What's New this Month? ** 1. Added [1.16]: Are job postings permitted in this newsgroup? While there have been other topics discussed in this newsgroup, I tried to pull together some highlights here. All comments, content and format suggestions, and submissions for future versions are welcomed. This version is cross posted to comp.answers and news.answers and is archived at the usual public archive sites for *.answers FAQs. Those new to the newsgroups should read news.announce.newusers for general information. Please send your comments and suggestions for improvements to: -- dwe@eng.iac.honeywell.com (David W. Eaton) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --[ Table of Contents ]-- [1.0] === GENERAL QUESTIONS === [1.1] I have heard about this group (comp.software.config-mgmt) from cross-postings in other groups, but it's not in my news offering. How can I get it? [1.2] What is Configuration Management (CM)? [1.3] How does Problem Management relate to Configuration Management? [1.4] What Configuration Management tools are available? [1.5] What Problem Tracking tools are available? [1.6] What inexpensive (UNIX-like) CM tools are available for a DOS platform? (Well-established shareware or relatively inexpensive vendor tools.) [1.7] Where else can I look for configuration management information? [1.8] How can a vendor get information into the product summaries? [1.9] What user and vendor comments are appropriate here? [1.10] How do I reconfigure my PC or its applications? [1.11] How can I do CM in a mixed platform network? [1.12] Will a sophisticated CM system solve my problems? [1.13] How should a CM system relate to process enforcement? [1.14] What is the "best" CM tool to use? [1.15] How should I version control my Web site? [1.16] Are job postings permitted in this newsgroup? [2.0] === BOOKS ABOUT CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT === [2.1] _Software Configuration Management_ [2.2] _Software Engineering_, chapter 29, Configuration Management [2.3] _Software Configuration Management_ [2.4] _Methods and Tools for Software Configuration Management_ [2.5] _Software Configuration Management_ [2.6] _Configuration Management Tools: a Detailed Evaluation_ [2.7] _Software Management Technology Reference Guide_ [2.8] _Implementing Configuration Management: Hardware, Software and Firmware_ [2.9] _Configuration Management for Software_ [2.10] _Multi-Platform Code Management_ [2.11] _Configuration Management Models in Commercial Environments_ [2.12] _Software Shock, the danger and the opportunity_ [2.13] _Configuration Management: The Changing Image_ [2.14] _Applying RCS and SCCS_ [2.15] _Practical Software Configuration Management:_ _The Latenight Developer's Handbook_ [3.0] === PRODUCT SPECIFIC QUESTIONS === [3.1] May I post specific questions about ClearCase here? [3.2] Is there a tutorial someplace on RCS? [3.3] It seems SCCS doesn't have a $Log$ like RCS does. Am I correct? [3.4] Is there a tool to convert SCCS data to RCS format? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --[ Topics ]-- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1.0] === GENERAL QUESTIONS === ----------------------------------------------------------------- [1.1] I have heard about this group (comp.software.config-mgmt) from cross-postings in other groups, but it's not in my news offering. How can I get it? ----------------------------------------------------------------- Talk to your local system administrator. All sites do not automatically create new groups as they are initiated. Also, some readers do not automatically show you all new groups as they become available at your site. Perhaps you have access and do not realize it. If you still have problems, try looking into something like the Zippo News Service (http://www.zippo.com) which not only provides news services, but also provides Web-access to recent articles. Follow the links, or go directly to the articles for comp.software.config-mgmt at: http://drn.zippo.com/news-bin/wwwnews?comp.software.config-mgmt -------------------------------------- [1.2] What is Configuration Management (CM)? -------------------------------------- There are a number of different interpretations. For purposes of this newsgroup, we are talking about tracking and control of software development and its activities. That is, the mangement of software development projects with respect to issues such as multiple developers working on the same code at the same time, targetting multiple platforms, supporting multiple versions, and controlling the status of code (for example beta test versus real release). Even within that scope there are different schools of thought: o Traditional Configuration Management - checkin/checkout control of sources (and sometimes binaries) and the ability to perform builds (or compiles) of the entities. Other functions may be included as well. o Process Management - control of the software development activities. For example, it might check to ensure that a change request existed and had been approved for fixing and that the associated design, documentation, and review activities have been completed before allowing the code to be "checked in" again. While process management and control are necessary for a repeatable, optimized development process, a solid configuration management foundation for that process is essential. --------------------------------------------------------------- [1.3] How does Problem Management relate to Configuration Management? --------------------------------------------------------------- Many organizations choose to integrate their problem management and classic configuration management tools to gain better control of their development activities and to improve quality. Problem management may include call tracking, problem tracking, and change management. These are described more completely in part 3 of this FAQ. -------------------------------------------------- [1.4] What Configuration Management tools are available? -------------------------------------------------- Check the list of free, public domain, and commercial vendor CM tools in part 2 of this FAQ, CM Tools Summary. -------------------------------------------- [1.5] What Problem Management tools are available? -------------------------------------------- Check the list of free, public domain, and commercial vendor problem management tools in part 3 of this FAQ, PM Tools Summary. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [1.6] What inexpensive (UNIX-like) CM tools are available for a DOS platform? (Well established shareware or relatively inexpensive vendor tools.) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Check the list of free and commercial vendor CM tools in part 2 of this FAQ, CM Tools Summary. --------------------------------------------------------------- [1.7] Where else can I look for configuration management information? --------------------------------------------------------------- Topics related to software configuration management are discussed in other newsgroups as well. One such group is: comp.software-eng Software Engineering Issues Its FAQ will direct you to other possible groups to check, as well. Some products have their own e-mail lists to assist users. Check with your vendor. See information elsewhere in this FAQ about: cciug@atria.com ClearCase International User Group mailing list A number of sites are providing CM information via the World Wide Web. Some of these are: o The CM FAQ set (these documents) at http://www.iac.honeywell.com/Pub/Tech/CM/ o The Configuration Management Yellow Pages at http://www.cs.colorado.edu/users/andre/configuration_management.html o CM Specialist Group of the British Computer Society at http://www.bcs.org.uk/siggroup/sg57.htm o Some research papers about CM are available at http://wwwsel.iit.nrc.ca/projects/scm.html o A list of WWW sites for CM (including some Macintosh information) at http://wwwsel.iit.nrc.ca/favourites.html#SCM o A searchable software engineering bibliography with a subsection devoted to CM at http://liinwww.ira.uka.de/bibliography/SE/index.html o An article in Sunworld that compares ClearCase and Continuus (and provides screen dumps of both systems in action) is at http://www.sun.com:80/sunworldonline/swol-07-1995/swol-07-cm.html o Advantages Migrating to ClearCase Version 2 presented at the 1994 ClearCase International User Group Conference is at http://www.iac.honeywell.com/Pub/Tech/CM/ClearCaseV2.html o A copy of MIL-STD 2167A (which includes CM requirements) is online at http://www.cs.utah.edu/~matwood/2167a.html o R. S. Pressman & Associates, Inc. Software Process Improvement & Software Engineering Resources information online at http://www.rspa.com/spi/SCM.html o A copy of the Software Engineering Institute Capability and Maturity Model (SEI/CMM) is online at http://rbse.jsc.nasa.gov/process_maturity/CMM/TR25/ o Team Development Product Reviews at http://www.silcom.com/~alobba/reviews.html o Linux Configuration Management and Version Control at http://linas.org/linux/cmvc.html o Problem Management & Bug Tracking for Linux at http://linas.org/linux/pm.html o The Institute of Configuration Management which offers SCM courses and CMII Certification may be found at http://www.icmhq.com/ o Technology Trainings Corps offers clases in SCM at http://www.ttcus.com o MIL-STD-498 Software Development and Documentation at http://www-library.itsi.disa.mil/mil_std/std498.html Its purpose is to establish uniform requirements for software development and documentation. It merges DOD-STD-2167A and DOD-STD-7935A. Additional WWW sites are listed at the ends of other segments of this FAQ: o Configuration Management Tools with World Wide Web sites o Problem Management Tools with World Wide Web sites ------------------------------------------------------------ [1.8] How can a vendor get information into the product summaries? ------------------------------------------------------------ If you know of a tool you believe should be represented in one of the CM FAQ product lists, please send the product name, preferred company address, phone, e-mail (if any) contact information and supported platforms to: dwe@eng.iac.honeywell.com so it may be included in the address portion of a future issue. Error corrections to this information are also accepted from vendors. By request, the content of these FAQs is intended to be user-supplied, relatively short, and free from obvious extremes of opinion. (There are plenty of opportunities for company advertising elsewhere.) If you want to have a paragraph or two included, please have a user or customer post their views to the newsgroup (copying this editor via e-mail would help ensure that it is seen.) It will be edited, combined it with other responses, and included in the product summary section of a future issue as time permits. Vendors are invited to correct any erroneous information noted in the FAQs. Features described should represent existing product, not future plans. The one exception which has proven of value is to allow the FAQ to indicate platform ports in progress which will be delivered "soon". This should help customers determine candidate tools, since there is a long lead time required for a site to choose and implement a CM environment. --------------------------------------------------- [1.9] What user and vendor comments are appropriate here? --------------------------------------------------- Heated discussions often have been raised in this newsgroup concerning what are appropriate comments from vendors and users. While there is no desire to eliminate meaningful contributions from either segment of the population, keeping these guidelines in mind should help hold down the "flames". o If you are new to news, read "news.newusers.questions" and related FAQs before posting here. Most FAQs are posted in "news.answers" and related "*.answers" groups and archived at rtfm.mit.edu and elsewhere. Also, read the other segments of the FAQ for this group and read the articles in this group for a while *before* posting your own comment. o If someone asks about a tool that has features xyz or helps to solve problem xyz, vendors should refrain from posting "my tool does that" responses which would clutter the newsgroup. Of course, any private e-mail response may be made at the vendor's or user's discretion. As always, users are encouraged to summarize pertinent e-mail to the newsgroup. o If someone asks for people's experience using a tool, then the vendor of the tool should not offer any opinion. Please leave it to users. o If someone asks for a comparison of tool x with tool y, then neither vendor x nor vendor y should offer any opinion. Please leave it to users. o Vendors are allowed and encouraged to comment upon and clarify issues raised by others on the use of their tool. The discussion should stay technical and "what the tool does" as opposed to "this way is better than this other way". This is one of the main ways vendors can contribute to discussions here. o Vendors are allowed and encouraged to make *brief* announcements of significant new versions or products which *are shipping now*. It would be best if this announcement pointed readers to other sources for more information (such as FTP and WWW sites or e-mail lists.) o Vendors are requested *not* to send unsolicited mass e-mail (spams) concerning their products to people who post on this newsgroup. These are usually unappreciated and tend to have a negative impact on recipients. A short, appropriate post to the newsgroup as described above would be preferred. ----------------------------------------------- [1.10] How do I reconfigure my PC or its applications? ----------------------------------------------- Although questions about PC hardware configurations, changes to ".INI" files and ".BAT" get posted to this newsgroup, they should not be. Please review available FAQs or consult articles on newsgroups such as: comp.sys.ibm.pc.*, comp.os.ms-windows.setup, comp.os.ms-windows.apps.misc, comp.os.msdos.apps, comp.os.os2.apps, or comp.os.ms-windows.nt.setup. Please review the charter of this group and our definition of CM above before posting here. -------------------------------------------- [1.11] How can I do CM in a mixed platform network? -------------------------------------------- The basic setup is that you put your source code repository on a central machine and everybody accesses that repository. Within this model, however, there are four variations, driven by two factors. One factor is if the CM tool is available on the client hosts or if you have to log into the central host to use it; the other is whether the CM respository is on a network filesystem such as NFS, Novell Netware, NetBEUI, etc. The four variations are then: No client CM tool / No NFS. This is truly the poor man's solution: you must telnet or otherwise log into the central repository host, check out files, and then manually move the files back to the client host (e.g. with FTP). When you are finished, you reverse the process: move the files to the repository host, log in and check in the files. No one likes this solution, but there are two cases where you have no choice: first, in mixed UNIX/DOS/MAC environments, where NFS support is poor; second, in geographically distributed environments, where NFS isn't viable. All CM tools can be used in this way. No client CM tool / Has NFS. This is one step better. In this case, you still have to log into the central repository host to check out or in files, but you can access those files directly from your client host, without having to copy them back and forth. This solution is not exactly loved either, but is the fallback when the CM tool vendor doesn't support all your platforms. For example, you might have ClearCase installed and running on a Solaris host, exporting the managed files via NFS to a Linux host. When you have a limited number of "second class", unsupported platforms, this works fairly well. There is a major wrinkle with this approach due to the different line separators in text files: LF on UNIX, CR on Mac, CRLF on DOS. NFS doesn't translate these for you, and all sorts of programs (most notable diff(1)) fumble when the separator is wrong. All CM tools can be used in this way, as long as they are running on platforms that have some form of NFS. Has client CM tool / Has NFS. This is first class, transparent CM, where users check out, work on, and check in files as if the files were on their local disk. In some cases both the repository and the checked out, working files are on the shared network disk. In other cases, working files are actually on the local disk. This approach usually suffers from line separator problems as well. Freely available tools which can be used in this manner are RCS, SCCS, and CVS. Although not designed explicitly for this configuration, they are not disturbed if the repository is on a shared network disk. The problem with doing this with RCS and SCCS, however, is that the client's working files are usually "right next to" the repository files, making it hard to move the working files off the shared network disk and onto a local one. CVS is better for this. Commercial systems such as PVCS, MKS Source Integrity, and Microsoft's SourceSafe also rely on NFS-style access to the repository, but have better support for separating the working files from the repository. Continuus/CM uses the shared filesystem a bit more explicitly: the client workspace is populated with symbolic links into the repository (except for files the user is working on). ClearCase has the most elaborate NFS-based solution, interposing its own filesystem (MVFS, the multi-version filesystem) between the user and the shared repository. Has client CM tool/No NFS. For this, the CM tool must find its own way to the files in the repository, without directly sharing the repository filesystem. From the user's perspective, this approach can be as functional as using NFS, but that depends as much on the actual tool as anything else. CVS has a mode where it can access its repository on a central host in a manner similar to using rsh(1). The commercial system Perforce accesses its repository using its own protocol directly over a TCP/IP connection. Because this approach dosn't use NFS, it isn't limited to environments where NFS is supported. Both CVS and Perforce, for example, can be used across the Internet. It should be noted that few tools are available on all platforms. You'll probably need to balance the features you want with the platforms you want supported. ------------------------------------------------- [1.12] Will a sophisticated CM system solve my problems? ------------------------------------------------- Discussed in many forms on this newsgroup, the simple answer is no, there is no silver bullet tool which can solve all configuration management problems by itself. Any good CM tool which provides version control is a great benefit over manually keeping copies of files in alternate directories. Including build management can provide tremendous increases in productivity. Some organizations will choose to use a tool which can provide some degree of process management. The level of sophistication required will depend upon the complexity of the software being developed and the size and dynamics of the organization doing the development. Budget may dictate what tools can be considered. As always, local CM requirements should be determined before a CM tool investigation is undertaken. ----------------------------------------------------- [1.13] How should a CM system relate to process enforcement? ----------------------------------------------------- This is a very controversial topic and many good discussions have been held in this newsgroup. Some frequently voiced ideas include: o CM is a "Good Thing". o CM is intended to *help* developers. o Integrating CM into a development environment should be "evolutionary", and not "revolutionary". It takes time and iterations to do it right. o Develop a proven, bulletproof implementation of an integrated CM/Development process, then apply it from day one on new project. o Automation of a good CM process improves the likelyhood it will be followed and can improve productivity and quality. o Automation of a bad CM process can be worse than no automation. Chances for success may be improved if you first establish a process on which both the CM and development staff can agree. Consider the capabilities of the tool you will use and automate the process in a non-intrusive manner as much as possible. Process is very site specific. ---------------------------------- [1.14] What is the "best" CM tool to use? ---------------------------------- This is a loaded question without an answer. The real anwer to this question is ... it depends!! "Best" is relative to the environment, culture, and goals of the organization you are working in. One site's best may be ClearCase or Aide-de-Camp, another PCMS or Continuus, all for very good reasons. Some sites select multiple tools to meet different project needs. Each was a "best" for that situation. Your source code's future depends on how well you manage its past. Development teams need to track a project's entire history and rebuild past versions quickly and accurately-with 100% assurance of reliability and integrity-every time. Your tool selection deserves a lot of thought. It would be best to check the product literature and the other parts of this FAQ for possible solutions, then do your own evaluation. During the fall of 1996 readers of the comp.software.config-mgmt newsgroup participated in a non-scientific, subjective survey of tools they use. The results of that survey are available at: http://www.iac.honeywell.com/Pub/Tech/CM/CMSurveyRes.html This may help you prepare a list of tools to consider. ---------------------------------- [1.15] How should I version control my Web site? ---------------------------------- This is a special case of SCM and may be a bit outside the traditional scope of this newsgroup. Many posters have indicated they are using their CM tool of choice to manage versions of their Web sites. Tools frequently mentioned include ClearCase, RCS, CVS, MKS, and Aegis. Refer to Part 2 of this FAQ for more information about these and other tools. There are now some products available which address Web site issues specifically. These include products such as Intellecte/Business Web from Interleaf and a Web-based management system, Intra.doc!, from IntraNet Solutions, Inc. More comprehensive answers may be found on one of the comp.infosystems.www.* newsgroups. ---------------------------------- [1.16] Are job postings permitted in this newsgroup? ---------------------------------- The consensus of the readers of this newsgroup is to permit short, tasteful, "jobs offered" postings which are identified as such in the subject line and which include the location of the job. A preferred subject format would be: "Job: <Location>: <Type of job>" Offers from the hiring organization would be preferred. Headhunter firms are requested to group offers into a single or small number of posts and limit the frequency with which they post. It is preferred that "jobs wanted" postings be avoided in this newsgroup. In addition, job posters and seekers may want to refer to Andre van der Hoek's "Configuration Management Job Listing" at http://www.cs.colorado.edu/users/andre/cmjobs/cmjobs.html where he permits people to post job openings related to CM. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [2.0] === BOOKS ABOUT CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT === (Hal Render maintains a bibliography of books and articles on SCM, version control, and related subjects. A searchable copy of the is on the WWW at http://liinwww.ira.uka.de/bibliography/SE/scm.html. You can ftp the formatted copy and BibTeX source from "mozart.uccs.edu" in the directory "/pub/SCM" or request a copy from him at render@massive.uccs.edu.) (You can also check any good technical bookstore near you. One such store with a Web site is: San Diego Technical Books, Inc. and look for topics such as "Software Configuration Mgmt".) [2.1] _Software Configuration Management_ by Wayne A. Babich; Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, 1986 (The 'bible' on configuration management? Good, easy reading, can be read in a couple of hours at most. Clearly illustrates the problems and solutions to double maintenance, shared data, and simultaneous update. Nice examples, lots of topics.) [2.2] _Software Engineering_, chapter 29, Configuration Management by Ian Sommerville; (a nice introduction to the topic) [2.3] _Software Configuration Management_ by H. Ronald Berlack; John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, New York, USA, 1992; ISBN 0-471-53049-2 (very useful guide to understanding and implementing CM) [2.4] _Methods and Tools for Software Configuration Management_ by David Whitgift; John Wiley & Sons Ltd., West Sussex, England, 1991 [2.5] _Software Configuration Management_ by Edward H. Bersoff, Vilas D. Henderson and Stanley G. Siegel; Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1980 (a classic, but reportedly out of print) [2.6] _Ovum evaluates: configuration management tools_ by P. Ingram, C. Burrows and I. Wesley; by William Rigg, Clive Burrows, and Pat Ingram; (c) 1995; Ovum Ltd., 1 Mortimer Street, London W1N 7RH, England (Tel: +44 71 255 2670, Fax: +44 71 255 1995; ISBN 1-89897-210-9) (Ovum writes evaluation reports and charges a great deal of money for them (US $1345). Their argument is that they do all the legwork for you of evaluating a range of offerings; all you have to do is pay them the money, read the results, and buy the system/tool that is best for you. All well and good - if you agree with their evaluation methods and accept that their results will hold in your environment.) [2.7] _Software Management Technology Reference Guide_ Contact Software Management News at 73670.2227@compuserve.com to obtain copy. It list most of the current CM tools. [2.8] _Implementing Configuration Management: Hardware, Software and Firmware_ by Fletcher J. Buckley; IEEE Press, 1992. (discusses how CM principles can be applied to all areas of computer engineering, and not just software engineering) [2.9] _Configuration Management for Software_ by Stephen B. Compton and Guy R. Conner;Van Nostrand Reinhold; ISBN 0-442-01746-4 (Well thought out and easy reading. Good discussion of standards such as ISO900 and DOD2167A along with work sheets for managing the change. Lacking an automation approach. There is little discussion given regarding the adaptation of a process change. The glossary is very helpful and there is a good bibliography.) [2.10] _Multi-Platform Code Management_ by Kevin Jameson; O'Reilly & Associates; 354 pages, (includes two diskettes); ISBN 1-56592-059-7 (Intended for programming teams struggling with build and maintenance problems. Accompanying software is available for fifteen platforms, including MS-DOS and various UNIX systems. It shows you how to structure a large project and keep your files and builds under control over many releases and platforms. Uses RCS 5.5 for the version control portion. This book is no longer offered by O'Reilly, though some stores may still carry a copy. O'Reilly is referring people to the _Applying SCCS and RCS_ book instead".) [2.11] _Configuration Management Models in Commercial Environments_ by Peter Feiler; Tech Report CMU/SEI-91-TR-7, ESD-91-TR-7, March 91. (This is not a book, but is said to be an excellent overview of CM models with discussion of the Long transaction, Change Set, Composition, and Checkout/in models. It is available via FTP from: ftp://ftp.sei.cmu.edu/pub/documents/91.reports/ps/tr07.91.ps (about 240k, PostScript format) [2.12] _Software Shock, the danger and the opportunity_ by Roger S. Pressman and S Russell Herron, published by Dorset House Publishing, N.Y., NY ISBN: 0-932633-20-X (This book covers CM as a subtopic and has many examples of risks in software development. Most lessons are presented from one of the authors experiences. There is good historical perspective regarding the evolution of software design, structure of software development organizations, implications and costs associated with software development, discussion of development process and methods. It is the process that links the book to CM. It is very quick and easy reading. The book is robust with references, quotes, and citations. The authors also have a good sense of humor.) [2.13] _Configuration Management: The Changing Image_ by Marion Kelly, published in the UK by McGraw-Hill Book Company Europe ISBN 0-07-707977-9 (To quote the back cover, 'This book gives a thorough account of the state of software configuration management today'. A reader recommends to it anyone wanting some real up to date, practical advise.) [2.14] _Applying RCS and SCCS_ by Bolinger and Bronson, published by O'Reilly (This book compares and contrasts RCS and SCCS and includes a large section on tccs. Tccs is their homegrown control and configuration management system, based on RCS but extends it quite a lot. Well worth reading.) [2.15] _Practical Software Configuration Management:_ _The Latenight Developer's Handbook_ by Tim Mikkelsen and Suzanne Pherigo, published June, 1997 by Prentice Hall Professional Technical Reference, (c) 1997 336 pp., Paper Bound w/CD-ROM, ISBN 0-13-240854-6 (This introductory book on configuration management includes chapters covering SCM concepts, release and maintenance operations, then goes beyond the basics to discuss change management and related topics. It discusses several freely available packages, such as RCS and CVS, as well as some commercial offerings, focusing on the PC platform and discussing free and inexpensive tools and technologies, rather systems developed for large teams. A CD is included.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [3.0] === PRODUCT SPECIFIC QUESTIONS === --------------------------------------------------- [3.1] May I post specific questions about ClearCase here? --------------------------------------------------- Yes, you may post them here and are quite likely to get an answer. However, if the question is particularly detailed, you may have more luck with the ClearCase International User Group mailing list. To join that list, send e-mail to 'atria-list-manager@atria.com'. In the body of the message place the line: subscribe cciug [your-email-address] After your request has been approved and processed, you may e-mail to cciug@atria.com and it'll be read by Pure Atria and all those customers who are on this mailing list. ------------------------------------- [3.2] Is there a tutorial someplace on RCS? ------------------------------------- Try executing 'man rcsintro'. It comes with rcs. Also try to get Walter Tichy's paper "RCS - A System for Version Control" which is part of the RCS distribution. ---------------------------------------------------------------- [3.3] It seems SCCS doesn't have a $Log$ like RCS does. Am I correct ? ---------------------------------------------------------------- Users reported that there is NO keyword like $Log$ available on SCCS. They apparently implemented another way to log changes from files called 'delta table' (=some kind of database). Check out commands (on Sun4-os4) sccs prt [filename] ( = show log ) sccs cdc -r[version] [filename] ( = add command for logging) Also check out "sccs prs". --------------------------------------------------- [3.4] Is there a tool to convert SCCS data to RCS format? --------------------------------------------------- There is a GNU csh script named sccs2rcs which does this. Check the usual ftp sites. It is included in the CVS package. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --[ Contributors ]-- The answers in this FAQ are often composites from many responders and I felt it would not be practical to acknowledge each one here. In addition, many companies do not want their name associated with specific statements. If you disagree with this position, drop me a message and I'll consider a change. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of comp.software.config-mgmt FAQ 1 This document does not represent an official position or opinion of Honeywell Inc. -- Dave Eaton Honeywell Inc. - Industrial Automation and Control - AZ15/2E8 16404 N Black Canyon Highway; Phoenix, AZ 85023 e-mail:dwe@eng.iac.honeywell.com voice:602-313-5094 FAX:602-313-4064