Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!rochester!bbn!husc6!linus!philabs!ttidca!hollombe From: hollombe@ttidca.TTI.COM (The Polymath) Newsgroups: comp.software-eng Subject: Re: Coordinating Software Development (long) Keywords: configuration management, sccs, project control Message-ID: <1713@ttidca.TTI.COM> Date: 20 Jan 88 23:56:40 GMT References: <368@dlhpedg.co.uk> <2457@orca.TEK.COM> Reply-To: hollombe@ttidcb.tti.com (The Polymath) Organization: The Cat Factory Lines: 37 In article <2457@orca.TEK.COM> stank@orca.UUCP (Stan Kalinowski) writes: > >When a development team needs to alter a component, they take a copy > >from the first "build" in the view that contains a version of that > >component; it may be copied from a shared "build" if a cooperating > >team has already altered it, or it may be copied from the public > >build. After they have started work on their copy, someone may > >alter the version from which they started - their "antecedent" > >version. Eventually, the team must combine that alteration with > >their own so that a unified version of the file can be deposited in > >the shared or public "build". > > > >We have called this operation "reconciliation"; clumsy - any offers? > >Yeah, call it "programmer's hell". ... Better yet, call it "unnecessary". I've run into this situation in several shops where people simply didn't know better (not that there was any excuse for that). The solution is a configuration management system wherein only one person can work on a module at a time. In order to work on the module they have to check it out of the system in such a way that no one else can check it out until it's been checked in again. I've worked with systems that handle this automatically and I've set up systems where it was handled manually because nothing else was available. However you handle it, it's absolutely essential to a rational code maintenance system. Letting two people work on the same module in parallel, even if they're office mates, is almost certain to cause conflicts and rework, sooner or later. One at a time will save time in the long run. -- The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe, hollombe@TTI.COM) Illegitimati Nil Citicorp(+)TTI Carborundum 3100 Ocean Park Blvd. (213) 452-9191, x2483 Santa Monica, CA 90405 {csun|philabs|psivax|trwrb}!ttidca!hollombe