SRC Research Report 105
SRC Research Report 105
The problems of software configuration and release management limit the size of systems that we can build efficiently. Today's large systems strain the capabilities of traditional development tools. The Vesta system provides a novel repository and system builder that emphasize complete yet manageable descriptions of software components. These facilities enable Vesta to eliminate much of the manual and error-prone drudgery of system construction without enforcing a particular methodology on its users. This paper presents an overview of Vesta, followed by a series of detailed examples that illustrate how Vesta's facilities simplify the development of large systems. These examples are drawn from a year's use of Vesta by a group of about 25 researchers developing a rapidly changing software system of over 1.4 million source lines. That experience clearly demonstrates the power and practicality of the Vesta approach and its advantages over conventional tools.
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