Replacing version-control with job-control

Geoffrey Clemm

1989 · 18 citations · 12 references

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Concepts

TL;DR

Version‑control manages multiple software object versions by creating a branching tree and allowing specific versions to be reserved for modification. The Workshop System reorients version‑control from tracking objects to tracking the software development process itself. It does so by creating “jobs” in a project database to represent process steps and providing operations on these jobs that supply the usual version‑control functions.

Abstract

Version-control is a mechanism for managing the multiple versions of the software objects that are created during the software development process. Traditionally, version-control consists of providing tools for generating a branching tree of versions, with facilities for reserving a given version for modification. In the Workshop System the focus of version-control is shifted from the objects produced during the software process to the software process itself. Objects called jobs are created in a project database to explicitly instantiate the process information. The Workshop System then provides operations for manipulating jobs, with these manipulations providing the functionality normally associated with version-control.

References

12