The Vesta Approach to Software Configuration Management

Abstract

SRC’s charter is to advance the state of the art in computer systems by doing basic and applied research in support of our company’s business objectives. Our interests and projects span scalable systems (including hardware, networking, distributed systems, and programming-language technology), the Internet (including the Web, e-commerce, and information retrieval), and human/computer interaction (including user-interface technology, computer-based appliances, and mobile computing). SRC was established in 1984 by Digital Equipment Corporation. We test the value of our ideas by building hardware and software prototypes and assessing their utility in realistic settings. Interesting systems are too complex to be evaluated solely in the abstract; practical use enables us to investigate their properties in depth. This experience is useful in the short term in refining our designs and invaluable in the long term in advancing our knowledge. Most of the major advances in information systems have come through this approach, including personal computing, distributed systems, and the Internet. We also perform complementary work of a more mathematical character. Some of