Architectural requirements for an open source component and artefact repository system within GENESIS
Cornelia Boldyreff, D. Nutter, Stephen Rank · Lincoln Repository (University of Lincoln) · 2002
When software is being created by distributed teams of softwareengineers, it is necessary to manage thework-flow, processes, and artefacts which are involved in theengineering process. The GENESIS project aims to address some of thetechnical issues involved by providing a software system to supportdistributed development. One of the parts of the system will be knownas OSCAR, a repository for managing distributed artefacts. Artefactscan be process models, software components, design documents, or anyother kind of entity associated with the software engineeringprocess. OSCAR will be designed as a light-weight distributed system,managing the storage and access to a distributed repository ofartefacts.This paper presents and discusses the requirements for OSCAR, andsuggests a possible architecture for a software system which will meetthose requirements. OSCAR will be a reliable and light-weightdistributed system, managing both artefacts and meta-datacorresponding to the artefacts. Users of OSCAR will be able to accessthe distributed repository through a local interface, using thesearching and indexing capabilities of the system to locate andretrieve components. OSCAR must be able to store and retrieve bothartefacts and meta-data efficiently. It must be possible for OSCAR tointer-operate with existing artefact management systems (such as CVS)and to collect metrics about the contents of and accesses to therepository.The next stage in the GENESIS project is to complete the requirementsfor the whole of the system (in addition to the OSCAR sub-system) andthen to design the software. The software will initially be developedin a traditional closed-source fashion until the first release isfinished. After the first release, the GENESIS software will becomeopen source, and will be developed accordingly.