User-friendly tools for Managing Software Development Projects

1
User-friendly tools for Managing Software
Development Projects 

• Toby Burnett
• University of Washington
• Marco FrailisUniversity of Udine
• Alex Schelssinger
• SLAC

2
Introduction

• Objective make HEP software developers more
  productive
• HEP software development components
• Package group of related source files, usually
  to build a single library and/or executable
• Versioning via cvs tags
• Release system to manage and build executables
  from set of tagged packages
• Development scheme Test area mechanism for
  developing and testing new code against a
  release.
• Observations
• The release/management systems are command-line
  oriented, can be daunting to new developers
• Hard to get overall view, especially when dealing
  with multiple packages

3
The development environment
Package/build manager
Release
User development Area
4
Solutions for CMT

• (Similar approaches would apply to SRT and
  scram)
• A GUI application
• VCMT (windows and linux versions)
• Simplified command-line interface
• glastpack

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An OO analysis The players

• Objects
• Environment CMT env vars, etc.
• CMT packages
• system (read-only, sticky tags)
• development (head versions)
• requirements files, sources
• binaries libs, dlls, exes

• Tools
• CMT
• CVS
• development tools
• Windows Visual Studio
• Linux gmake, emacs, gdb/ddd
• Doxygen

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The strategy

• Present the user with a view of all the objects
• Allow appropriate tools to be used according to
  development scenarios
• set environment
• checkout packages, singly or in groups
• browse set of available packages
• examine properties of each package, relationships
• modify and rebuild binaries
• check in and/or tag new versions
• run executables

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We have objects lets define classes
What Class Name Vcmt(windows) implementation
CMT environment Cmt cmt.wsc COM object
A CMT package Package Jscript class Package
Package, its projects, and dependent projects Workspace Jscript class Workspace
Individual binary target Project Jscript class Project
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The object model diagram
9
A tour of the application

• Examine CMT settings
• Set CMT path
• Browse a packages properties
• requirements file
• used packages
• macros, sets, etc.
• Modify requirements file
• Check cvs status
• Start a console session in the package context

• Checkout a package
• Set up and build a package
• Run a package application
• Start Visual Studio (windows only

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VCMT for Windows
Text input/output window
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Structure of the Windows code Jscript and HTML
main program manage objects, GUIrun cvs, visual
studio
Windows Script Host
CMT interface
12
The Linux version

• Written in RUBY

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glastpack.pl

• usage glastpack.pl create dirname
• usage glastpack.pl help command
• usage glastpack.pl build version
• usage glastpack.pl rco package version
• usage glastpack.pl run package exename
  ltargumentsgt
• usage glastpack.pl add /path/to/area
• usage glastpack.pl rebuild package
• usage glastpack.pl remove /path/to/area
• usage glastpack.pl co package version
• usage glastpack.pl login
• usage glastpack.pl logout

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Concluding remarks

• Experience
• In use by all GLAST developers mature, few
  problems
• it can test for consistency when starting, avoid
  installation problems
• Package browsing
• Buttons for all basic scenarios
• override CMT behavior (checkout, broadcast)
• Sources
• VCMT/win http//glast.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/cvsweb
  -SLAC/vcmt
• VCMT/linux http//glast.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/cvsw
  eb-SLAC/vcmt4linux
• glastpack http//glast.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/cvswe
  b-SLAC/glastpack