Activity: Release Subsystems

Inherent in the iterative development process is the need to create baselines at regular major (phase) and minor (iteration) milestone intervals. Baselines consist of fixed sets of versions of files and directories. They can be used to identify a specific subsystem, or the entire system.

For example, an appropriate label on creating Baseline-1 might be product_r1.bl1. This label would be applied to all versions in Baseline 1. On reaching Baseline 2, the label, project_r1.bl2 would apply it to all the versions in Baseline 2.

Having created a release, it is necessary to ensure that deliverable files are placed under version control. The release would typically be stored as separate item containing the deliverable files in an appropriate directory structure.

For example, if the subsystem release consists of delivering a library, it would be the library and its public header files that would be put under version control. If the release consists of an entire system, then it is appropriate to store the executables, libraries, and documentation.

Depending on the number of files in a release it could be useful to automate the creation by using a make file or by using another scripting facility.