Experiences in configuration management for modula-2

Abstract

Over the past five years our group has developed several large systems, including a workstation operating system, using the Modula family of languages, notably Modula-2+ [RLW85] and, recently, Modula-3 [CDG+88]. The language implementations were developed in-house and span several host and target environments. Consequently all the familiar configuration management (CM) problems are present, both in the language implementations themselves and in the application software which uses them. In response to these problems we have evolved tools and techniques, some of them innovative, some borrowed from others, to solve our problems in the Modula-2 environment. Currently we are developing a programming environment for Modula-3, which uses persistent abstract syntax trees as the basis for tool integration. Initially we are concentrating on the development of conventional tools for programming in the small, such as a compiler. However, in the longer term we plan to investigate database support for the environment and support for programming in the large and many. This paper outlines our experiences with the Modula-2 tools and states our position on pertinent issues.