What are the ‘baselines’ with respect to software configuration management? What is the necessity of software configuration management in developing a software?
‘baselines’ with respect to software configuration management:
A baseline is a reference point in the software development life cycle marked by the completion and formal approval of a set of predefined work products. The objective of a baseline is to reduce a project's vulnerability to uncontrolled change by fixing and formally change controlling various key deliverables (configuration items) at critical points in the development life cycle. Baselines are also used to identify the aggregate of software and hardware components that make up a specific release of a system. A baseline may be a single work product, or set of work products that can be used as a logical basis for comparison. A baseline may also be established as the basis for subsequent select activities when the work products meet certain criteria. Such activities may be attributed with formal approval.
The purpose of a baseline is to provide:
Necessity of software configuration management in developing a software:
Software Configuration Management is the task of tracking and controlling changes in the software, part of the larger cross-disciplinary field of configuration management.
1)Configuration identification - Identifying configurations, configuration items and baselines.
2)Configuration control - Implementing a controlled change process. This is usually achieved by setting up a change control board whose primary function is to approve or reject all change requests that are sent against any baseline.
3)Configuration status accounting - Recording and reporting all the necessary information on the status of the development process.
4)Process management - Ensuring adherence to the organization's development process.
Difference between Statement coverage and Branch coverage.
