• when we create abstract class then we can not create object of that abstract class.
• If we want to use abstract class then we only access with derived class .
• Just abstract write before the class name.
• when we create abstract class two condition occurs one is abstract method like :- abstract protected function name ( );
• abstract means incomplete method we declare but not implement (code).
• In derived class we have to implement of that abstract method.

The post PHP OOP : Abstract Classes appeared first on scmGalaxy.

Next Generation Software Configuration Management with Subversion

The post Next Generation Software Configuration Management with Subversion appeared first on scmGalaxy.

Relocation is provided for candidates that are willing to relocate.  Company has excellent health benefits and competitive salary.  Do you know anyone that maybe interested?

MUST BE A GREEN CARD OR US CITIZEN located in the USA for consideration. 

Here is what we are looking for:

• Solid understanding of Software Development Life Cycle, Test Driven Development, Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery. Skills/experience with Continuous Integration software such as Jenkins. Ownership of all pre-production environments and manages deployments to these environments. Includes Web, Middle and Database Tiers.
• Solid understanding and experience working with high availability, high performance, multi-data center systems
• Rapid response, trouble-shoot, and triage of production issues. Must have experience supporting both operations and production systems including system troubleshooting and problem solving across platform and application domains. Will be expected to participate in on-call escalations to troubleshoot customer facing issues
• Lead the team and partner with various development organizations to continually evaluate and improve our processes and application standards with the goal of repeatability and standardization and agility.
• Setting up a shared DevOps service to partner with 10-15 development teams across the organization, including issue resolution and advice around best practices and standards.*
• Contribute, promote and execute on a DevOps World Class Vision.
• Working to standardize, and operationalize the DevOps process, including building, automation scripts and packaging tools to help the dev teams run DevOps pipelines in self-service mode as much as possible.

Please send me an updated resume with a contact number so we can speak…. send to cgraham@tekpartners.com

The post Looking for a DevOps Manager with SCM Build Release experience appeared first on scmGalaxy.

• AnthillPro
• Apache Continuum
• Bamboo
• CruiseControl
• Hudson
• LuntBuild
• OpenMake Meister
• TeamCity
• Team Foundation Server
• Electric Cloud
• Others

SCM Tools

• AccuRev
• ClearCase
• CA Harvest
• CVS
• Dimensions
• Git
• MKS Source Integrity
• Mercurial
• Perforce
• PVCS
• StarTeam
• Subversion
• Synergy
• Team Foundation Server
• Vault
• ViewVC
• VSS
• Others

Scripting

• Ant
• Groovy
• Make
• Maven
• MSBuild
• NAnt
• Shell Scripts
• Perl Scripts
• Python Scripts
• Visual Studio
• Others

Release / Dep Tools

• Cruise
• Rational Team Concert
• Manual
• Others

Security

• Active Directory
• Kerberos
• LDAP
• Single Sign-on
• RSA SecurID
• Others

Testing Tools

• Agitar
• CppUnit
• HP Mercury Quality Center
• HP Mercury QuickTest Pro
• JUnit
• MSTest
• NUnit
• Selenium
• Silk Central Test Manager
• TestNG
• Others

Test Coverage

• Clover
• Cobertura
• Emma
• Others

Source-code Analysis

• Checkstyle
• CodeSonar
• Coverity
• FindBugs
• Fortify
• Klocwork
• PMD
• Sonar
• Others

Issue Tracking Tools

• Bugzilla
• ClearQuest
• HP Quality Center
• JIRA
• PVCS Tracker
• Team Foundation Server
• TeamTrack
• VersionOne
• Others

IDEs Integration

1. Eclipse
2. RAD
3. Visual Studio
4. Others

Virtualization

1. VMWare Lab Manager
2. Microsoft
3. Amazon (Elastic Cloud)
4. Others

The post Skill Sets of SCM, Build and Release Engineers appeared first on scmGalaxy.

1…… General Assessment Questions. 2

1.1     Questions to analyze the development process description.. 2

1.2     Questions to characterize the project application.. 2

1.3     Questions to identify the supporting tools. 2

2…… Assessment on Configuration and Change Management   2

2.1     Project/Development Managers. 2

2.2     Developers. 3

2.3     Testers. 3

2.4     Configuration Manager. 3

3…… Assessment on Build and Release Management.. 3

3.1     Build Engineer. 3

3.2     Release Engineer. 4

1           General Assessment Questions

1.1      Questions to analyze the development process description

Which of the following do you get from your existing process?

·         Examples

·         Guidelines

·         Artifact templates

·         Activity descriptions

·         Artifact descriptions

1.2      Questions to characterize the project application

• What is the size of each project (duration, persons, person years,  LOC)

·         What type (maintenance / enhancement / new development / prototype /

§  feasibility)

• What type of development model is being used?
• Are we using any process models like UCM, RUP or any other?
• Any industry/domain specific standards (like CMMI, ITIL etc.) to be followed?

1.3      Questions to identify the supporting tools

·         What are the tools that you currently use in your work?

·         How is the integration among the above tools?

·         Are we using the tool features the way they are designed or intended?

2           Assessment on Configuration and Change Management

2.1         Project/Development Managers

·         How do you maintain all the artifacts together and version them?

·         Where are the people working on the project located?

·         What’s the difference between Developer CM and Release CM?

·         How do you assess, and track the impact of a proposed change?

·         How do you manage system integration of modules developed by individual developers?

·         How many product versions are you supporting at this moment?

·         Who is the designated Configuration Manager?

2.2         Developers

·         How do you baseline project artifacts?

·         Can you build your system reliably and repeatedly?

·         Explain your labeling scheme?

·         Can you show me what versions went into a certain release?

·         What does the version tree for this file look like?

·         How many product versions are you supporting at the moment?

·         What is the version control tool being used? Is it user friendly?

·         What is the bug tracking/change management tool being used? Is it user friendly?

2.3         Testers

·         Do you know what files/documents should be delivered?

·         How do you assess, and track the impact of a proposed change?

·         Can you show me what artifact versions went into a certain release?

·         How comfortable are you working with Bug/Change management tool?

2.4         Configuration Manager

·         Do you know what files/documents should be delivered?

·         How do you track who changed what, when, where, and why?

·         How long does a build or release take?

·         Is there a Configuration Management Plan document?

·         Is there a tight integration between Version control tool and Bug/Change tracking tool?

·         How the parallel (if any) development is enabled? Any limitations with the current branching strategy?

·         Is this project development spanned across multiple sites? If so, what is your multi-site strategy?

3          Assessment on Build and Release Management

3.1         Build Engineer

• What is the build process adopted (automated/manual)?
• Are there nightly builds?
• Is there continuous integration?
• Are there smoke and sanity tests at the end of the build?
• What is the build acceptance criterion (BAT)?
• What is the build duration? Is it optimal?
• How are pre-conditions to the build verified?
• Are there any build environment integrated automated unit test-cases?
• Is there any enforcement tool on coding standards?

• Is there any code coverage tool being used?
• Are the post build activities automated?
• Any additional practices (like checksum generation, signing the build artifacts) in place as part of the build?
• Are there any scripting technologies used in automating build process?
• Is Labeling strategy well-defined?
• If any third party tool is being used for packaging, is that package creation process automated?

3.2         Release Engineer

• How many major, minor releases a year per project?
• How many customers per release per project?
• How do you deliver the releases to the customers? – Is it physical media distribution or Push/Pull mechanism from web or any other process?
• Is the distribution CD/DVD creation process automated?
• What is the size of the release deliverable?
• What are the contents of a release?
• How is the release bundle tested?
• How many platforms are certified? How different are the release packages?
• Is there any release check-list for cross-check?
• Is any part of the release process automated?
• Is there a need for i18n? If yes, is the i18n release handled separately?
• In case of installers, is there installer testing? Is it automated?
• Is the release schedule well-planned?
• Are you delivering patches in well constructed and cost effective way?
• Is there any release audit process in place?
• How are you tracking your releases?
• Is there any legal compliance in place while shipping the release to the customers?

The post Questionnaire: Access your SCM Process in Project appeared first on scmGalaxy.

The post Configuration Management appeared first on scmGalaxy.

1. Identification—Each software part is labeled so that it can be identified. Furthermore, there will be different versions of the software parts as they evolve over time, so a version or revision number will be associated with the part. The key is to be able to identify any and all artifacts that compose a released configuration item. Think of this as a bill of materials for all the components in your automobile. When the manufacturer realizes that there has been a problem with parking brakes purchased from a subcontractor, it needs to know all the automobile models using that version of the parking brake. It is the same with software. If we are building a multimedia system that has audio MPEG3 drivers for Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows CE, Linux, and FreeBSD operating systems, how do we find out which releases are impacted when we find an error in the Linux product? You must go back to your SCM system to identify all the common components in all operating system releases that are impacted.
2. Control—In the context of configuration management, “control” means that proposed changes to a CI are reviewed and, if approved, incorporated into the software configuration. The goal is to make informed decisions and to acknowledge the repercussions associated with a change to the system. These changes may impact budgets, schedules, and associated changes to other components. If a problem is reported in a released product, software engineers must act quickly to evaluate repercussions—a “fix” for one client’s version of the product may be dangerous to another. The control inherent in an SCM system shows each version in which the flawed component appears.
3. Auditing—Auditing an SCM system means that approved requested changes have indeed been implemented. The audits allow managers to determine whether software evolution is proceeding both logically and in conformance with requirements for the software. The SCM system should document changes, versions, and release information for all components of each configuration item. When such documentation is in place, auditing becomes a straightforward analysis task.
4. Status accounting—Reports and documentation produced by the status accounting function are the auditable entries. All approved parts of a software configuration must be accounted for, and the software parts list must reflect the transition from part CIn to CIn+1. This accounting provides the historic information to determine both what happened and when on the software project. Status accounting enables the auditing requirement of the SCM. As a project manager, the status accounting holds a wealth of information on the amount of effort required throughout the life cycle of the product in its development and maintenance. This is critical to the software project manager in making estimates for new systems based on historic information. The SCM can be used as one of the key components of the project managers’ metrics system.

The post The Four Basic Requirements for an SCM appeared first on scmGalaxy.

There are few script everyone must have such as….
A script which will login to each machine in given list and gather the Disk usage info and send a daily notification with threshold level.

A script which can be used for Incremental Backups of file systems with sending emails features.

A Script to monitor the system and send a report consisting of process which is consuming High CPU and memory.

I have few good reference url which contains very useful collection of shell scripts, you might want to add in your fav… also you can add your collection here as part of the comment section in the same thread.

www.comp.eonworks.com/scripts/scripts.html

intuitive.com/wicked/wicked-cool-shell-script-library.shtml

unix.stackexchange.com/questions/125726/…system-administrator
Regards,
Rajesh Kumar
Twitt me @ twitter.com/RajeshKumarIn

The post Must have collection of shell script for any SCM admin appeared first on scmGalaxy.

There are few script everyone must have such as….
A script which will login to each machine in given list and gather the Disk usage info and send a daily notification with threshold level.

A script which can be used for Incremental Backups of file systems with sending emails features.

A Script to monitor the system and send a report consisting of process which is consuming High CPU and memory.

I have few good reference url which contains very useful collection of shell scripts, you might want to add in your fav… also you can add your collection here as part of the comment section in the same thread.

www.comp.eonworks.com/scripts/scripts.html

intuitive.com/wicked/wicked-cool-shell-script-library.shtml

unix.stackexchange.com/questions/125726/…system-administrator
Regards,
Rajesh Kumar
Twitt me @ twitter.com/RajeshKumarIn

The post Must have collection of shell script for any SCM admin appeared first on scmGalaxy.

Michael Lee Feighner
831 Turino Street
Livermore, California 94551-2569
Home: (925) 449-8692
Cell: (925) 337-1298
feinerVogel94551@comcast.net
www.linkedIn.com/in/michaelfeighner
PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
Software/Hardware Engineering Release, Process Documentation

• Maintained US Government DOD Secret Clearance over the past 19 years.
• Lead Change Board activities to align with schedule and budget for Software and
Document releases.
• Recorded change management history in Enterprise Product Data Management
(EPDM, Windchill) in order to maintain audit traceability.
• Proficient in ClearQuest.
• Able to Identify, Control, and Audit Configuration Status Accounting to meet Common
Integrated Processes System (CIPS) and Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)
requirements.
• Utilize ClearCase for Software Configuration Management Control and Build Execution
Release.
• Requirement Management using DOORS (Dynamic Object Oriented Requirement
System).
• Key contributor to Contract Delivery Requirements List (CDRL) Delivery.

TECHNICAL SKILLS
Windows NT/XP
MS Word, Excel,
PowerPoint, Outlook
Shell / Perl Scripting
Visual Basic
MS Visual Studio 2005
e-Commerce
C/C++, UNIX
SQL
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION – Sunnyvale, CA JAN 1990 – NOV 2009
Staff Configuration Analyst MAR 2008 – NOV 2009
SBIRS (Space-Based Infrared System)
• Managed and directed timely change board activities with accuracy and within budget.
• Maintained change management history in Enterprise Product Data Management (EPDM,
Windchill) for auditable traceability.
• Conducted Configuration Management review of approved documents in Dynamic Object
Oriented Requirement System (DOORS) for requirements traceability in preparation for
formal document release.
• Wrote and maintained Configuration Management (CM) Operation Instructions for training
by others.

Senior Software Configuration Analyst JUL 2007 – MAR 2008
MKV (Multiple Kill Vehicle)
• Created foundation of MKV’s Software Review Boards at program and site level.
• Managed and directed change board activities with accuracy, on schedule, and within
budget.
• Maintained change management history in ClearQuest for auditable traceability.
• Wrote detailed instructions on scheduling and arranging weekly conferences via
teleconferencing.
• Implemented software quality standards based on Configuration Management procedures.
• Established automated build process through MS Visual Studio 2005.

Senior Software Configuration Analyst MAY 2000 – JUL 2007
THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense)• Resolved discrepancies between Enterprise Product Data Management and Electronic
Data (EPDM, Windchill).
• Assured ClearQuest schema conformed to program’s Configuration Management Plan
maintaining highest level of customer satisfaction.
• Managed and directed, independently, change board activities. Arranged and coordinated
Software Condition of Assembly at Release and Transfer (SW-CART). This enabled
auditable traceability, allowing on-schedule software releases to the customer.
• Arranged Contract Delivery Requirements List (CDRL) deliveries well ahead of schedule.
• Managed ClearQuest and ClearCase administrative functions.
• Compiled software code in Visual Basic.
• Conducted annual internal audits for Program Software Configuration Management.
Maintained department’s procedures.

Special Programs – Senior Software Engineer APR 1996 – MAY 2000
• Software Test and Software Development in C and Assembly in VxWorks Environment

Special Programs – Senior Data Processor JAN 1990 – APR 1996
• Computer Operations in Virtual Machine/Conversational Monitor System Multiple Virtual
Storage Mainframe.
• UNIX (AIX on RS/6000) and VAX/VMS Administration and Software Installation and
Upgrade.

EDUCATION
MS Software Engineering – National University, San Jose, CA
MA Political Science – University of Tübingen, Germany
California State College and University, Foreign Study Program at
University of Heidelberg, Germany
BA Liberal Arts – San Jose State University – San Jose, CA

rajeshkumar replied the topic: Re:ClearCase/ClearQuest SCM Applicant Livermore CA US

Hi mfeighner.

very impressive profile. How we can work together for our community benefits?

Rajesh
Regards,
Rajesh Kumar
Twitt me @ twitter.com/RajeshKumarIn

mfeighner replied the topic: Re:ClearCase/ClearQuest SCM Applicant Livermore CA US
That is a good question. I am finding the “new” market” challenging. Although I received my training and experience through my previous employer of 20 years only for ClearCase and ClearQuest only. Other needed training was not available. What is one to do in today’s market? My skills are transferable, but I am at a loss to many of the applications and skills discussed in this forum.

rajeshkumar replied the topic: Re:ClearCase/ClearQuest SCM Applicant Livermore CA US
Hi,

This is not lose. by referring your profile, you have very depth understanding in SCM and its concept. Also you have worked on Top rated tools in SCM.

I feel, Learning new tools and technology will not be challenging for you.

Whats you future plan? are you searching new job or trying to do something your own?
Regards,
Rajesh Kumar
Twitt me @ twitter.com/RajeshKumarIn

mfeighner replied the topic: Re:ClearCase/ClearQuest SCM Applicant Livermore CA US
Rajesh, thanks for your kind compliments. But why can’t I get a job as a Software Configuration Management/Release Engineer in this market? The following are phrases I have extracted from job openings posted on Monster, Dice, and CareerBuilder depicting a non-existent super Software Configuration Manager. I have never used JAVA, Oracle, SQL (had a four-week course in college ages ago), Maven, Bamboo, Python, VMware, Xen, no experience with automated management/creation of server clusters (training was to take place with last position until budget cuts and lay-offs), Capistrano, LAMP, Phing, Subversion Large Scale Web, MySQL, PHP, Puppet, Bash, Chef, MF, MS SQL RDBMS technologies, no hands-on experience working with GiT and not simply “used’ GiT but rather have used GiT extensively and even better used GiT to replace ClearCase, ANT, Ivy, Bamboo, Maven, Hudson, product installation/configuration and system/unit testing, HTML/XML, no experience working with high volume web sites preferably in an operations type role, no experience in web-facing business and their operation, no Perforce experience, no experience with Subversion, no experience with Agile Build, CruiseControl, no experience with Packaging & Installers i.e., development experience with InstallShield; no development experience with rpm is a plus, no level skills in CVS & Subversion….the list goes on and on. There is nothing wrong with my past experience. It is as you will agree something working in my favor. But that favor has not arrived. We are in a major depression, and employers have increased their requirements to unachievable levels. I will have to accepted by a company that will allow me to mould to their needs, and I know I can do that, but that just is not happening right now.

Mike Feighner
www.linkedIn.com/in/michaelfeighner

rajeshkumar replied the topic: Re:ClearCase/ClearQuest SCM Applicant Livermore CA US
I appreciate your commitments. i wish you all the best.

Kindly let me know if I can help you anyways..

Rajesh
Regards,
Rajesh Kumar
Twitt me @ twitter.com/RajeshKumarIn

rajeshkumar replied the topic: Re:ClearCase/ClearQuest SCM Applicant Livermore CA US
Can you please look at this….

jobs.scmgalaxy.com/
Regards,
Rajesh Kumar
Twitt me @ twitter.com/RajeshKumarIn

mfeighner replied the topic: Re:ClearCase/ClearQuest SCM Applicant Livermore CA US
Thanks. I have been looking in this link for a couple weeks now. I have just applied to 10 more recent application. Yet, it is still the same problem. They are asking for skills I do not have.

GopiNithin replied the topic: Re:ClearCase/ClearQuest SCM Applicant Livermore CA US
Hey Rajesh,
I am very glad to introduce my self. I am a Configuration Manager working with one of the company in chennai. I need few clarifications. Provide your contact details so that we can chat offline.

Thanks
Gopi

The post ClearCase/ClearQuest SCM Applicant Livermore CA US appeared first on scmGalaxy.

rajeshkumar replied the topic: Re: Helo me to choose SCM as a career
SCM consist for following branch.

1. Configuration Management aks version control management
Tools – SVN, Perforce, GIT, Clearcase CVS etc

2. Build Management
Tools – Jenkins, Anthillpro, Bamboo etc

3. Release Management aka deployment management
Tool – Cruise and many in-house tools

4. Packaging Management aka Installer
Tools: Wise, InstallSheild, InstallAnywhere etc…

There are various tools for each one of them. Important things is that you need to be aware of concept of each one of them. also, you need to focus
on scripting for various purpose such as ant, perl, python, shell, maven, make etc.

Small project has all mixed profile dedicated to one engineer but big and complex project has individual engineer assigned for each task. there are many books and web reference you can find over to web to know more about it.
Regards,
Rajesh Kumar
Twitt me @ twitter.com/RajeshKumarIn

uma.arumugam replied the topic: what is Build and Release
Thanks for my replying on my previous Question.
Now i want to know what is Build and Release and how to learn it for a small project, I also want to know about scripting.

rajeshkumar replied the topic: Re: what is Build and Release
Hi,

please go through this url en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Release_engineering and Related disciplines section.

Also, some books can be found in www.scmgalaxy.com/ebooks-collection/

if you want to learn scripting, you need to try for it
Regards,
Rajesh Kumar
Twitt me @ twitter.com/RajeshKumarIn

The post Hello me to choose SCM as a career appeared first on scmGalaxy.

Build and Release Engineer Jobs | Build Engineer Jobs | Clearcase Administrator Jobs | Configuration Engineer Jobs | SCM Administrator Jobs | Release Engineer Jobs | Perforce Administrator Jobs | Subversion Jobs | Github Jobs | SCM Engineer Jobs |

The post SCM Build and Release Engineer Jobs Website | Portal appeared first on scmGalaxy.

Versioning in Software Configuration Management?

Reference: This article has been take out from Book Called “The Build Master: Microsoft’s Software Configuration Management Best Practices”

Why Worry About Versioning?

• Having a good version scheme for your software is important for several reasons. The following are the top five things a version scheme allows you to do (in random order):
• Track your product binaries to the original source files.
• Re-create a past build by having meaningful labels in your source tree.
• Avoid “DLL hell” —multiple versions of the same file (library in this case) on a machine.
• Help your setup program handle upgrades and service packs.
• Provide your product support and Q/A teams with an easy way to identify the bits they are working with.

So, how do you keep track of files in a product and link them back to the owner? How can you tell that you are testing or using the latest version of a released file? What about the rest of the reasons in the list? This chapter describes my recommendations for the most effective and easiest way to set up and apply versioning to your software. Many different schemes are available, and you should feel free to create your own versioning method.

Ultimately, like most of the other topics in this book, the responsibility to apply versioning to the files in a build tends to fall into the hands of the build team. That might be because it is usually the build team that has to deal with the headaches that come from having a poor versioning scheme. Therefore, it is in their best interest to publish, promote, and enforce a good versioning scheme. If the build team does not own this, then someone who does not understand the full implications of versioning will make the rules. Needless to say, this would not be desirable for anybody involved with the product.

What is the best way to accomplish this? Let’s start with the version number and work our way down.

File Versioning

Every file in a product should have a version number; a four-part number separated by periods such as the one that follows seems to be the established best practice. There are many variations of what each part represents. I will explain what I think is the best way of defining these parts.

<major version>.<minor version>.<build number>.<revision>

Major version— The component owner usually assigns this number. It should be the internal version of the product. It rarely changes during the development cycle of a product release.

Minor version— The component owner usually assigns this number. It is normally used when an incremental release of the product is planned instead of a full feature upgrade. It rarely changes during the development cycle of a product release.

Build number— The build team usually assigns this number based on the build that the file was generated with. It changes with every build of the code.

Revision— The build team usually assigns this number. It can have several meanings: bug number, build number of an older file being replaced, or service pack number. It rarely changes. This number is used mostly when servicing the file for an external release.

Build Number

Each build that is released out of the Central Build Lab should have a unique version stamp (also known as the build number). This number should be incremented just before a build is started. Don’t use a date for a build number or mix dates into a version number simply because there are so many date formats out there that it can be difficult to standardize on one. Also, if you have more than one build on a given date, the naming can get tricky. Stick with an n=n+1 build number. For example, if you release build 100 in the morning and rebuild and release your code in the afternoon, the afternoon build should be build 101. If you were to use a date for the build number, say 010105, what would your afternoon build number be? 010105.1? This can get rather confusing.

How Versioning Affects Setup

Have you ever met someone who reformats his machine every six months because “it just crashes less if I do” or it “performs better?” It might sound draconian, but the current state of component versioning and setup makes starting from scratch a likely solution to these performance issues, which are further complicated by spyware.

Most of the problems occur when various pieces of software end up installing components (DLLs and COM components) that are not quite compatible with each other or with the full set of installed products. Just one incorrect or incorrectly installed DLL can make a program flaky or prevent it from starting up. In fact, DLL and component installation is so important that it is a major part of the Windows logo requirement.

If you are involved in your product’s setup, or if you are involved in making decisions about how to update your components (produce new versions), you can do some specific things to minimize DLL hell and get the correct version of your file on the machine.

Installing components correctly is a little tricky, but with these tips, you can install your components in a way that minimizes the chance of breaking other products on your own.

Install the Correct Version of a Component for the Operating System and Locale
If you have operating system (OS)-specific components, make sure your setup program(s) check which OS you are using and install only the correct components. Also, you cannot give two components the same name and install them in the same directory. If you do, you overwrite the component on the second install on a dual-boot system. Note that the logo requirements recommend that you avoid installing different OS files if possible. Related to this problem is the problem caused when you install the wrong component or typelib for the locale in use, such as installing a U.S. English component on a German machine. This causes messages, labels, menus, and automation method names to be displayed in the wrong language.

Write Components to the Right Places
Avoid copying components to a system directory. An exception to this is if you are updating a system component. For that, you must use an update program provided by the group within Microsoft that maintains the component.

In general, you should copy components to the same directory that you copy the EXE. If you share components between applications, establish a shared components directory. However, it is not recommended that you share components between applications. The risks outweigh the benefits of reduced disk space consumption.

Do Not Install Older Components Over Newer Ones
Sometimes, the setup writer might not properly check the version of an installed component when deciding whether to overwrite the component or skip it. The result can be that an older version of the component is written over a newer version. Your product runs fine, but anything that depends on new features of the newer component fails. Furthermore, your product gets a reputation for breaking other products. We address the issue of whether it makes sense to overwrite components at all. But if you do overwrite them, you don’t want to overwrite a newer version.

“Copy on Reboot” If Component Is in Use
Another common mistake is to avoid dealing with the fact that you cannot overwrite a component that is in use. Instead, you have to set up the file to copy on reboot. Note that if one component is in use, you probably should set up all the components to copy on reboot. If you don’t, and if the user doesn’t reboot promptly, your new components could be mixed with the old ones.

Register Components Correctly; Take Security into Account
Sometimes setups don’t properly register COM components correctly, including the proxy and stub. Note that Windows CE requires that you also register DLLs. Note, too, that when installing DCOM components, you must be vigilant about permissions and security.

Copy Any Component That You Overwrite
It is smart to make a copy of any component that you overwrite before you overwrite it. You won’t want to put it back when you uninstall unless you’re sure that no product installed after yours will need the newer component—a difficult prediction! But by storing the component in a safe place, you make it possible for the user to fix his system if it turns out that the component you installed breaks it. You can let users know about this in the troubleshooting section of your documentation, the README file, or on your Web site. Doing this might not save a call to support, but it does at least make the problem solvable. If the component is not in use, you can move it rather than copying it. Moving is a much faster operation.

Redistribute a Self-Extracting EXE Rather Than Raw Components
If your component is redistributed by others (for instance, your component is distributed with several different products, especially third-party products), it is wise to provide a self-extracting EXE that sets up your component correctly. Make this EXE the only way that you distribute your component. (Such an EXE is also an ideal distribution package for the Web.) If you just distribute raw components, you have to rely on those who redistribute your components to get the setup just right. As we have seen, this is pretty easy to mess up.

Your EXE should support command-line switches for running silently (without a UI) and to force overwriting, even of newer components, so that product support can step users through overwriting if a problem arises.

If you need to update core components that are provided by other groups, use only the EXE that is provided by that group.

Test Setup on Real-World Systems
If you’re not careful, you can install all your setup testing on systems that already happen to have the right components installed and the right registry entries made. Be sure to test on raw systems, on all operating systems, and with popular configurations and third-party software already installed. Also, test other products to make sure they still work after you install your components.

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Importance of Automation Tools in SCM
by John Ferguson Smart

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SCM Process and smartBuild

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The practices and procedures for administering source code, producing software development builds, controlling change, and managing software configurations. Specifically, Software Configuration Management ensures the integrity, reliability and reproducibility of developing software products from conception to release.

I should say CM in Pakistan has been catching up slow but very steadily. There are not many senior people in Pakistan who have dedicated their careers in Configuration Management. Many people moved on to various management roles out of CM after some years of experience. This is due to lack of management opportunities in this area. But, times have changed for good and are getting better. With the growing maturity of CM across the industry, organizations are giving utmost importance to this area and so are hiring people at very senior levels.

I have around 3 years of experience while Interacting CM Professionals internationally and national level; found very strong maturity and awareness. With my experience, I would say Pakistan IT firms still need a broader thinking from CM perspective. In many organizations, people think that CM is just about making builds and controlling source code for projects. We need to educate people about the real importance of Software Configuration Management in any organization. There is a need of clear understanding of various aspects of Configuration Management like Change Management, Incident/Problem Management, Build & release management, Code control/version control , Automated Build management , Parallel development and Continuous integration , Introduction to new tools for software and hardware configurations etc…

CM is much beyond a tool administration or builds management. It does comprise entire life cycle of a project as well as the POST PRODUCTION analysis to improve the process for upcoming projects. It’s a continuous process which not only gives any IT organization a process to boost confidence in delivering quality product with stable code line.

NetSol is vigilant and moving superbly toward innovation and automation through R&D in the field of Configuration Management. Being the CMMI 5 organization; we have implemented excellent Release Management Process that beautifully interacting and entertaining CM Services throughout the organization. We are in process of experimenting Modern tools and discovering best practices for making our process incredibly easy and technically strong. NetSol’s Department of Configuration Management really welcomes newly born organizations and specially those (existing) who want to setup/improve their Configuration Management process and looking for technical improvement mentor; please come up and Consult NetSol with trust.

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General SCM Interview Questions – SCM Job Interview Kit

• What do you think about configuration management?
• What do you understand about Change Management?
• branching methodologies and what currently theya re using it. Show with some example with pros and cons
• Concept of Merging and Why do we need?
• What do you think about build Management?
• What are the key benefit of build Automation and what are the key inputs to automate the build process in the project?
• Discuss about tools and technology which help to automate the entire build cycle.
• What is Continuous Build Integration and How this is useful for the project?
• What is daily build & nightly builds and what are the process need to set up to Automate & monitor consistently.
• Explain in details for writing build sciprt for any project
• What do you think about release Management?
• Talk about Release Management on several platforms?
• What do you understand about Packaging and Deployment?
• How to Automate Remote Deployment of Builds on Development & Test Servers?
• What is workflow management. exmplain this in details.
• What do you understand about Code Coverage? Describe repective tools & utilities.
• Describe the Integrate Packaging scripts & Test Automation scripts with build & Monitor build verification test status and tools.
• How to co-ordinate with development team to increase their productiavity.
• What do you understand about multisite project
• How SCM team perform integration and co-ordination between Dev and QA
• Explain Troubleshooting in Build Server and Process
• Explain Troubleshooting in Configuration Server and Process
• Explain Troubleshooting inMost popular java Comipler issues in build server
• Explain Troubleshooting inMost popular C++ compiler issues in build server
• software packaging tools if they will be packaging or writing the installations for the releases.
• Backup your code daily with respect to SVN.
• Overview of Batch Scripts and top 25 commands
• Discuss about Web Servers and Application servers
• What do you think about distributed and multi-site environment
• Can you name some software development methodologies and describe them?
• Agile attempts to minimize risk by developing software in short iterations.
• Extreme Programming employs simplicity, frequent communication, constant customer feedback and decision empowerment.
• Iterative development is a cyclical methodology that incorporates refactorying into the process.
• Waterfall software development is a phased methodology. When one phase is complete, it moves onto the next phase.
• What is an API?
• What is a web service?
• What the difference between a global and a local variable?
• What are Bug /Issue Tatcking tools available and descibe them
• How does Subversion handle binary files?
• What is ADO?
• What is polymorphism?
• Plz Let me the Difference Between Bea Weblogic IBM Websphere

Perforce:

• What are basic skills required for Perforce administration including Command Line info.
• How we can develop Build summary reports for Mgmt team and what are the key inputs for report.
• Explain the best practice for Setup process & maintain the Archive of software releases (internal & external) & license management of Third Party Libraries
• Identify the Cdeployment tools for major/minor/patch releases in different environment.
• Explain Red Hat Linux and some of daily used features.
• Explain Perforce & Multisite
• Concept of labeling, branching and merging
• labeling, branching and merging in perforce

Talk about Release Process

Can you describe some source code control best practice?
# Use a reliable and dedicated server to house your code.
# Backup your code daily.
# Test your backup and restore processes.
# Choose a source control tool that fits your organization’s requirements.
# Perform all tool specific administrative tasks.
# Keep your code repositories as clean as possible.
# Secure access to your code.

Can you describe software build best practices?
# Fully automated build process
# Build repeatability
# Build reproducibility
# Build process adherence

CM tools Comparison

• Difference Between CVS and SVN
• Difference Between perforce and SVN
• Difference Between perforce and Clearcasee
• Difference Between VSS and TFSC
• Difference Between perforce and MKS

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Power Point PPT: Introduction To Software Configuration Management

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Power Point PPT: Scm With Mks Integrity

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Power Point PPT: Software Configuration Management And CVS

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