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| 5 | <title>FCM System User Guide: System Overview</title> |
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| 6 | <meta name="author" content="FCM development team"> |
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| 16 | <address> |
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| 17 | <a href="index.html">FCM System User Guide</a> > System Overview |
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| 18 | </address> |
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| 19 | |
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| 20 | <h1>System Overview</h1> |
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| 21 | |
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| 22 | <p>The FCM system is designed to simplify the task of managing and building |
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| 23 | source code. It consists of three main components.</p> |
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| 24 | |
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| 25 | <ul> |
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| 26 | <li>Code Management (CM) System |
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| 27 | |
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| 28 | <ul> |
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| 29 | <li>This system provides facilities for making changes to source code in |
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| 30 | a controlled and straightforward manner.</li> |
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| 31 | |
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| 32 | <li>Version control is provided by the open source tool |
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| 33 | <a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/"><em>Subversion</em></a>. The |
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| 34 | source code and its history are stored in a central database which is |
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| 35 | called the repository. Support for parallel working is provided through |
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| 36 | the use of branches.</li> |
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| 37 | |
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| 38 | <li>The open source web-based tool <a href="http://trac.edgewall.org/"> |
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| 39 | <em>Trac</em></a> allows changes to be examined and documented. It |
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| 40 | provides an integrated issue tracker, wiki and repository browser.</li> |
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| 41 | </ul> |
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| 42 | </li> |
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| 43 | |
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| 44 | <li>Build System |
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| 45 | |
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| 46 | <ul> |
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| 47 | <li>This system allows source code to be compiled with a minimal amount |
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| 48 | of configuration. Compilation time can be minimised through the use of |
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| 49 | pre-compiled code and by using the parallel make facilities provided by |
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| 50 | the open source tool <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/make/"><em>GNU |
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| 51 | Make</em></a>.</li> |
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| 52 | |
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| 53 | <li>It provides a number of powerful features aimed primarily at building |
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| 54 | Fortran 9x code.</li> |
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| 55 | </ul> |
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| 56 | </li> |
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| 57 | |
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| 58 | <li>Extract System |
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| 59 | |
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| 60 | <ul> |
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| 61 | <li>This system provides the interface between the CM and build systems. |
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| 62 | Code is extracted and presented in a suitable form for the build system. |
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| 63 | Code can be mirrored to a different build platform if necessary.</li> |
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| 64 | </ul> |
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| 65 | </li> |
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| 66 | </ul> |
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| 67 | |
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| 68 | <p>The diagram below illustrates how these components fit together.</p> |
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| 69 | |
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| 70 | <p class="image"><img src="fcm_overview.png" alt="FCM system overview"></p> |
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| 71 | |
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| 72 | <p>The following sections discuss these components in more detail.</p> |
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| 73 | |
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| 74 | <h2>Code Management System</h2> |
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| 75 | |
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| 76 | <p>The CM system is built using a number of open source tools, in particular |
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| 77 | <em>Subversion</em> and <em>Trac</em>.</p> |
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| 78 | |
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| 79 | <p><em>Subversion</em> is a modern version control tool with a large and |
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| 80 | rapidly expanding user base. For a summary of its main features please refer |
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| 81 | to the <a href="http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.4/svn.intro.whatis.html">What |
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| 82 | is Subversion?</a> section in the <a href= |
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| 83 | "http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.4/">Version Control with Subversion</a> |
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| 84 | book.</p> |
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| 85 | |
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| 86 | <p>Subversion is a generalised tool which can be used in lots of different |
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| 87 | ways. This makes some day-to-day tasks more complex than they need be. FCM |
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| 88 | defines a simplified process and appropriate naming conventions. It then adds |
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| 89 | a layer on top of Subversion to provide a natural interface which is |
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| 90 | specifically tailored to this process. Where appropriate it simply makes use of |
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| 91 | the command line tools provided by Subversion. However, in other cases it |
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| 92 | provides significant additional functionality, for example:</p> |
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| 93 | |
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| 94 | <ul> |
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| 95 | <li>By making some assumptions about the repository layout (i.e. by |
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| 96 | imposing a standard working practise) FCM simplifies the task of |
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| 97 | creating branches and enforces a standard branch naming convention.</li> |
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| 98 | |
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| 99 | <li>Having defined working practises and standard log messages allows FCM to |
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| 100 | greatly simplify the process of merging changes between branches.</li> |
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| 101 | |
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| 102 | <li>FCM makes use of <a href="http://furius.ca/xxdiff/"><em>xxdiff</em></a> |
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| 103 | (a graphical merge tool) to simplify the process of resolving any conflicts |
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| 104 | which result from a merge.</li> |
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| 105 | |
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| 106 | <li>Code changes can be examined in graphical form using <em>xxdiff</em>. |
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| 107 | FCM also allows you to easily examine the changes made on a branch.</li> |
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| 108 | |
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| 109 | <li>FCM allows you to check where any particular branch has been used and |
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| 110 | which version is being used.</li> |
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| 111 | </ul> |
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| 112 | |
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| 113 | <p>FCM also provides a simple GUI which allows easy access to most of the |
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| 114 | common commands which you will need.</p> |
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| 115 | |
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| 116 | <p><em>Trac</em> is the other main component of the CM system. It is a |
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| 117 | powerful web based tool which helps you to manage your software project. It |
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| 118 | includes the following features:</p> |
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| 119 | |
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| 120 | <ul> |
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| 121 | <li>A flexible issue tracker which can be used to keep track of bugs, feature |
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| 122 | requests, etc. Each issue (known as a "ticket" within Trac) can be given a |
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| 123 | priority and assigned to a particular person. Changes made to your Subversion |
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| 124 | repository can easily be traced to the relevant ticket. Where appropriate, |
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| 125 | tickets can be used to record information about who has reviewed each change. |
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| 126 | </li> |
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| 127 | |
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| 128 | <li>A roadmap feature which helps you to plan and manage project releases. |
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| 129 | Each ticket can be associated with a particular milestone. Trac can then |
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| 130 | easily show you what features or fixes went into a particular release or |
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| 131 | what work remains before a particular milestone is reached.</li> |
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| 132 | |
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| 133 | <li>A "wiki" which can be used for project documentation.</li> |
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| 134 | |
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| 135 | <li>A browser for viewing your Subversion repository which allows you to |
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| 136 | browse the project tree / files and examine revision logs and changesets. |
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| 137 | </li> |
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| 138 | |
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| 139 | <li>A timeline view which summarises all the activity on a project (changes |
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| 140 | to the tickets, wiki pages or the Subversion repository).</li> |
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| 141 | </ul> |
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| 142 | |
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| 143 | <h2>Build System</h2> |
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| 144 | |
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| 145 | <p>The build system provides the following features:</p> |
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| 146 | |
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| 147 | <ul> |
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| 148 | <li>Automatic generation of Makefile's at build time based on a simple |
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| 149 | configuration file.</li> |
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| 150 | |
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| 151 | <li>Full dependency analysis at build time.</li> |
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| 152 | |
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| 153 | <li>Automatic generation of Fortran 9x interface files at build time.</li> |
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| 154 | |
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| 155 | <li>Support for non-standard source code. You can override automatic |
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| 156 | dependency and compile rules in order to deal with code which does not |
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| 157 | conform to the necessary coding standards.</li> |
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| 158 | |
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| 159 | <li>Flexible control over compiler flags. Changes to compiler flags trigger |
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| 160 | the appropriate re-compilation.</li> |
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| 161 | |
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| 162 | <li>Support for Pre-processor directives. Changes to Pre-processor flags |
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| 163 | trigger the appropriate re-compilation.</li> |
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| 164 | |
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| 165 | <li>Support for pre-compiled object code to speed compilation time.</li> |
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| 166 | |
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| 167 | <li><em>GNU make</em> is used to perform the build. Build times on |
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| 168 | multi-processor systems can be reduced using <em>parallel make</em>.</li> |
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| 169 | </ul> |
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| 170 | |
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| 171 | <h2>Extract System</h2> |
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| 172 | |
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| 173 | <p>The extract system provides the following features:</p> |
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| 174 | |
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| 175 | <ul> |
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| 176 | <li>Extraction of code to a directory tree suitable for feeding into the |
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| 177 | build system. Code can be combined from multiple repositories and branches. |
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| 178 | Local user code can also be included.</li> |
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| 179 | |
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| 180 | <li>Either a complete set of source code may be extracted or just a set of |
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| 181 | changes relative to pre-compiled code.</li> |
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| 182 | |
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| 183 | <li>A simple configuration file defines what code is required (and what |
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| 184 | compile options are required). Typically, standard versions of these |
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| 185 | configuration files are maintained within the repository. Users can then |
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| 186 | define changes relative to these standard versions.</li> |
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| 187 | |
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| 188 | <li>If necessary, code can be transferred to a different platform ready for |
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| 189 | building.</li> |
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| 190 | </ul> |
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| 191 | |
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