System Overview

The FCM system is designed to simplify the task of managing and building source code. It consists of three main components.

• Code Management (CM) System
  • This system provides facilities for making changes to source code in a controlled and straightforward manner.
  • Version control is provided by the open source tool Subversion. The source code and its history are stored in a central database which is called the repository. Support for parallel working is provided through the use of branches.
  • The open source web-based tool Trac allows changes to be examined and documented. It provides an integrated issue tracker, wiki and repository browser.
• Build System
  • This system allows source code to be compiled with a minimal amount of configuration. Compilation time can be minimised through the use of pre-compiled code and by using the parallel make facilities provided by the open source tool GNU Make.
  • It provides a number of powerful features aimed primarily at building Fortran 9x code.
• Extract System
  • This system provides the interface between the CM and build systems. Code is extracted and presented in a suitable form for the build system. Code can be mirrored to a different build platform if necessary.

The diagram below illustrates how these components fit together.

The following sections discuss these components in more detail.

Code Management System

The CM system is built using a number of open source tools, in particular Subversion and Trac.

Subversion is a modern version control tool with a large and rapidly expanding user base. For a summary of its main features please refer to the What is Subversion? section in the Version Control with Subversion book.

Subversion is a generalised tool which can be used in lots of different ways. This makes some day-to-day tasks more complex than they need be. FCM defines a simplified process and appropriate naming conventions. It then adds a layer on top of Subversion to provide a natural interface which is specifically tailored to this process. Where appropriate it simply makes use of the command line tools provided by Subversion. However, in other cases it provides significant additional functionality, for example:

• By making some assumptions about the repository layout (i.e. by imposing a standard working practise) FCM simplifies the task of creating branches and enforces a standard branch naming convention.
• Having defined working practises and standard log messages allows FCM to greatly simplify the process of merging changes between branches.
• FCM makes use of xxdiff (a graphical merge tool) to simplify the process of resolving any conflicts which result from a merge.
• Code changes can be examined in graphical form using xxdiff. FCM also allows you to easily examine the changes made on a branch.
• FCM allows you to check where any particular branch has been used and which version is being used.

FCM also provides a simple GUI which allows easy access to most of the common commands which you will need.

Trac is the other main component of the CM system. It is a powerful web based tool which helps you to manage your software project. It includes the following features:

• A flexible issue tracker which can be used to keep track of bugs, feature requests, etc. Each issue (known as a "ticket" within Trac) can be given a priority and assigned to a particular person. Changes made to your Subversion repository can easily be traced to the relevant ticket. Where appropriate, tickets can be used to record information about who has reviewed each change.
• A roadmap feature which helps you to plan and manage project releases. Each ticket can be associated with a particular milestone. Trac can then easily show you what features or fixes went into a particular release or what work remains before a particular milestone is reached.
• A "wiki" which can be used for project documentation.
• A browser for viewing your Subversion repository which allows you to browse the project tree / files and examine revision logs and changesets.
• A timeline view which summarises all the activity on a project (changes to the tickets, wiki pages or the Subversion repository).

Build System

The build system provides the following features:

• Automatic generation of Makefile's at build time based on a simple configuration file.
• Full dependency analysis at build time.
• Automatic generation of Fortran 9x interface files at build time.
• Support for non-standard source code. You can override automatic dependency and compile rules in order to deal with code which does not conform to the necessary coding standards.
• Flexible control over compiler flags. Changes to compiler flags trigger the appropriate re-compilation.
• Support for Pre-processor directives. Changes to Pre-processor flags trigger the appropriate re-compilation.
• Support for pre-compiled object code to speed compilation time.
• GNU make is used to perform the build. Build times on multi-processor systems can be reduced using parallel make.

Extract System

The extract system provides the following features:

• Extraction of code to a directory tree suitable for feeding into the build system. Code can be combined from multiple repositories and branches. Local user code can also be included.
• Either a complete set of source code may be extracted or just a set of changes relative to pre-compiled code.
• A simple configuration file defines what code is required (and what compile options are required). Typically, standard versions of these configuration files are maintained within the repository. Users can then define changes relative to these standard versions.
• If necessary, code can be transferred to a different platform ready for building.