| 1 | <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" |
|---|
| 2 | "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> |
|---|
| 3 | |
|---|
| 4 | <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> |
|---|
| 5 | <head> |
|---|
| 6 | <meta name="generator" content= |
|---|
| 7 | "HTML Tidy for Linux/x86 (vers 1st December 2004), see www.w3.org" /> |
|---|
| 8 | |
|---|
| 9 | <title>FCM User Guide: System Overview</title> |
|---|
| 10 | <meta name="author" content="FCM development team" /> |
|---|
| 11 | <meta name="descriptions" content="User Guide - System Overview" /> |
|---|
| 12 | <meta name="keywords" content="FCM, user guide" /> |
|---|
| 13 | <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> |
|---|
| 14 | <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css" /> |
|---|
| 15 | <script type="text/javascript" src="fcm.js"> |
|---|
| 16 | </script> |
|---|
| 17 | </head> |
|---|
| 18 | |
|---|
| 19 | <body onload= |
|---|
| 20 | "javascript: FCM.load('doc/user_guide/', null, [['.', 'FCM User Guide']]);"> |
|---|
| 21 | <div id="document-info"> |
|---|
| 22 | <address id="fcm-js-trail"></address> |
|---|
| 23 | |
|---|
| 24 | <address id="fcm-js-maintenance"></address> |
|---|
| 25 | </div> |
|---|
| 26 | |
|---|
| 27 | <h1>System Overview</h1> |
|---|
| 28 | |
|---|
| 29 | <p>The FCM system is designed to simplify the task of managing and building |
|---|
| 30 | source code. It consists of three main components.</p> |
|---|
| 31 | |
|---|
| 32 | <dl> |
|---|
| 33 | <dt>Code Management (CM) System</dt> |
|---|
| 34 | |
|---|
| 35 | <dd> |
|---|
| 36 | <p>This system provides facilities for making changes to source code in a |
|---|
| 37 | controlled and straightforward manner.</p> |
|---|
| 38 | |
|---|
| 39 | <p>Version control is provided by the open source tool <a href= |
|---|
| 40 | "http://subversion.tigris.org/">Subversion</a>. The source code and its |
|---|
| 41 | history are stored in a central database which is called the repository. |
|---|
| 42 | Support for parallel working is provided through the use of branches.</p> |
|---|
| 43 | |
|---|
| 44 | <p>The open source web-based tool <a href= |
|---|
| 45 | "http://trac.edgewall.org/">Trac</a> allows changes to be examined and |
|---|
| 46 | documented. It provides an integrated issue tracker, wiki and repository |
|---|
| 47 | browser.</p> |
|---|
| 48 | </dd> |
|---|
| 49 | |
|---|
| 50 | <dt>Build System</dt> |
|---|
| 51 | |
|---|
| 52 | <dd> |
|---|
| 53 | <p>This system allows source code to be compiled with a minimal amount of |
|---|
| 54 | configuration. Compilation time can be minimised through the use of |
|---|
| 55 | pre-compiled code and by using the parallel make facilities provided by |
|---|
| 56 | the open source tool <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/make/"><em>GNU |
|---|
| 57 | Make</em></a>.</p> |
|---|
| 58 | |
|---|
| 59 | <p>It provides a number of powerful features aimed primarily at building |
|---|
| 60 | Fortran 9x code.</p> |
|---|
| 61 | </dd> |
|---|
| 62 | |
|---|
| 63 | <dt>Extract System</dt> |
|---|
| 64 | |
|---|
| 65 | <dd> |
|---|
| 66 | <p>This system provides the interface between the CM and build systems. |
|---|
| 67 | Code is extracted and presented in a suitable form for the build system. |
|---|
| 68 | Code can be mirrored to a different build platform if necessary.</p> |
|---|
| 69 | </dd> |
|---|
| 70 | </dl> |
|---|
| 71 | |
|---|
| 72 | <p>The diagram below illustrates how these components fit together.</p> |
|---|
| 73 | |
|---|
| 74 | <p class="image"><img src="fcm_overview.png" alt="FCM system overview" /></p> |
|---|
| 75 | |
|---|
| 76 | <p>The following sections discuss these components in more detail.</p> |
|---|
| 77 | |
|---|
| 78 | <h2>Code Management System</h2> |
|---|
| 79 | |
|---|
| 80 | <p>The CM system is built using a number of open source tools, in particular |
|---|
| 81 | Subversion and Trac.</p> |
|---|
| 82 | |
|---|
| 83 | <p>Subversion is a modern version control tool with a large and rapidly |
|---|
| 84 | expanding user base. For a summary of its main features please refer to the |
|---|
| 85 | <a href="http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.4/svn.intro.whatis.html">What is |
|---|
| 86 | Subversion?</a> section in the <a href= |
|---|
| 87 | "http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.4/">Version Control with Subversion</a> |
|---|
| 88 | book.</p> |
|---|
| 89 | |
|---|
| 90 | <p>Subversion is a generalised tool which can be used in lots of different |
|---|
| 91 | ways. This makes some day-to-day tasks more complex than they need be. FCM |
|---|
| 92 | defines a simplified process and appropriate naming conventions. It then adds |
|---|
| 93 | a layer on top of Subversion to provide a natural interface which is |
|---|
| 94 | specifically tailored to this process. Where appropriate it simply makes use |
|---|
| 95 | of the command line tools provided by Subversion. However, in other cases it |
|---|
| 96 | provides significant additional functionality, for example:</p> |
|---|
| 97 | |
|---|
| 98 | <ul> |
|---|
| 99 | <li>By making some assumptions about the repository layout (i.e. by |
|---|
| 100 | imposing a standard working practise) FCM simplifies the task of creating |
|---|
| 101 | branches and enforces a standard branch naming convention.</li> |
|---|
| 102 | |
|---|
| 103 | <li>Having defined working practises and standard log messages allows FCM |
|---|
| 104 | to greatly simplify the process of merging changes between branches.</li> |
|---|
| 105 | |
|---|
| 106 | <li>FCM makes use of <a href="http://furius.ca/xxdiff/">xxdiff</a> (a |
|---|
| 107 | graphical merge tool) to simplify the process of resolving any conflicts |
|---|
| 108 | which result from a merge.</li> |
|---|
| 109 | |
|---|
| 110 | <li>Code changes can be examined in graphical form using xxdiff FCM also |
|---|
| 111 | allows you to easily examine the changes made on a branch.</li> |
|---|
| 112 | |
|---|
| 113 | <li>FCM allows you to check where any particular branch has been used and |
|---|
| 114 | which version is being used.</li> |
|---|
| 115 | </ul> |
|---|
| 116 | |
|---|
| 117 | <p>FCM also provides a simple GUI which allows easy access to most of the |
|---|
| 118 | common commands which you will need.</p> |
|---|
| 119 | |
|---|
| 120 | <p>Trac is the other main component of the CM system. It is a powerful web |
|---|
| 121 | based tool which helps you to manage your software project. It includes the |
|---|
| 122 | following features:</p> |
|---|
| 123 | |
|---|
| 124 | <ul> |
|---|
| 125 | <li>A flexible issue tracker which can be used to keep track of bugs, |
|---|
| 126 | feature requests, etc. Each issue (known as a <q title= |
|---|
| 127 | "http://trac.edgewall.org/wiki/TracTickets">ticket</q> within Trac) can be |
|---|
| 128 | given a priority and assigned to a particular person. Changes made to your |
|---|
| 129 | Subversion repository can easily be traced to the relevant ticket. Where |
|---|
| 130 | appropriate, tickets can be used to record information about who has |
|---|
| 131 | reviewed each change.</li> |
|---|
| 132 | |
|---|
| 133 | <li>A <q title="http://trac.edgewall.org/wiki/TracRoadmap">roadmap</q> |
|---|
| 134 | feature which helps you to plan and manage project releases. Each ticket |
|---|
| 135 | can be associated with a particular milestone. Trac can then easily show |
|---|
| 136 | you what features or fixes went into a particular release or what work |
|---|
| 137 | remains before a particular milestone is reached.</li> |
|---|
| 138 | |
|---|
| 139 | <li>A <q title="http://trac.edgewall.org/wiki/TracWiki">wiki</q> which can |
|---|
| 140 | be used for project documentation.</li> |
|---|
| 141 | |
|---|
| 142 | <li>A browser for viewing your Subversion repository which allows you to |
|---|
| 143 | browse the project tree / files and examine revision logs and |
|---|
| 144 | changesets.</li> |
|---|
| 145 | |
|---|
| 146 | <li>A timeline view which summarises all the activity on a project (changes |
|---|
| 147 | to the tickets, wiki pages or the Subversion repository).</li> |
|---|
| 148 | </ul> |
|---|
| 149 | |
|---|
| 150 | <h2>Build System</h2> |
|---|
| 151 | |
|---|
| 152 | <p>The build system provides the following features:</p> |
|---|
| 153 | |
|---|
| 154 | <ul> |
|---|
| 155 | <li>Automatic generation of Makefile's at build time based on a simple |
|---|
| 156 | configuration file.</li> |
|---|
| 157 | |
|---|
| 158 | <li>Full dependency analysis at build time.</li> |
|---|
| 159 | |
|---|
| 160 | <li>Automatic generation of Fortran 9X interface files at build time.</li> |
|---|
| 161 | |
|---|
| 162 | <li>Support for non-standard source code. You can override automatic |
|---|
| 163 | dependency and compile rules in order to deal with code which does not |
|---|
| 164 | conform to the necessary coding standards.</li> |
|---|
| 165 | |
|---|
| 166 | <li>Flexible control over compiler flags. Changes to compiler flags trigger |
|---|
| 167 | the appropriate re-compilation.</li> |
|---|
| 168 | |
|---|
| 169 | <li>Support for Pre-processor directives. Changes to Pre-processor flags |
|---|
| 170 | trigger the appropriate re-compilation.</li> |
|---|
| 171 | |
|---|
| 172 | <li>Support for pre-compiled object code to speed compilation time.</li> |
|---|
| 173 | |
|---|
| 174 | <li>GNU <code>make</code> is used to perform the build. Build times on |
|---|
| 175 | multi-processor systems can be reduced by running parallel processes.</li> |
|---|
| 176 | </ul> |
|---|
| 177 | |
|---|
| 178 | <h2>Extract System</h2> |
|---|
| 179 | |
|---|
| 180 | <p>The extract system provides the following features:</p> |
|---|
| 181 | |
|---|
| 182 | <ul> |
|---|
| 183 | <li>Extract code to a directory tree suitable for feeding into the build |
|---|
| 184 | system. Code can be combined from multiple repositories and branches. Local |
|---|
| 185 | user code can also be included.</li> |
|---|
| 186 | |
|---|
| 187 | <li>Either a complete set of source code may be extracted or just a set of |
|---|
| 188 | changes relative to pre-compiled code.</li> |
|---|
| 189 | |
|---|
| 190 | <li>A simple configuration file defines what code is required (and what |
|---|
| 191 | compile options are required). Typically, standard versions of these |
|---|
| 192 | configuration files are maintained within the repository. Users can then |
|---|
| 193 | define changes relative to these standard versions.</li> |
|---|
| 194 | |
|---|
| 195 | <li>If necessary, code can be transferred to a different platform ready for |
|---|
| 196 | building.</li> |
|---|
| 197 | </ul> |
|---|
| 198 | </body> |
|---|
| 199 | </html> |
|---|
