Software Configuration Management (David Whitgift)

Configuration Management (CM) is a collection of techniques which coordinate and control the construction of a system. Engineers have been developing complex systems for millenia. Many of the principles of CM were developed to enable hardware engineers to design and assemble the components or ever more sophisticated configurations. Some of the principles would have been familiar to the project manager charged with building the pyramids.

In the 1990s millions of men and women develop complex systems using software. The systems consist of a myriad of component parts each of which evolves as it is developed and maintained. Software CM ensures that this evolution is efficient and controlled, so that the individual components fit together to form a coherent whole.

David Whitgift; Methods and Tools for Software Configuration Management; John Wiley & Sons, 1991.