A formal framework for on-line software version change

Author

Gupta, Deepak ; Jalote, Pankaj ; Barua, Gautam

Author_Institution

Dept. of Comput. Sci. & Eng., Indian Inst. of Technol., Kanpur, India

Volume

22

Issue

2

fYear

1996

fDate

2/1/1996 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

120

Lastpage

131

Abstract

The usual way of installing a new version of a software system is to shut down the running program and then install the new version. This necessitates a sometimes unacceptable delay during which service is denied to the users of the software. An online software replacement system replaces parts of the software while it is in execution, thus eliminating the shutdown. While a number of implementations of online version change systems have been described in the literature, little investigation has been done on its theoretical aspects. We describe a formal framework for studying online software version change. We give a general definition of validity of an online change, show that it is in general undecidable and then develop sufficient conditions for ensuring validity for a procedural language

Keywords

computer installation; configuration management; decidability; formal specification; utility programs; formal framework; on-line software version change; online software replacement system; online software version change; online version change systems; procedural language; software system; sufficient conditions; undecidable; validity; Computer science; Data analysis; Delay; Electronic switching systems; Senior members; Software development management; Software systems; Sufficient conditions;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0098-5589

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/32.485222

Filename

485222