Tags
The concept of version and release management
Since software is ever-changing in nature, it is necessary to manage different versions of packages, their corresponding releases, and all the different customizations performed on them. BAAN IV Tools offers a comprehensive solution with the version and release management concept. Within this concept, software can be divided into different versions. Some important benefits are
n Developers create and test their own customizations in BAAN IV in a separate development environment. The operational users do not see any customization until the new software is released.
n Updates and dealer customizations can be tested separately before they are released.
Within version and release management, there are two main concepts.
1 package VRC
2 package combination
6.1.1 Package VRC
Each BAAN IV package is distributed as a package VRC which stands for version release customer extension. In fact, a package VRC is a version of a package. The BAAN IV application can contain more than one version of the same package. For example, a package VRC containing the standard software of a package and a package VRC containing the customizations for that package. If a new package VRC is created, it is derived from a previous VRC. To avoid duplication of software, the new VRC only contains those software components which have changed compared to previous VRCs.
Coding of VRCs
In Figure 6-1, the upper VRC is a standard VRC of BAAN IV Common, release a. This VRC contains the standard BAAN IV software which is delivered at the moment of installation. The code of a standard VRC contains no customer-specific extension. The second VRC is an example of a VRC which contains the customer’s own customizations. This VRC only contains the changes regarding the previous VRC. The version field is extended with the character O, which stands for the customer’s own customizations. The maximum length of the customer extension is four characters. It can be filled with, for example, a two character abbreviation of the customer’s name, followed by a sequence number.