Configuration management systems such as RCS, CVS, and Perforce use file names and their paths to identify configuration items. Explain why this feature prevents the configuration management of CM aggregates, even in the presence of labels.

Question

Note to the instructor: this is a difficult question for students who have not used configuration management systems,
in particular branch management.

Answer 1

The main issue with using path names for identifying configuration items is that path names are attributes of
configuration items and thus, can also change. Assume for example that directories represent subsystems (e.g.,
storage, notification, user interface, train tracking). In the case of a change of the subsystem decomposition, the
directory structure may change (e.g., the storage directory may be split into a database directory and a JDBC
directory). For tools which use path names as identifiers, this translates into configuration items being deleted and
added under a different path name. Since different versions of the same configuration items have different identifiers,
operations such as merging branches are consequently not possible.