An XML Repository Manager for Software Maintenance and Adaptation

In the framework of the IST project called MECASP (Maintenance and improvement of component-based applications diffused in ASP mode), an XML repository manager (RM) has been conceived, aiming at the maintenance and adaptation of heterogeneous software. It raises many problems and implies additional work for the connection of the involved open source software, for adding the missing functionality (usually with a high degree of complexity) and for wrapping it with MECASP-specific functionality. The repository contains versioned models in XML of the existing applications, subject to maintenance and adaptation (i.e. creation and management of their versions). The involved open source products are Castor, Xindice, XML:DB API, Slide. The paper briefly presents the place of RM in the overall architecture of MECASP, the open source-based architecture of the RM and the main problems which had to be solved for its implementation (correlated with MECASP specific features introduced at the beginning of the paper). The paper also presents the basic features of the version merger, a key tool in MECASP.