EDOS

Completed Research Project

Title / Titel: EDOS

Original title / Originaltitel: Environment for the Development and Distribution of Open Source

Summary / Zusammenfassung: Open source distribution editors package and assemble a large number of programs and applications into a single tested distribution, together with a set of tools to install and administer the system. Two key functions performed by distribution editors are
• Producing a new version of a distribution: the editor starts from a complete version of the distribution, he adds and deletes packages, refreshes packages with more recent versions, reconfigure packages, etc.
• Customizing a distribution for a specific user which may be a corporate user wanting a specific distribution for his needs, a hardware or a software vendor. Customization includes adding and deleting packages, updating and configuring packages.
The main objective of the EDOS project is to develop technology and tools to support and improve these processes. Our goal is to dramatically increase the team productivity. We will do this by addressing three problems:
• The current way of distribution edition is as follows: a complete copy of the current state of the software is available at the central site of the editor. This data is then replicated on a set of mirrors in a hierarchical form in a crude and inconsistent fashion. The mirroring problem can be solved through various methods, coming either from distributed database technology or from peer-to-peer approaches. We will propose specific tools and mechanisms to solve the problem, provide an implementation and the analysis of the impact of our solution.
• Packagers collect packages manually over the Web, then build and maintain the dependency data, This manual process will be automated, at least in part.
Packages are delivered from the outside with various levels of tests, tests should be partially done outside as well as in many cases only the package developer is able to really test, and should do it. Tools and technology will be developed to partially automate the QA process. Protocols will be defined to allow the definition and transmission of tests among the various actors of the community.
EDOS is an ESPRIT cooperation project with industrial and academic partners from e.g. France, Italy, and Israel.

Project Leadership and Contacts / Projektleitung und Kontakte

Dr. Thomas B. Hodel (Project Leader)

hodel@ifi.uzh.ch

Funding Source(s) / Unterstützt durch: EU

Duration of Project / Projektdauer: Jan 2005 to Dec 2006