Rtools : Tools for Software Management in a Distributed Computing Environment

We have implemented a software management tool-set which addresses the problems of compilation and distribution of software across multiple architectures in a mixed-vendor distributed environment. This package, which we call rtools, is made up of: a central database, a compilation tool, and a distribution tool. We describe the system in detail and look at possible implementations of rtools in other environments. The system is currently managing software which spans three operating system versions on two architectures and twenty-two hosts. Published in Nemeth, Evi and Sam Leffler, eds. USENIX ’88 (Proceedings of the 1988 Summer USENIX Technical Conference and Exhibition, San Francisco, 20-24 June 1988) 1988, Berkeley CA: Usenix Association, pp. 85-94.