The Version Management Architecture of an Object-Oriented Distributed Systems Environment: OZ++

Internet based information retrieval software attracts attention because of potentially great impact on our society brought about by its usefulness in information dispatch, sharing, and distribution. However, it is difficult to share, distribute, and reuse of software on wide-area network environment. OZ++ system is a software system to conquer this problem. Based on the concept of object-orientation, the system provides automatic distribution and upgrading function of software over networks. Using the system, software can be brought together from all over the network; furthermore, it has become possible to run such software immediately. This paper introduces the version management mechanism of the most attractive feature of OZ++. Its version management is based on the interface of classes.