arXiv subjects

Stefano Zacchiroli

Publications and source records attributed to Stefano Zacchiroli.

59 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2009

Strong Dependencies between Software Components

Component-based systems often describe context requirements in terms of explicit inter-component dependencies. Studying large instances of such systems?such as free and open source software (FOSS) distributions?in terms of declared dependencies between packages is appealing. It is however also misleading when the language to express dependencies is as expressive as boolean formulae, which is often the case. In such settings, a more appropriate notion of component dependency exists: strong dependency. This paper introduces such notion as a first step towards modeling semantic, rather then syntactic, inter-component relationships. Furthermore, a notion of component sensitivity is derived from strong dependencies, with ap- plications to quality assurance and to the evaluation of upgrade risks. An empirical study of strong dependencies and sensitivity is presented, in the context of one of the largest, freely available, component-based system.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2009

Where are your Manners? Sharing Best Community Practices in the Web 2.0

The Web 2.0 fosters the creation of communities by offering users a wide array of social software tools. While the success of these tools is based on their ability to support different interaction patterns among users by imposing as few limitations as possible, the communities they support are not free of rules (just think about the posting rules in a community forum or the editing rules in a thematic wiki). In this paper we propose a framework for the sharing of best community practices in the form of a (potentially rule-based) annotation layer that can be integrated with existing Web 2.0 community tools (with specific focus on wikis). This solution is characterized by minimal intrusiveness and plays nicely within the open spirit of the Web 2.0 by providing users with behavioral hints rather than by enforcing the strict adherence to a set of rules.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2009

Package upgrades in FOSS distributions: details and challenges

The upgrade problems faced by Free and Open Source Software distributions have characteristics not easily found elsewhere. We describe the structure of packages and their role in the upgrade process. We show that state of the art package managers have shortcomings inhibiting their ability to cope with frequent upgrade failures. We survey current countermeasures to such failures, argue that they are not satisfactory, and sketch alternative solutions.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2008

Solving package dependencies: from EDOS to Mancoosi

Mancoosi (Managing the Complexity of the Open Source Infrastructure) is an ongoing research project funded by the European Union for addressing some of the challenges related to the "upgrade problem" of interdependent software components of which Debian packages are prototypical examples. Mancoosi is the natural continuation of the EDOS project which has already contributed tools for distribution-wide quality assurance in Debian and other GNU/Linux distributions. The consortium behind the project consists of several European public and private research institutions as well as some commercial GNU/Linux distributions from Europe and South America. Debian is represented by a small group of Debian Developers who are working in the ranks of the involved universities to drive and integrate back achievements into Debian. This paper presents relevant results from EDOS in dependency management and gives an overview of the Mancoosi project and its objectives, with a particular focus on the prospective benefits for Debian.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2008

Description of the CUDF Format

This document contains several related specifications, together they describe the document formats related to the solver competition which will be organized by Mancoosi. In particular, this document describes: - DUDF (Distribution Upgradeability Description Format), the document format to be used to submit upgrade problem instances from user machines to a (distribution-specific) database of upgrade problems; - CUDF (Common Upgradeability Description Format), the document format used to encode upgrade problems, abstracting over distribution-specific details. Solvers taking part in the competition will be fed with input in CUDF format.

cs.SE↗