Device for managing software configurations in parallel in a network

Apparatus for managing computer software comprising:

• a plurality of processors capable of processing compilations of software components, one of said processors having a compiler within a certain local file system, the one processor being defined as a reference processor for the other processors, such that each of the other processors makes reference to the certain local file system of the one processor to compile a respective component, the processors compiling respective components in parallel while making reference to the certain local file system of the reference processor.

A computer display comprising:

• a first screen section displaying compilation status messages from different processors compiling in parallel different modules of a desired software system for parallel building of the system, compilation status messages of each compilation by each processor being displayed independently of messages of other compilations;
• and
• a second screen section displaying a summary of a current overall status of the parallel building of the system including status of compilations associated with the processors, the first and second screen sections being displayed simultaneously.

Method of building a software system using computer means comprising the steps of:

• providing a plurality of processors loosely connected in a network;
• and
• executing configuration management means on one of the processors, the configuration management means building from a configuration model a software system having a multiplicity of components including independent components, the configuration management means determining which components of the software system are to be currently compiled and assigning each to-be-compiled component to a processor for compiling, the configuration management means assigning independent components to different processors such that components of the software system are automatically compiled in parallel by different processors to minimize total compilation time for the software system, version of each component being user specified in the configuration model.

In a network of computer processors, a method of displaying through one processor a multiplicity of compilation status messages from different processors in the network comprising the steps of:

• using computer means, collecting the messages of each compilation of each processor separately from that of other compilations, the processors compiling, in parallel, modules of a software system to minimize total compilation time of the system;
• and
• using a display driver of the one processor, displaying the messages of a compilation only on termination of that compilation.