This article is from the Configuration Management Tools FAQ, by Dave Eaton dwe@arde.com with numerous contributions by others.
There are a number of different interpretations. For purposes of
this newsgroup, we are talking about tracking and control of
software development and its activities. That is, the mangement of
software development projects with respect to issues such as
multiple developers working on the same code at the same time,
targetting multiple platforms, supporting multiple versions, and
controlling the status of code (for example beta test versus real
release). Even within that scope there are different schools of
thought:
* Traditional Configuration Management - checkin/checkout control of
sources (and sometimes binaries) and the ability to perform builds
(or compiles) of the entities. Other functions may be included as
well.
* Process Management - control of the software development
activities. For example, it might check to ensure that a change
request existed and had been approved for fixing and that the
associated design, documentation, and review activities have been
completed before allowing the code to be "checked in" again.
While process management and control are necessary for a
repeatable, optimized development process, a solid configuration
management foundation for that process is essential.
 
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