Chapter Summary

• Release management ensures that the correct artifacts are shipped to the customers who want or need them. It is based on the following concepts:

  - Program families

  - Components and artifacts

  - Versionsa fixed or frozen component or other artifact

  - Revisiona new version intended to supersede the old

  - Variationan alternative implementation

  - Distributiona set version created for distribution to a set of customers

  - Releasea named distribution

• Release management involves three factors: what you're releasing, who you're targeting, and customer motivation.

• Releases must be identified. The four-digit tuple x.y.z.build is a proven way to create release identifiers.

• SKUs are used to manage releases within back-office systems such as accounting and order fulfillment.