Designing a distributed software development support system using a peer-to-peer architecture

Distributed software development support systems typically use a centralized client-server architecture. This approach has some drawbacks such as the participants may experience lengthy delays if they are located far from the central server, and the organization that runs the server must deal with the security and privacy issues that come with being in charge of a central repository of information. We are investigating whether this centralized control can be relaxed by using peer-to-peer (P2P) technology. We address the motivations for using a P2P architecture, examine the design issues related to the development of a P2P software development support system, and discuss the implementation framework, that will be used.