Supporting Cooperative Software Processes in a Decentralized and Nomadic World

Recent advances in wireless networks enable decentralized cooperative and nomadic work scenarios where mobile users can interact in performing some tasks without being permanently online. Scenarios where connectivity is transient and the network topology may change dynamically are considered. Connectivity among nodes does not require the support offered by a permanent infrastructure but may rely on ad hoc networking facilities. In this paper, a scenario in which a nomadic group of software engineers cooperate in developing an application is investigated. The proposed solution, however, is not software process specific but holds for other cases where shared documents are developed cooperatively by a number of interacting nomadic partners. Support tools for these groups are normally based on a client-server architecture, which appears to be unsuitable in highly dynamic environments. Peer-to-peer solutions, which do not rely on services provided by centralized servers, look more promising. This paper presents a fully decentralized cooperative infrastructure centered around peer-to-peer versioning system (PeerVerSy), a configuration management tool based on a peer-to-peer architecture, which supports cooperative services even when some of the collaborating nodes are offline. Some preliminary experiences gained from its use in a teaching environment are also discussed