XML-based tools for managing the evolution of heterogeneous software

We present an XML-based set of tools for managing the evolution of heterogeneous software (source code files, database objects, graphical objects, documents etc). These tools are developed in the framework of an ongoing IST European project called MECASP (maintenance and improvement of component-based applications diffused in ASP mode). We motivate the utilization of XML versioned models for the maintenance and adaptation of the (application or generic) software. We describe the representation of the software in XML, the architecture of the open source-based XML repository manager and the most important issues for its implementation. We also present the set of basic tools for software maintenance in MECASP, relying on versioned XML models.