The Source Integrity Professional Edition User Guide - MKS

Understanding Source Integrity
Sandboxes mirror the original
project and provide a safe
working environment.
A Typical
Workplace
Scenario
How Sandboxes
Can Help
Consider what could happen in a sample project if a customer
encounters a bug in an earlier release that requires an immediate fix.
In this example, the work is done in a free-fire zone and programmers
need to examine the earlier revisions of affected NT and UNIX files.
This process would halt any development on those files, due to
file naming conflicts in the workspace.
If the NT developer were to complete his or her work before the
UNIX developer, neither could test the fix until both are
complete, since a comprehensive build uses all files in the project.
The result is that maintenance only progresses at the pace of the
slowest component.
If more than one iteration is required to complete either or both
fixes, the time delay is further compounded.
Source Integrity has designed the sandbox environment to deal with
these potential conflicts. A sandbox is a personal workspace where
changes can be made and tested on working copies of project
members, independent of the master project. Sandboxes let each
developer work on a shared project in a personal, protected
workspace, without disrupting the master project or other
developers.
When work takes place using sandboxes, it presents a totally different
picture. When sandboxes are used in the previous scenario, each
developer makes a complete copy of the earlier release in a separate
sandbox and works on the files he or she is responsible for.
The developer who finishes first can test the fix in the sandbox—
even build the entire project to make sure it functions as
anticipated—then check the modified files back into the master
project and continue with new development.
22 Source Integrity Professional Edition