A-A-P

tools for developing, distributing, and installing software

Developing open-source software requires the knowledge of a large number of tools. This makes it difficult to help improve an existing project and even more difficult to start one.

A-A-P makes it a lot easier to work on a software project in a distributed environment. The main sources may be obtained from a CVS server, the patches for a port to your system from an ftp server, and additionally whatever changes have made yourself. A recipe describes all of this and how to automatically build the program.

Furthermore, when you make changes to the project, A-A-P provides you with the actions to make a patch and send it to the right place or just keep it locally. You can do version control without having to know the exact commands for it.

For large projects, A-A-P provides the possibility to only have those local parts that you are working on. The rest is obtained only when needed. You can browse the project to find the source code and documentation that you need. A-A-P knows where to find it.

A-A-P forms a framework in which many tools can work together. Interfaces are specified so that tools can be plugged in easily. You are free to choose the tools that you know and like.

• Building software using a recipe. The recipe contains all the information needed to build a program. Automatic detection of system properties and downloading of the required files.
• Browsing a project to find out how it works. Locate the code that you want to work on and read related documentation.
• Package a new version of a project for others to install. Upload changed files to a global server.
• Portable over many systems, at least most Unix variants, MS-Windows and possibly the Macintosh.
• Open source, free software.