Safe Management of Software Configuration

We tend to write software in a parameterized way with parameter values specified in configuration files. Such configurability allows us to deploy software in a context not initially thought of, but it also has the downside that it introduces a new class of hard-to-track faults. This issue arises because the use of configurations in programs is not integrated into configuration management needed by administrators. We propose a light-weight specification language to be used by both parties. From this specification we generate configuration access code that includes compile-time checks. Furthermore, we use the same specification to add run-time checks for safe configuration management. We expect that our approach averts many failures configurable software faces today. Additionally, we think it improves the quality altogether, because the documentation resulting from the specification leads to a better understanding of the overall system.