This linked list of pages, which may be traversed using the links, introduces the QEF Software Process Automation System to the traveler. Using The Example Project, many of the more important features and facilities of the QEF system are illustrated and explained.

QEF is a family of tools used to manage processes typically used to do software construction. In the beginning, circa 1983, QEF was developed to provide a mechanism whereby the construction of software products could be described in a host-independent way. Over the years it has been enhanced to encourage and support a better software process and a comprehensive approach to software development and maintenance and release engineering.

qef the program is a driver that manages the building processes. The QEF product consists of software tools and packages to facilitate that software process and to support constructions across a wide variety of systems. This tour demonstrates the more significant of those tools and shows qef in use to manage and build a small project.

QEF is a Latin acronym for `Quod Erat Faciendum', which means `that which was to be done'. In this context QEF refers to a body of software that is intended get those things that need to be done, done, i.e., q.e.f.

In this tour we concentrate on software construction management and the software process. These are the areas in which QEF is most frequently applied. QEF can be and is applied in other application areas, but such uses will not be covered -- there's enough to cover already.

This tour will visit the following sights:

• navigating the forest of trees
• simple builds and associated support tools
• the software process made possible by QEF
• a more complicated application
• project builds
• the QEF graphical user interface
• the architecture of the QEF driver itself
• other tools of interest

Commands appear in bold and are prefixed with a `%' as in:

% ls | wc  # command line comments will appear like this
% qef -Ptargets  # or this for a QEF tool

Command output will usually appear immediately after the command in a typewriter font, as in:

% date
Sun Jul 11 07:11:07 EDT 2003

    % qd -46
Using 46 cook 3.4 object dt gobo linux2_0i /g/dt/cook/obj
	/g/dt/cook/work /p/cook/s3.4