System Definition PkO

training

Part 1:
The architecture
of the System
Model
1 © 2009 Symbian Foundation
Overview
• What is the system model?
• System Model hierarchy • Relation to the build
• Layers • System Models types
• Packages • Device Model
• Collections • Tools Model
• Components • Vendor-specific Models

2 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

 Terminology
System Model Terminology
• System Model: The architectural breakdown of a set of software, including the operating system and
supporting parts, such as tools
• System definition: The XML file(s) which define(s) a System Model. The terms system definition and
system model are sometimes used interchangeably
• Sysdef: A System Definition XML file, usually with the file name system_definition.xml or
system_definition_xxx.xml
• System Model item: A component, collection, package or layer. Also called architectural item
• Package definition: A system definition fragment which contains a <package> as the root model item.
• Pkgdef: A Package Definition XML file, usually with the file name package_definition.xml or
package_definition_xxx.xml
• Rank: The architectural height of a System Model item. A layer has the highest rank, and a component has
the lowest. Units do not have rank since they are not architectural items, but just a special type of
component metadata.
• Technology domain: Package categories that simplify product planning for the Foundation’s software
asset. They can be regarded as a high-level partitioning of technology and market drivers.
• Plugin component: An atomic set of binaries which exposes a standard interface that is defined outside of
the component
• Unit: The build and content details of a component
• ISV : Independent Software Vendor
• (Start-up) State Domain: Parts of the State Domain Hierarchy, where the hierarchy of Domains mirror
the device System Model's layers and levels. At any change of device state, the Domain Hierarchy is
traversed in an ordered fashion, and is used to inform users (registered in a Domain) about the change to
the device's state. Example: at device start-up, the hierarchy is traversed from the lowest system model
layer's domain to highest layer's domain.
• ID path: The path made by concatenating the system model IDs, i.e. layer/package/collection/component
• FS path (filesystem path): The location of a file in the codeline

3 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

 Terminology
System Definition types
• [system definition] root: A system definition file which contains a single <systemModel> and links to
one or more other system definition files
• [system definition] fragment: A system definition file which contains only layers or lower rank items
(i.e. no <systemModel>). This can, but does not need to link to one or more other system definition files.
It is expected that this will be linked from a root system definition, but that is not required. These are
usually referred to by the rank of the root system model item, i.e. a layer definition file, package definition
file, collection definition file, or component definition file. In practice only package definition files are used
by the Foundation.
• stand-alone [system definition]: A system definition file which does not link to any system definitions,
and represents the state of a codeline at a specific point in time.
All paths must also be absolute so that the file is not tied to the file system on which the data lives.
• All metadata should be embedded, although that is not required.
• This is sometimes also called a "snapshot" since it reflects the state of the filesystem at a given point in time
• distributed [system definition]: The complete set of linked system definition fragments. This must
contain at least two files. This is the opposite of a stand-alone system definition.
• master [system definition]:
• A system definition (or set of linked system definitions) that is complete in the sense that all hierarchical levels are
filled in. The “before” attribute cannot be present in a master system definition. The master will be the highest
upstream system definition.
• downstream [system definition]:
• An incomplete system definition file (or set of linked system definitions) which is intended to combined with a master
• upstream [system definition]:
• The system definition(s) that a downstream system definition expects to be combined with.

4 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

 Terminology
System Model operations
• Join: To take a root system definition and its linked fragments and produce a single
stand-alone system definition with no links
• Split: To take a stand-alone system definition and separate it into two or more
linked fragments. Also called distribute. The opposite of join.
• Merge: To take two stand-alone system definitions and produce a single system
definition containing the amalgamated parts from both.
• Filter: To remove items or units from a system definition file. This will generally be
done to pick a subset of the system definition for building, or to choose a view of
the model to diagram.
• Overlay: To add additional data to a system definition, usually for the purpose of
calculating metrics or other analysis. An overlay may add non-standard attributes,
but can only add new elements inside a <meta> section. The process is called
“overlay” since it can overwrite attributes in the system definition.
• Upgrade: To convert to a more recent syntax of a system definition. Generally this
will be done from the 2.0.1 syntax to the 3.0.0 syntax, since that has little to no
ambiguity. Upgrading can also be done from the 1.4 and 2.0.0 syntaxes, though the
processor will need generate valid IDs and guess the intent in some cases.
• Downgrade: To convert a system definition to an older syntax. The 3.0.0 syntax
can convert to 2.0.1 unambiguously, and can be done automatically as part of a
build. Conversion to older syntaxes is more difficult.

5 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

System Model Structure
The system model reflects the organisation
of a modular software stack
• Layers are the fundamental stacking of software
• Each layer abstracts the ones below
• Levels within layers group packages by intended audience
• Packages are self-contained technologies
• Levels within packages show their internal software stack
• Collections are logical groupings of related components
• Components are the atomic unit of software architecture

6 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

 Layers
Layers
• Layers contain packages with no upward dependency between layers.
• A package may depend on other packages in the same layer or in any lower layer
• A package must not depend on packages in a higher layer
• A package should avoid depending on a package in a higher level of the same layer
• A package in a lower level will have executables with a higher State Domain order
• Public and platform APIs are grouped by layer
• Uses layer_LAYER_type_EXPORT_PATH macro
• OS
• Public /epoc32/include OS_LAYER_PUBLIC_EXPORT_PATH
• Platform /epoc32/include/platform OS_LAYER_PLATFORM_EXPORT_PATH
• Middleware
• Public /epoc32/include/mw MW_LAYER_PUBLIC_EXPORT_PATH
• Platform /epoc32/include/platform/mw MW_LAYER_PLATFORM_EXPORT_PATH
• Applications
• Public /epoc32/include/app APP_LAYER_PUBLIC_EXPORT_PATH
• Platform /epoc32/include/platform/app APP_LAYER_PLATFORM_EXPORT_PATH

7 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

 Layers
Evolution
• Technologies migrate between layers over time
• “Commoditised” technologies move downward as their use becomes
more generic
Example: HTTP was a technology specific to web browsers
(applications), but is now a widely-used generic protocol
(middleware)
• Legacy technologies move upward as fewer types of applications
use them
Example: Older Connectivity Transports (e.g. Psion Link Protocol)
have been moving upwards over time as they are less used
• Packages should be introduced at the highest reasonable layer to
perform their function
• This limits the dependencies on new technologies and reduces the overall
risk to the system

8 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

 Layers
Foundation Layers
• Three Symbian Foundation Device layers:
• Three Symbian Foundation Tools
OS, Middleware and Applications layers: Development, Analysis and
Deployment
Applications Deployment

Middleware
Analysis

OS

Development
• Additional layers may be added with Architecture Council approval
• Vendors may add their own layers if needed
• Vendor’s layers can only contain non-contributed, vendor-specific packages

9 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

 Layers
Foundation Device layers:
OS
• Provides APIs that abstract the hardware platform
• Allowing higher layers to be isolated from hardware
changes
• Contains lower-level APIs that are not hardware abstractions, but are
used within the OS layer
• Sufficient to develop a test platform
• Two levels:
• hw: The kernel, interfaces to the hardware and user-side services
• This level is sufficient to be an operating system (filesystems, essential drivers,
program execution model)
• Board Support package uses KSM2HALDomainn System State Domain
• Other packages use KSM2KernelServicesDomainn System State Domain
• services: Essential services necessary for a phone
• Contains communications, text and data handling, graphics, etc
• Equivalent to KSM2OSServicesDomainn System State Domain

10 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

 Layers
Foundation Device layers:
Middleware
• Provides higher-level generic APIs usable
by programs in the application layer
• Includes native UI frameworks, application lifecycle,
higher-level protocols and data handling, etc
• Middleware components are independent of the hardware platform
• MW APIs are not used by the OS layer
• Two levels:
• generic: Services intended for any class of application
Examples: Text entry, security and GUI widgets are expected to be
used by
most apps
• This level and below is a general purpose computer
• Equivalent to KSM2GenMiddlewareDomainn System State Domain
• specific: Services intended for a specific class of application
Examples: Presence is mainly used by instant messaging apps, the
Phone Server is expected to only be used by a Phone application
• This level and below is sufficient for phone application development
• Equivalent to KSM2AppServicesDomainn System State Domain
11 © 2009 Symbian Foundation
 Layers
Foundation Device layers:
Applications
• Primarily contains interactive UI applications
• Includes non-interactive applications (daemons) that
respond to events from other than the device user (e.g. from a PC).
• Two levels:
• services: Non-interactive applications, services provided to other packages
• This level and below is sufficient to create applications which work together
• Equivalent to KSM2UiServicesDomainn System State Domain
• apps: Applications which interact with the user
• This level and below is the full set of software on the device
• Equivalent to KSM2UiApplicationDomainn System State Domain
• Packages which span both levels provide user-facing applications and
services to other applications.
Example: Contacts Apps provides the user-facing Phonebook
application, plus the Contact Model which has an API for
programmatically accessing contacts.

12 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

 Layers
Foundation Tools Layers
• Development eclipse

Deployment
• Tools for editing, building, running and debugging
• Contains supporting run-time environments
middleware
• Analysis
• Tools required to perform static and run-time validation
of the platform and performance optimisation eclipse
• Deployment

Analysis
• Tools and data files supporting the creation of middleware
deliverables and distributions of Symbian OS and its
associated tools
• All Tools layers have the same three levels: device
• Device Tools (dev): Device based tools providing a direct
interface onto platform or public interfaces to support eclipse
tools use-cases

Development
• Host Middleware Tools (mdw): Non-Eclipse based host
tools providing a programmatic or command line middleware
interface to higher level tools within the same or upper
levels or generic non Eclipse based middleware
• Host Eclipse Tools (ecl): Eclipse based tools providing an device
IDE-integrated UI component, a command line interface
or generic Eclipse based middleware

13 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

 Packages
Packages
• A modular group of component collections that is sufficient to develop, build, and
test a technology
• A high-level application or application suite, e.g. Phone Apps, Messaging Apps
• Services with a common or interrelated code base, e.g. Security Services, Input
Methods
• A core technology, e.g. Graphics, Networking Services
• Packages are the basic unit of Symbian Foundation organisational control
• Package scope and model location is agreed with the Foundation Architecture council
• Packages are owned and maintained by a package owner (PkO)
• PkO has overall responsibility for the package and its contents
• Contributions also come from the wider Symbian Foundation community
• A package belongs to a single technology domain – a vertical grouping of related
packages
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s
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UI
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14 © 2009 Symbian Foundation
 Packages
Evolution
Packages split or combine over time
• Generic technologies split when they gain sufficient “mass” over time
to warrant their own package.
• New technologies tend to start development in the generic packages:
Generic App Support, Generic OS Services.
• This avoids the overhead of creating a package for a technology with an
unclear future
Example: Device Services split out of Generic
Persiste Device
OS OS
Generic OS Services nt Data Service
Service Security Services
s
s

• Subtechnologies split when large or sufficiently

Short
self-contained enough to be developed separately
Blue-Link
USB
Example: Shortlink Services split into Bluetooth and tooth
USB
Service
s

15 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

 Packages
Package Levels (Device Model)
• Package’s internal software stack described with levels
• Lowest provides interface to hardware or layers below
• Highest provides, UIs, APIs, metadata and documentation
• Mid-levels tend to be frameworks, engines, servers, plugins, internal tools, etc
• Meaning differs between layers
By convention, packages in the same layer and level have roughly the same
number of internal levels
• OS Layer, hw level: ≤5 levels. Bottom level reserved for development boards.
• OS Layer, services level: ≤6 levels. Bottom level reserved for device drivers
• Middleware Layer, generic level: ≤6 levels
• Middleware Layer, specific level: ≤5 levels. UI, if any, on top level
• App Layer, services level: ≤4 levels
• App Layer, apps level: ≤4 levels.
• Spanning packages ≤8 levels
• Applications and UIs on top level, frameworks and engines below, plugins and other support
on bottom (guidelines, not binding)

16 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

 Packages
Package Levels (Tools Model)
• All Tools packages have the same sets
of levels:
• UI - UI centric (e.g. editors, viewers, etc.)
• Framework - provides an extensible
development infrastructure
• Middleware - provides standard
functionality to be used by a number of
higher level components
• Lowlevel-libs – provides low level
functionality such as device drivers or
generic support libraries such as
mathlib.

17 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

 Collections
Collections
• A coherent set of collaborating components which together deliver a
complete, discrete, and identifiable part of the system functionality
• Components in a collection will generally be strongly coupled or
implement the same interface (e.g. a family of plugins)
• A component with no strong ties in the package can live alone in its
collection
• Collections can group components to reflect …
…the software or communication stack
…a sub-technology of functionality
• Collections are stacked in levels
• The primary package exposed interfaces are on the top
• The interface to lower layers or hardware are on bottom
• Middle levels tend to reflect dependencies and technology-specific
relationships

18 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

 Collections
Conventions (1/2)
• Documentation which describes …
…a single component should be contained within the component
…multiple components in a collection should live in that collection
…an entire package should live in the “package_info” collection
• Tests which cover…
…a single component should be contained as PRJ_TESTMMPFILES in
that component
…multiple components in a collection should live in that collection
…API tests for a package should live in a “packageapitest” collection
which appears at the top level in the package
…integration, validation or other test suites can live in a
collection with the components they test, or live in a test collection
at the same level (or higher) as the highest level collection they
test

19 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

 Collections
Conventions (2/2)
• A family of plugin components can live in…
…the same collection as their framework to emphasise their
relationship
…a separate collection if the framework is in another package
…a separate collection below the framework if callers need to know about
the framework, but not what plugin is used (i.e. the framework selects and
loads the plugins)
…a separate collection above the framework if callers need to know about
the plugins, (i.e. caller selects and loads the plugins )
• Configuration components should live…
…in the same collection as the component(s) they configure
• Interface components can live…
…with their components in the same collection (Symbian-style)
 They are separate from the implementation mainly for licensing / legal reasons
…in package_plat or package_pub components in the package_info collection
(S60-style)
20 © 2009 Symbian Foundation
 Components
Components
• The smallest architectural entity of the system.
A component is an implementation unit that provides a discrete, re-usable piece of the
system. In concrete terms, a component is identified with a single MRP or bld.inf file
that packages binaries, data, tests, documentation and source code.
• Build and packaging data
• Information provided to build or configuration tools to allow a system-wide, package-
wide or subsystem build
• Bld.inf location (building)
• MRP file location (CBR packaging)
• Filters (configuration)
• Informative data
Information provided for documentation or analysis purposes
• Age
• What devices this can should or must appear it
• Intended target (ie device or desktop)
• Class of contents (ie, what is in it)

21 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

 Components
Release data
• Introduced
• The release number when the component was first produced
• Older are Symbian-release based (ER5, 6.0, 7.0s, 8.1b, 9.5, etc)
• Newer use Foundation release (^2, ^3, etc)
• “Future” indicates a component ready for system-wide testing, but not in any
official release
• If not identified, the age of the component is unknown
• Why do we need it?
• To give an idea of the maturity of the component and to easily identify what is new
• Non-trivial to determined by codeline analysis, especially for older components
• Deprecated
• The release number when the component was first deprecated (like “introduced” above)
• Deprecated components are ones that are provided for backwards compatibility or
developer convenience
• All deprecated components should be documented with an alternative for developers
• Why do we need it?
• To identify components that are on their way out and should be avoided
• Not all cases can be determined by scanning Doxygen comments

22 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

 Components
Purpose
The “purpose” identifies where and how a component can be used
• Used to communicate usage with Foundation developers
• Cannot be deduced from the source code
• Mandatory • Development
• Provides core functionality for a package • For development (R&D) use only
• Strongly recommended for all • Must not appear on a commercial device
commercial devices • Generally either not production quality or
• Mandatory cannot depend on optional may have significant security risks
• Components not contributed or made • Most tests fall into this category
available to Foundation can’t be mandatory • Also tools necessary for building, but not
• Why is this needed? shipping, a device.
• Indicates to developers which DLLs their • Why is this needed?
code can statically link against
• To avoid having devices ship with
substandard or dangerous software
• Optional
• Production quality and can be used on commercial devices or end-user's desktop
• Includes development tools for third party developers which can appear on a
commercial device
• DLLs should be dynamically linked against
• Why is this needed?
• Indicates to developers which DLLs need runtime or installation-time testing for presence
23 © 2009 Symbian Foundation
 Components
Target
The target identifies where the component's deliverables are intended to be used
• Device
• At least some deliverables are used on a device
• Can be test or production
• A component with both device and desktop deliverables should be classed as “device”
Example: a component with scripts used for building device binaries
• Why is this needed?
• The target gives an idea of how much “mass” in the system is oriented for device vs desktop
• “device” is the default for components, so it does not need to be explicitly stated
• Desktop
• The deliverables are intended to be installed or run on a desktop/host-side
• Usually build tools used on a developer's desktop
• Also includes deliverables intended for an end-user's desktop
Example: end-user documentation or a desktop suite
• Why is this needed?
• At this point, this cannot be trivially determined from source, but may be able to in the future
• Other
• Any other categories do not adequately describe the component's intended target
• Why is this needed?
• In case this does not cover a future situation

24 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

 Components
Classes
The Class is a set of standard informational tags which indicate functional properties
• A component can have any number of classes
• Informative, as opposed to build-related properties which are captured by filters
• Tool (“tool” in the system definition)
• Component contains only tools
• A component which happens to have tools to help build or test it does not count
• It must be a component which contains TOOLS or TOOLS2 as the targets in the bld.inf
• Why is this needed?
• This makes it easy to differentiate between tools and tests
• Currently manually specified, this may be automatable in the future
• API (“api” in the system definition)
• Component contains only header files or other interface specifications
• Used throughout ex-S60 code to enforce control of APIs
• Also used when the interface and implementation have different licenses
• An API component will not contain any binaries
• Binaries are provided by one or more other components
• …or not at all, if it is expected that a downstream vendor will provide them
• Why is this needed?
• Identifies where the component’s implementation is physically separate from the
exposed interface
• Currently manually specified, this may be automatable in the future

25 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

 Components
Documentation class
• Contains only documentation
• Documentation for a single component should live in that component
• Documentation that describes how sets of components interact can live in the same
collection as a separate component
• Package-wide documentation should live in a component in the “Package-name Info”
collection
• Component should be called “Package-name Documentation”
• Uses the “doc” class in the system definition
• The “target” identifies where the documentation is used
• i.e. on the device or on a desktop
• The “purpose” should match the purpose of what is being documented
Example: If it’s documenting mandatory components, purpose should be mandatory
Example: If it’s documenting tests, the purpose should be development
• Why is this needed?
• While it is easy to detect if a component contains only data files, it is not always
clear what the files are for
• Makes it easier to identify and collect documentation for developers

26 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

 Components
Configuration class
• Contains configuration files used by another component
• Configuration components are used…
…to facilitate customisation by downstream vendors or developers
…if the binaries are mandatory but the configuration is not
…if the configuration files are encumbered by 3rd party IP
• Non-production configuration files can also live in the component as
test exports
• Uses the “config” class in the system definition
• Why is this needed?
• This highlights the configurable parts of the system

27 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

 Components
Plugin Class
An atomic set of binaries exposing a standard interface defined outside the compon
• The component’s main purpose is to implement the interface
• Components which happen to contains plugins to do a larger task are not considered plugins
• The plugin’s framework must be in a separate component
• Plugins should only be separate from the framework when there is a logical reason
• The plugin is expected to be removed, extended or replaced outside of the component
• If the framework is mandatory but the plugins are not
• If the plugins are encumbered by 3rd party IP
• A framework should not expose internal plugins
• The fact that plugins are used inside the component is invisible to the rest of the system
• Exposing the plugin constrains the design and will do more harm than good
• Plugins must be atomic (like all components)
• Plugin components can contain binaries that are used solely or primarily by the plugin
Example: A set of plugins plus a set of DLLs that provide utilities for it
Example: A client/server plus a plugin the requires them to work
• Consider creating a single component for multiple plugins with the same interface
… or group into components based on usage or functionality
• A plugin must contain a binary
• A configuration component is not a plugin
• Uses the “plugin” class in the system definition
• Why is this needed?
• This highlights parts of the system which may need additions / alterations when creating a device
28 © 2009 Symbian Foundation
 Components
Build and packaging data
• The unit describes how to find and build a component
• Units are not architectural entities
• <unit> is the XML element which describes how to build the component
• A component can have only a single unit for a specific build
• Components with multiple units must be filtered or otherwise processed
to only use one of them at build time
• Configuration of builds is still being defined
• For the time being stick to the one unit per component rule
• Units serve four purposes
• Configuration
• Building
• Defining content
• Importing external components

29 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

 Components
Configuration
• Simple configuration can turn on or off units (and components) in a build
• Usage likely to change in the future as Foundation configuration tools mature
• Two mechanisms are provided in the system definition:
• Filters are global identifiers that are used to remove anything that contains that filter
• Used on only components and units
• Intended to allow filtering based on device/product/build phase/etc
Example: Components / units with filter="techview" are ignored unless techview filter is explicitly requested
• Requires filter-aware tools to do the processing (e.g. genxml, filtering.xsl)
• Why is this needed?
• Filters provide a way to easily turn on or off large numbers of components when building
• Version numbers are provided for external tools to select one of a set of units
• Versions are used when a component undergoes major change that cannot be easily configured
within the component
• Alternative bld.inf (and MRP) files are selected by associating each with a version number
• Requires version-aware tools to do the processing (e.g. variability tools)
• Versions are not actively currently used
• Why is this needed?
• Version numbers allow each unit to have a unique way to identify it without requiring a globally unique ID
• Versioning units allows the component to remain invariant to major changes in its content

30 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

 Components
Building
• The unit provides the location of the bld.inf, which
describes how to build a component
• Not every component needs a bld.inf
• Data-only components
• ie, anything which does not build or export anything
• Why is this needed?
• The build system uses the system definition to generate a set of
bld.infs to process

31 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

 Components
Defining contents
• Units provide mechanisms for identifying what files are owned by a component
• Used to analyse metrics on data/code/etc to whole components (and higher rank items)
• Used to tell packaging tool how to wrap up a component for self-contained delivery
• The Symbian CBR tools use the sysdef to determine the contents of the OS
• Anything not owned by a component is not part of the system
• All unowned files are removed before building
• Three mechanisms for defining content:
• MRP files: Explicitly describes all content and deliverables
• Classifies content by type: source, binaries, exports, test binaries and test exports
• Identifies source by IPR code
• Legacy mechanism used by CBR tools.
• Implicit: All files in a component’s “ID path” are owned by that component
• ID path = directory made up from layer/package/collection/component
• Not valid in a large number of cases
• Base: specifies component’s root directory
• Everything under component’s base is owned by the component
• Why is this needed?
• Analysing architectural entities requires knowing what component all files in the OS
belong to
• This provides a back-up for components that don’t map to their ID path

32 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

 Components
Importing
• A pre-built component is one that is not in the codeline, but
is needed for a build
• Binaries and exports are imported before the OS is built
…or after, so binaries can be put in a ROM
• Currently only works for importing CBR components
• Used in Device codeline to import Tools codeline
components
• Why is this needed?
• Dependencies on other codelines can be included without needing
to rebuild the code

33 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

Relationship between models
• Device and Tools models Device model Tools model
• Device  Tools
Deployment
• Device cannot statically link or Applications
#include Tools
• Device can be built using Tools Valid deps
Analysis
• Tools  Device Middleware

• Tools can statically link and

#include public/platform Device
components OS Invalid Development

• Foundation and Vendor models deps

• Foundation model cannot depend

Valid deps

Valid deps
on vendor-specific components

Invalid

Invalid
deps

deps
• Vendor components can only
depend on upstream models
• A vendor’s components can depend
on Foundation components
• A vendor should control their
dependency on components from Vendor Models
other vendors

34 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

Why?
• Why do we need a system definition?
• So we have a definitive list of what the contents of the system are. Since the same data
is used for building, architecture, documentation and analysis we can ensure
consistency and accuracy
• Why do we need layers and packages?
• Layers and packages keep the system clean and modular. The rules are testable and
guidelines make development more straightforward.
• Why do we need collections? Why 4 hierarchical entities?
• To ensure the system is understandable by humans. Each rank of entity is expected to
contain on the order of 10 entities, meaning that a person can comprehend a system of
over 2000 components.
• Collections also provide a way of organising and describing a package’s internal
structure, making the package appear as more than just a black box to outsiders
• Why does the system need to be understandable?
• Mainly to keep track of what we have and avoid losing or duplicating code and
functionality that already exists
• It’s also a very useful “big picture” introduction to the system, and a good way to
represent analyses
• Why XML?
• It’s a widely supported standard that’s both human and machine readable

35 © 2009 Symbian Foundation

System Model Resources
• About the System Model
http://developer.symbian.org/wiki/index.php/Symbian_System_Model
• System Definition specification
http://developer.symbian.org/wiki/index.php/System_Definition
• Foundation software organisation
http://developer.symbian.org/wiki/index.php/Software_Structuring_Princ
• Foundation Packages
http://developer.symbian.org/main/source/packages/index.php
• Foundation Technology Domains
http://developer.symbian.org/main/source/technology_domains/index.ph
• PkO Training Material
Part 2: System Definition XML syntax
Part 3: Using the System Definition
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