Schema evolution and integration

Abstract

Abstract. Providing support for schema evolution allows existing databases to be adjusted for varying roles over time. This paper reflects on existing evolution support schemes and introduces a more general and functional mechanism to support schema evolution and instance adaptation for centralized and distributed object-oriented database systems. Our evolution support scheme is distinguished from previous mechanisms in that it is primarily concerned with preserving existing database objects and maintaining compatibility for old applications, while permitting a wider range of evolution operations. It achieves this by supporting schema versioning, allowing multiple representations of instances to persist simultaneously, and providing for programmer specification of how to adapt existing instances.The mechanism is general enough to provide much of the support necessarily for heterogeneous schema integration, as well as incorporating much of the features of object migration and replication.

A Unified Framework for Supporting Dynamic Schema Evolution in Object Databases

“…-In a version-based approach [4,7,8,12], a schema update causes the derivation of new versions of classes/schema. Old programs can continue to interact with (old or new) objects in the database using the old schema, which has been retained.…”

“…In the second technique, the derivation of a new version of a class, leads to the creation of a new version of each object of the class that has been versioned [4,7]. This technique resolves the problem of information loss, by supporting many object versions.…”