Some time ago I came across a very interesting article by Robert C. Martin (1996 column in pdf) about how packages are supposed to be made up and how it helps building a release, debug and shared-workload strategy. I don’t think it all applies to modern package management, especially for web applications, but it is an interesting perspective that deserves some attention.
www.objectmentor.com/publications/granularity.pdf
My summary of his article (as I understood all of it):
Sometimes it is best to know forehand some of the more obscure features and limitations of a software product, before diving in. One such obscure limitation is that of the infamous Obliterate feature of the Version Control software, Subversion, that people only learn of when they discover it is not there. Will you need it? Most likely yes, at some point. Especially if you are dealing with a large codebase, you will want to be wary of Subversion, however great its existing feature are. Read on.
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