D24: Refactoring-aware Software Configuration Management

Refactoring tools allow programmers to change their source code quicker than before. However, the complexity of these changes cause versioning tools that operate at a file level to lose the history of entities. This problem can be solved by semantic, operation-based SCM with persistent IDs. We propose that versioning tools be aware of program entities and refactoring operations. MolhadoRef, our prototype, uses these techniques to ensure that it never loses history.