Release archive · October 2017
A release is more than the latest version of a topic.
XDocs 5.0 put release management at the center of the announcement: independent branches, visible changes and conflicts, and deliberate decisions about what to merge.
The 2017 announcement
Archive · Published 3 October 2017. Product versions, roles, contact details, and partnership statements reflect the original release period.
Managing structured content in complex documentation environments has never been easier
October 2017, Vancouver, Canada: Bluestream Database Software Corp—a provider of DITA-enabled Component Content Management System (CCMS) solutions—is pleased to announce the release of XDocs 5.0, which offers powerful, new release management tools to the professional technical documentation market.
In technical documentation departments, numerous versions of documentation are often maintained for the purpose of supporting multiple product releases. XDocs 5.0 allows users to work independently on versions of topics on different branches. Often in this environment, there is a need to merge particular changes into subsequent or previous branches of documentation. When faced with multiple revisions on topic versions across branches, XDocs 5.0 can easily show the changes and potential conflicts, and a user can decide which changes to merge into a topic version on any branch.
Bluestream VP of Sales and Marketing Nenad Furtula says,
“Release Management functionality poses some complex technical challenges and the beauty in the XDocs interpretation of the problem lies in the elegance of implementation, namely, in the ease of use from the end-users perspective. “
In order to provide a superior functionality and experience with respect to Release Management functionality, Bluestream has partnered with and integrated best-in-class technology from DITA Merge by DeltaXML (https://www.deltaxml.com) and oXygen XML Editor by SyncroSoft (http://www.oxygenxml.com). The transparent integration is seamless and provides an unparalleled end-user experience.
In addition to a suite of powerful release management tools, XDocs 5.0 continues to offer users a standards compliant single-sourcing solution that enables everyone within an organization to create, manage, store, and intelligently publish large volumes of both XML and non-XML content.
About Bluestream
Bluestream’s flagship product is the XDocs Component Content Management System (CCMS), a standards-compliant single-sourcing solution that enables communicators to create, manage, and store large volumes of both XML and non-XML content and to publish the content dynamically. Bluestream’s competitive pricing model enables organizations of all sizes to realize the benefits of an enterprise class platform and a rapid deployment methodology means teams can be up and running in a matter of hours.
Bluestream customers range from Fortune 100 organizations seeking complex cross-departmental DITA solutions to small businesses containing single author documentation teams.
Bluestream has been in business since 1997 and has customers in many verticals, among them software, oil and gas, health care, military, manufacturing, and finance.
Bluestream Media Contact
Nenad Furtula, VP Sales and Marketing
Bluestream Database Software Corp.
North America Office
200 – 1168 Hamilton Street, Vancouver, Canada
Tel: +1.604.669.4469
Editorial context · October 2026
The problem behind “document time travel”
Documentation teams often support several product releases at once. A useful correction may therefore need to move between branches while other changes stay put. That was the problem behind the XDocs 5.0 announcement. The key question is which change belongs in each release.
Make the merge decision explicit
| Before merging | Decision to record |
|---|---|
| Confirm the target branch | Which product release will receive the change? |
| Check applicability | Does the correction make sense for that release’s behavior, terminology, and prerequisites? |
| Review conflicts | Where do the branches express incompatible edits that require an author’s decision? |
| Validate the result | Are references, related topics, and the assembled publication still appropriate after the merge? |
A small scenario that tests the workflow
Start with one shared procedure in two releases. Add a maintenance correction to the older release and a separate feature change to the newer release. Next, ask the team to merge only the correction. Finally, inspect the topic and publication in the target branch. This test shows which changes moved and which stayed put. It can also expose assumptions that a simple side-by-side comparison might miss.
Historical technology context
The release credited DITA Merge by DeltaXML and oXygen XML Editor by SyncroSoft as integrated technologies. For a current deployment, confirm compatibility, licensing, and support for the versions involved.
Archive source: XDocs CCMS 5.0 Release—Seamless document time travel made possible via superior release management, 3 October 2017.