Hey everyone,

I'm currently writing software for a project that uses a lot of Xml files 
for configuration. The project is written in C#/.NET. Each such xml file has 
a schema defined for it (Xsd file). This schema is not used at run-time. What 
we do is use XPath expressions to query for required information (nodes).

We are currently still in development, but we have a few deployments to test 
the software. These deployments each have their own configuration (eg for 
coordinates).

The problem comes when an upgrade of the software is distributed. Upgrading 
the binaries (software) is trivial: just copy. However upgrading the 
configuration (xml-)files automatically is another story. The information 
that is in the configuration files should stay the same. New information 
should be inserted in the configuration files, preferably automatically. 
Information that is no longer needed should be retained (this to facilitate a 
downgrade of the software, for which I do not intend to write software). 
Information elements that did not exist in an earlier version, is queried for 
at the time of upgrade or has a default, and should then be inserted. 

I would like to know what other people (would) do in this situation. Are 
there any tools to facilitate this sort of upgrades?

With kind regards,
-- 
Tom Tempelaere.