XSLT generally transforms one XML document into another. Code Management CVS is a standard release and version control package. There are good commercial alternatives, but I'd rather use CVS than pay. There are some public domain alternatives, none widely used yet. One very promising package is Bitkeeper .
Subversion is an improved CVS clone.
We need to structure our software around some sort of formal framework. Gaudi from LHC-B can be used as a starting point for discussion, although I believe it is too much for us. See also an article on Evolutionary Delivery and other interesting notes from the Atlas DAQ Software Development Site. We should start learning Geant4. Geant4 geometry and physics generators might be useful.