The waterfall lifecycle is top-down, favoring rigorous design specifications while the spiral is interactive with the client. Historically, SE used stepwise refinement, now SE also use cost-benefit analysis and CASE tools. Traditionally, version-control consists of providing tools for generating a branching tree of versions, with facilities for reserving a given version for modification. This is supported by associating attributes with each software version, and then allowing a configuration to be specified by describing the set of desired attributes. Arthur Andersen, EDS, Computer Sciences Corp., American Mgt.
Version control is a process to manage multiple versions of a developing software project.
Configuration control means a formal process for controlling shared products and files and all changes thereto. Build tools are used to manage project files, linking correct versions together.