In engineering and computing, a stovepipe system is a legacy system which cannot be upgraded or refactored and which must be built around until it can be replaced entirely.
Examples of stovepipe systems:
- Systems for which new hardware is no longer available.
- Systems whose original source code has been lost.
- Systems that were built using old or ad hoc engineering methodologies for which support can no longer be found.
The term is also used to describe a system that does not interoperate with other
systems, presuming instead that it is the only extant system.
A stovepipe system is an example of an anti-pattern.
See also