  The Dulmage-Mendelsohn decomposition is a classical canonical decomposition
in matching theory applicable for bipartite graphs, and is famous not only for
its application in the field of matrix computation, but also for providing a
prototypal structure in matroidal optimization theory. The Dulmage-Mendelsohn
decomposition is stated and proved using the two color classes, and therefore
generalizing this decomposition for nonbipartite graphs has been a difficult
task. In this paper, we obtain a new canonical decomposition that is a
generalization of the Dulmage-Mendelsohn decomposition for arbitrary graphs,
using a recently introduced tool in matching theory, the basilica
decomposition. Our result enables us to understand all known canonical
decompositions in a unified way. Furthermore, we apply our result to derive a
new theorem regarding barriers. The duality theorem for the maximum matching
problem is the celebrated Berge formula, in which dual optimizers are known as
barriers. Several results regarding maximal barriers have been derived by known
canonical decompositions, however no characterization has been known for
general graphs. In this paper, we provide a characterization of the family of
maximal barriers in general graphs, in which the known results are developed
and unified.
