NDLI: Coevolution of variability models and related software artifacts : A fresh look at evolution patterns in the Linux kernel

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Passos, Leonardo Teixeira, Leopoldo Dintzner, Nicolas Apel, Sven Wąsowski, Andrzej Czarnecki, Krzysztof Borba, Paulo Guo, Jianmei
Copyright Year	2015
Abstract	Variant-rich software systems offer a large degree of customization, allowing users to configure the target system according to their preferences and needs. Facing high degrees of variability, these systems often employ variability models to explicitly capture user-configurable features (e.g., systems options) and the constraints they impose. The explicit representation of features allows them to be referenced in different variation points across different artifacts, enabling the latter to vary according to specific feature selections. In such settings, the evolution of variability models interplays with the evolution of related artifacts, requiring the two to evolve together, or coevolve. Interestingly, little is known about how such coevolution occurs in real-world systems, as existing research has focused mostly on variability evolution as it happens in variability models only. Furthermore, existing techniques supporting variability evolution are usually validated with randomly-generated variability models or evolution scenarios that do not stem from practice. As the community lacks a deep understanding of how variability evolution occurs in real-world systems and how it relates to the evolution of different kinds of software artifacts, it is not surprising that industry reports existing tools and solutions ineffective, as they do not handle the complexity found in practice. Attempting to mitigate this overall lack of knowledge and to support tool builders with insights on how variability models coevolve with other artifact types, we study a large and complex real-world variant-rich software system: the Linux kernel. Specifically, we extract variability-coevolution patterns capturing changes in the variability model of the Linux kernel with subsequent changes in Makefiles and C source code. From the analysis of the patterns, we report on findings concerning evolution principles found in the kernel, and we reveal deficiencies in existing tools and theory when handling changes captured by our patterns.
Starting Page	1744
Ending Page	1793
Page Count	50
File Format	PDF
ISSN	13823256
Journal	Empirical Software Engineering
Volume Number	21
Issue Number	4
e-ISSN	15737616
Language	English
Publisher	Springer US
Publisher Date	2015-05-05
Publisher Place	New York
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Variability Evolution Software product lines Patterns Linux Software Engineering/Programming and Operating Systems Programming Languages, Compilers, Interpreters
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Software

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

High-MCC Functions in the Linux Kernel

Composing multiple variability artifacts to assemble coherent workflows

Understanding component co-evolution with a study on Linux

Performance variability in software product lines: proposing theories from a case study

Analysing the Linux kernel feature model changes using FMDiff

Extraction and evolution of architectural variability models in plugin-based systems

Weaving variability into domain metamodels

Effort estimation of FLOSS projects: a study of the Linux kernel

Feature Nets: behavioural modelling of software product lines

Coevolution of variability models and related software artifacts : A fresh look at evolution patterns in the Linux kernel

Similar Documents

High-MCC Functions in the Linux Kernel

Composing multiple variability artifacts to assemble coherent workflows

Understanding component co-evolution with a study on Linux

Performance variability in software product lines: proposing theories from a case study

Analysing the Linux kernel feature model changes using FMDiff

Extraction and evolution of architectural variability models in plugin-based systems

Weaving variability into domain metamodels

Effort estimation of FLOSS projects: a study of the Linux kernel

Feature Nets: behavioural modelling of software product lines

Coevolution of variability models and related software artifacts : A fresh look at evolution patterns in the Linux kernel