Supporting Distributed Product Configuration by Integrating Heterogeneous Variability Modeling Approaches
Abstract
In industrial settings products are developed by more than one organization. Software vendors and suppliers
commonly typically maintain their own product lines, which contribute to a larger (multi) product line or software ecosystem.
It is unrealistic to assume that the participating organizations will agree on using a specific variability modeling technique—
they will rather use different approaches and tools to manage the variability of their systems. Objective: We aim to support
product configuration in software ecosystems based on several variability models with different semantics that have been created
using different notations. Method: We present an integrative approach that provides a unified perspective to users configuring
products in multi product line environments, regardless of the different modeling methods and tools used internally. We also
present a technical infrastructure and a prototype implementation based on web services. Results: We show the feasibility of
the approach and its implementation by using it with the three most widespread types of variability modeling approaches in the
product line community, i.e., feature-based, OVM-style, and decision-oriented modeling. To demonstrate the feasibility and
flexibility of our approach, we present an example derived from industrial experience in enterprise resource planning. We further
applied the approach to support the configuration of privacy settings in the Android ecosystem based on multiple variability
models. We also evaluated the performance of different model enactment strategies used in our approach. Conclusions: Tools
and techniques allowing stakeholders to handle variability in a uniform manner can considerably foster the initiation and growth
of software ecosystems from the perspective of software reuse and configuration.
Origin | Files produced by the author(s) |
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