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Supporting Feature Model Evolution by Lifting Code-Level Dependencies: A Research Preview

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Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality (REFSQ 2019)

Abstract

[Context and Motivation] Organizations pursuing software product line engineering often use feature models to define the commonalities and variability of software-intensive systems. Frequently, requirements-level features are mapped to development artifacts to ensure traceability and to facilitate the automated generation of downstream artifacts. [Question/Problem] Due to the continuous evolution of product lines and the complexity of the artifact dependencies, it is challenging to keep feature models consistent with their underlying implementation. [Principal Ideas/Results] In this paper, we outline an approach combining feature-to-artifact mappings and artifact dependency analysis to inform domain engineers about possible inconsistencies. In particular, our approach uses static code analysis and a variation control system to lift complex code-level dependencies to feature models. [Contributions] We demonstrate the feasibility of our approach using a Pick-and-Place Unit system and outline our further research plans.

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Acknowledgements

The financial support by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs, the National Foundation for Research, Technology and Development, and KEBA AG, Austria is gratefully acknowledged.

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Correspondence to Daniel Hinterreiter .

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Hinterreiter, D., Feichtinger, K., Linsbauer, L., Prähofer, H., Grünbacher, P. (2019). Supporting Feature Model Evolution by Lifting Code-Level Dependencies: A Research Preview. In: Knauss, E., Goedicke, M. (eds) Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality. REFSQ 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11412. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15538-4_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15538-4_12

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-15537-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-15538-4

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