Consistency checking for the evolution of cardinality-based feature models

Author
Year of Publication
2014
Conference
18th International Software Product Line Conference, SPLC 14, Florence, Italy, September 15-19, 2014
Pages
122-131
URL
http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2648511.2648524
DOI
10.1145/2648511.2648524
Keywords
Abstract
Feature-models (fms) are a widely used approach to specify the commonalities and variability in variable systems and software product lines. Various works have addressed edits to fms for fm evolution and tool support to ensure consistency of fms. An important extension to fms are feature cardinalities and related constraints, as extensively used e.g., when modeling variability of cloud computing environments. Since cardinality-based fms pose additional complexity, additional support for evolution and consistency checking with respect to feature cardinalities would be desirable, but has not been addressed yet. In this paper, we discuss common cardinality-based fm edits and resulting inconsistencies based on experiences with fms in cloud domain. We introduce tool-support for automated inconsistency detection and explanation based on an off-the-shelf solver. We demonstrate the feasibility of the approach by an empirical evaluation showing the performance of the tool.