AoURN-based modeling and analysis of software product lines

Abstract

Software Product Line Engineering concerns itself with domain engineering and application engineering. During domain engineering, the whole product family is modeled with a preferred flavor of feature models and additional models as required (e.g., domain models or scenario-based models). During application engineering, the focus shifts toward a single family member and the configuration of the member's features. Recently, aspectual concepts have been employed to better encapsulate individual features of a Software Product Line (SPL), but the existing body of SPL work does not include a unified reasoning framework that integrates aspect-oriented feature description artifacts with the capability to reason about stakeholders' goals while taking feature interactions into consideration. Goal-oriented SPL approaches have been proposed, but do not provide analysis capabilities that help modelers meet the needs of the numerous stakeholders involved in an SPL while at the same time considering feature interactions. We present an aspect-oriented SPL approach for the requirements phase that allows modelers (a) to capture features, goals, and scenarios in a unified framework and (b) to reason about stakeholders' needs and perform trade-off analyses while considering undesirable interactions that are not obvious from the feature model. The approach is based on the Aspect-oriented User Requirements Notation (AoURN) and helps identify, prioritize, and choose products based on analysis results provided by AoURN editor and analysis tools. We apply the AoURN-based SPL framework to the Via Verde SPL to demonstrate the feasibility of this approach through the selection of a Via Verde product configuration that satisfies stakeholders' needs and results in a high-level, scenario-based specification that is free from undesirable feature interactions.