Tracking Evolution in Model-based Product Lines

Software product lines are complex and need to be maintained and evolved over many years. New customer requirements, new products derived, technology changes, and internal enhancements lead to continuous changes of the artifacts and models constituting a product line. Managing such changes therefore becomes a key issue during a product line’s evolution. We propose an approach that supports multi-level monitoring of product line artifacts and models and continuous tracking of changes. We present tool support for evolution tracking in Eclipse workspaces and illustrate our approach with examples from DOPLER, an existing Eclipse-based product line environment. Keywords-product line engineering; evolution; change tracking