Pragmatic strategies for variability management in product lines in small- to medium-size companies

Abstract

Most SPLs in small- to medium-size companies evolve from a single successful product. Initially, each new product variant is often developed by ad hoc reuse - copy and modify - of source code files implementing existing products. Versions of source files pertinent to different products are stored under a Software Configuration Management (SCM) tool such as CVS or SVN. As the number of customers and relevant product variants increases, such ad hoc reuse shows its limits: The product size grows as we implement new features in response to customer requests. At the same time, we need maintain all the released product variants, so we have more and more code to maintain. Also with a growing customer base (good for our business!), increasing product variability becomes a challenge for ad hoc reuse: How do we know which versions of source files should be selected from SCM repository for reuse in development of a new product? How should we customize them and then integrate to build a new product? These problems may become taxing on company resources. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.