About

Just like software in general, software product lines are permanently subject to change. This introduces evolution as a second problem dimension in addition to variability, which is the primary phenomenon addressed by software product line engineering. Traditionally, the methods and tools applied for revision control and variant management are radically different and mutually disjoint, although research has already suggested that evolution and variability can be tackled in a holistic way. Concrete examples of integrating approaches include uniform or unified versioning, delta-orientation in connection with hyper feature models, evolution-aware clone-and-own, projectional SPL editing, and variation control systems.

VariVolution (the 1st International Workshop on Variability and Evolution of Software-intensive Systems) aims at bringing together active researchers studying software evolution and variability from different angles as well as practitioners who encounter these phenomena in real-world applications and systems. The workshop offers a platform for exchanging new ideas and fostering future research collaborations and synergies.

Workshop Program

VariVolution'18 will be held as half-day workshop at SPLC. See http://splc2018.net/program/detailed-program

Venue: Lindholm Conference Center, Room Kelvin. See https://chalmerskonferens.se/en/konferens/lindholmen-conference-centre/

Schedule

• Morning program: you are welcome to attend REVE, the 6th International Workshop on Reverse Variability Engineering. See http://reveworkshop.github.io/
• 12:00 - 1:30 Lunch
• 1:30 - 1:45 Introduction round
• 1:45 - 2:30 Warm-up talk "Classification of Variation Control Systems"
• 2:30 - 2:40 Short break
• 2:40 - 3:00 Michael Nieke, Christoph Seidl and Thomas Thüm - Back to the Future: Avoiding Paradoxes in Feature-Model Evolution (short paper)
• 3:00 - 3:30 Damir Bilic, Daniel Sundmark, Wasif Afzal, Peter Wallin, Adnan Causevic and Christoffer Amlinger - Model-Based Product Line Engineering in an Industrial Automotive Context: An Exploratory Case Study (full paper)
• 3:30 - 3:50 Coffee break
• 3:50 - 4:10 Hafiyyan Sayyid Fadhlillah, Daya Adianto, Ade Azurat and Siti Ina Sakinah - Generating Adaptable User Interface in SPLE Using Delta-Oriented Programming and Interaction Flow Modeling Language (short paper)
• 4:10 - 4:30 Wrap-up and general discussion

Presentation Guidelines

For the paper presentations, the authors should reserve approximately 40% of their time for question answering, thus:

• 12 minutes talk + 8 minutes discussion for short papers
• 18 minutes talk + 12 minutes discussion for full papers

Registration

To attend VariVolution, please register for the SPLC 2018 workshops. See http://splc2018.net/registration

Topics and Goals

VariVolution'18 welcomes contributions on any of the following (non-exhaustive) list of topics:

• Conceptual approaches and technical solutions towards uniform (chronological and logical) versioning
• Variation control systems
• Filtered editing of variational software artifacts in different flavors (e.g., fully, partially, temporarily filtered editing, projectional editing)
• Evolution problems concerning specifc variability mechanisms (e.g., delta-oriented, annotation-based, transformational, clone-and-own)
• Tools and approaches supporting collaborative editing of variability-intensive systems
• Variability- and evolution-friendly software development processes (e.g., reactive, incremental, agile)
• Investigation and classification of real-world problems caused by combination of variability and evolution
• Industrial challenges and lessons learnt

The workshop serves as a highly interactive platform for exchange, which is reflected by a diversity of submission formats ranging from original research papers over position papers to informal tool demonstrations or fully interactive sessions. The expected audience is not confined to the SPLC community; rather, we also welcome variability-relevant contributions from evolution-related fields such as software configuration management or software maintenance.

How to Submit

Important Dates

The important dates for the workshop are aligned with the general workshop due dates of SPLC:

• Workshop papers submission: May 23, 2018 May 30, 2018
• Workshop papers notification: June 22, 2018 June 29, 2018
• Final version of papers (camera ready): July 2, 2018 July 13, 2018

All these times are AoE.

Submission Guidelines

The workshop seeks submissions of different types and degrees of maturity in order to be inclusive of both researchers and practitioners and provide a lively platform for discussion also for early concepts and ideas.

All contributions shall be formatted according to the official 2017 ACM sigconf style and shall be submitted through EasyChair.

Submission link: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=varivolution18

Paper Categories (Maturity of Presented Work)

The workshop allows submissions at different levels of maturity. Make sure that you select the correct category on the submission page.

• Full papers: Papers of up to 8 pages containing original work and research results. Full papers should at least present a preliminary evaluation of the contributed results. Accepted papers will be published in Volume 2 of the official SPLC proceedings.
• Short papers: Papers of up to 4 pages describing ongoing work and research. Accepted papers will be published in Volume 2 of the official SPLC proceedings.
• Position papers: Papers of up to one page which present an arguable opinion on a relevant topic. Accepted contributions will be presented and discussed at the workshop but will not be published in the official proceedings.
• Industrial Challenges and Lessons Learnt (ICLL) papers: This type of contribution explicitly targets industry. A dedicated workshop session is reserved for presentations of industrial challenges and lessons learnt, connected with both variability and evolution. The aim of this session is to make academic researchers aware of real-world problems. Accepted presentations will not be published in the proceedings. For submission, we expect a one-page abstract.
• Tool demos: Informal tool demos shall be submitted through a one page abstract of the planned demonstration which will not be published in the official proceedings. The submission may include links to supplementary online material such as downloadable software and/or tool screencasts.

Review Process

Full and short papers will be peer-reviewed by at least three program committee members. Position papers, ICLL papers, and tool demos will not be peer-reviewed; the workshop organizers decide whether they are accepted or not, primarily based on their potential to stimulate interesting discussions. All accepted submissions, regardless of their level of maturity, will be given a presentation slot at the workshop.

The workshop does NOT follow a double-blind review process.

Committees

Organizing Committee

• Lukas Linsbauer (JKU Linz, AT)
• Somayeh Malakuti (ABB Corporate Research, DE)
• Andrey Sadovykh (SOFTEAM Research, FR)
• Felix Schwägerl (University of Bayreuth, DE)

Program Committee

• Thomas Buchmann (University of Bayreuth, DE)
• Andreas Burger (ABB Corporate Research, DE)
• Sten Grüner (ABB Corporate Research, DE)
• Udo Kelter (University of Siegen, DE)
• Rick Rabiser (JKU Linz, AT)
• Klaus Schmid (University of Hildesheim, DE)
• Thanikesavan Sivanthi (ABB Corporate Research, CH)
• Eric Walkingshaw (Oregon State University, OR, US)
• Bernhard Westfechtel (University of Bayreuth, DE)
• Manuel Wimmer (TU Wien, AT)

Steering Committee

• Thorsten Berger (Chalmers | University of Gothenburg, SE)
• Timo Kehrer (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, DE)
• Klaus Schmid (University of Hildesheim, DE)

Contact

For further questions about the workshop, feel free to contact the workshop organizers:

Lukas Linsbauer, Somayeh Malakuti, Andrey Sadovykh, Felix Schwägerl