Supporting the effective configuration of software product lines

Abstract

Most research in product line engineering focuses on the domain engineering phase. However, the ultimate reason of any Software Product Line Engineering (SPLE) activity is the derivation of products and thus application engineering. In this research we focus on how the configuration activity within application engineering can be supported to achieve sufficient efficiency. We aim to provide a broad overview of the potential research landscape where we also discuss the actual coverage of the field by research work. As a result, we do not only provide an overview of the field, but do also describe several potential research approaches that have so far received very little attention.