Operation-based versioning of metamodels with COPE

Abstract

Model-based development promises to increase productivity by offering modeling languages tailored to a specific domain. Such modeling languages are typically defined by a metamodel. In response to changing requirements and technological progress, the domains and thus the metamodels are subject to change. Manually migrating existing models to a new version of their metamodel is tedious and error-prone. Hence, adequate tool support is required to support the maintenance of modeling languages. COPE provides adequate tool support by specifying the coupled evolution of metamodels and models. In this paper, we present the tool support to record the operations carried out on the metamodel directly through an editor. These operations can be enriched by instructions on how to migrate corresponding models. To further reduce migration effort, COPE provides high-level operations which have built-in meaning in terms of the migration of models.