Using Feature Feeds to Improve Developer Awareness in Software Ecosystem Evolution

Abstract

In many domains organizations need to serve a mass market while at the same time customers request highly individual solutions. Companies thus form software ecosystems (SECOs) comprising various related hardware and software product lines (SPLs). Technology changes, internal enhancements, and customer requests drive the evolution of such SECOs. Multiple projects are conducted in parallel to deliver customized solutions to customers. Developers often adhere to a staged configuration process: first, required software components are selected to derive an initial product, which is then evolved by refining features and adapting source code to meet customer requirements. These customer-specific solutions are often created using a clone-and-own approach and typically contain features potentially reusable in other solutions. However, the awareness of developers about such platform extensions is typically low and feedback from products to SPLs is often lacking. In this research-in-progress paper we thus present a publish-subscribe approach fostering the awareness about feature implementations in SECOs. The approach is based on feature feeds and SECO awareness models.