A framework for managing cloned product variants

We focus on the problem of managing a collection of related software products realized via cloning. We contribute a framework that explicates operators required for developing and maintaining such products, and demonstrate their usage on two concrete scenarios observed in industrial settings: sharing of features between cloned variants and re-engineering the variants into “single-copy” representations advocated by software product line engineering approaches. We discuss possible implementations of the operators, including synergies with existing work developed in seemingly unrelated contexts, with the goal of helping understand and structure existing work and identify opportunities for future research.