Constraint Checking in Distributed Product Configuration of Multi Product Lines

Large-scale software-intensive systems are often considered as systems of systems (SoS) comprising multiple heterogeneous but interrelated systems. The engineering of SoS often involves the derivation of system variants from multiple interrelated product lines to meet the overall requirements. If multiple teams and experts are involved in the configuration of these individual systems, their individual configuration choices may conflict with each other or violate constraints. This paper illustrates industrial challenges based on a previously conducted case study on distributed configuration in multi product lines. We then present CoDiM, a tool-supported approach for defining and checking constraints in distributed configuration of an SoS. Our approach is integrated in the product line tool suite DOPLER developed in cooperation with industry partners. An application scenario from a real-world multi product line demonstrates how our approach allows detecting violations of constraints during distributed configuration of an SoS. The approach provides immediate feedback to configurers during product derivation and enables the dynamic definition of constraints even during configuration time to accommodate changes. CoDiM further supports constraint templates which can be parameterized to allow their reuse in different multi product line configurations.