VariVolution 2020

3rd Intl. Workshop on Variability and Evolution of Software-Intensive Systems

Co-located with SPLC 2020, 19-23 October 2020, Montréal, Canada

About

Just like software in general, software product lines are permanently subject to change. This introduces evolution as a second problem dimension in addition to variability, which is the primary phenomenon addressed by software product line engineering. Traditionally, the methods and tools applied for revision control and variant management are radically different and mutually disjoint, although research has already suggested that evolution and variability can be tackled in a holistic way. Concrete examples of integrating approaches include uniform or unified versioning, delta-orientation in connection with hyper feature models, evolution-aware clone-and-own, projectional SPL editing, and variation control systems.

VariVolution (the 3rd International Workshop on Variability and Evolution of Software-intensive Systems) aims at bringing together active researchers studying software evolution and variability from different angles as well as practitioners who encounter these phenomena in real-world applications and systems. The workshop offers a platform for exchanging new ideas and fostering future research collaborations and synergies.

Program

VariVolution'20 will be held as one-day workshop at SPLC. See http://splc2020.net/program/detailed-program/

Venue: University of Montreal and the Ecole de technologie superieure (ETS). See http://splc2020.net/about/venue/

Schedule

Session 1: 8:30 am – 10:00 am (event time)

  • 08:30 am – 08:50 am Introduction

  • 08:50 am – 09:30 am Keynote Dr. Lukas Linsbauer

  • 09:30 am – 10:00 am Michael Nieke, Gabriela Sampaio, Thomas Thüm, Christoph Seidl, Leopoldo Teixeira and Ina Schaefer: GuyDance: Guiding the Evolution of Product-Line Configurations

  • 10:00 – 10:30 am Coffee Break

Session 2: 10:30 am – 12:00 pm (event time)

  • 10:30 am – 11:00 am Ángel Jesús Cañete Valverde, Mercedes Amor Pinilla and Lidia Fuentes: Supporting the evolution of applications deployed on edge-based infrastructures using multi-layer feature models

  • 11:00 am – 11:30 am Kevin Feichtinger, Kristof Meixner, Rick Rabiser and Stefan Biffl: Variability Transformation from Industrial Engineering Artifacts: An Example in the Cyber-Physical Production Systems Domain

  • 11:30 am – 11:50 am Gabriela Karoline Michelon, David Obermann, Wesley K. G. Assunção, Lukas Linsbauer, Paul Grünbacher and Alexander Egyed: Mining Feature Revisions in Highly-Configurable Software Systems

  • 11:50 am – 12:00 pm Organization of break-out groups

  • 12:00 pm – 12:30 pm Coffee Break

Session 3: 12:30 am – 2:00 pm (event time)

  • 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm Discussion in break-out groups

  • 1:30 pm – 1:50 pm Presentation of break-out group results

  • 1:50 pm – 2:00 pm Summary and feedback

Presentation Guidelines

  • 10 minutes talk + 10 minutes discussion for short papers

  • 20 minutes talk + 10 minutes discussion for full papers

Registration

To attend VariVolution, please register for the SPLC 2020 workshops. See http://splc2020.net/registration/

Topics and Goals

VariVolution'20 welcomes contributions on any of the following (non-exhaustive) list of topics:

  • Conceptual approaches and technical solutions towards uniform (chronological and logical) versioning

  • Variation control systems and the like

  • Concepts enabling software product line modernization

  • Evolution problems concerning specifc variability mechanisms (e.g., delta-oriented, annotation-based, transformational, clone-and-own)

  • Tools and approaches supporting collaborative editing of variability-intensive systems

  • Variability- and evolution-friendly software development processes (e.g., reactive, incremental, agile)

  • Tools implementing previous listed concepts

  • Investigation and classification of real-world problems caused by combination of variability and evolution

  • Industrial challenges and lessons learnt

The workshop serves as a highly interactive platform for exchange, which is reflected by a diversity of submission formats ranging from original research papers over position papers to informal tool demonstrations or fully interactive sessions. The expected audience is not confined to the SPLC community; rather, we also welcome variability-relevant contributions from evolution-related fields such as software configuration management or software maintenance.

How to Submit

Important Dates

The important dates for the workshop are aligned with the general workshop due dates of SPLC:

  • Workshop papers submission: August 17, 2020

  • Workshop papers notification: September 14, 2020

  • Final version of papers (camera ready): September 21, 2020

All these times are AoE.

Submission Guidelines

The workshop seeks submissions of different types and degrees of maturity in order to be inclusive of both researchers and practitioners and provide a lively platform for discussion also for early concepts and ideas.

Submissions must follow the 2019 ACM Master Article Template: https://www.acm.org/publications/proceedings-template

Latex users are indicated to use the “sigconf” option, so they are recommended to use the template that can be found in “sample-sigconf.tex”. In this way, the following latex code can be placed at the start of the latex document:

\documentclass[sigconf]{acmart}

Submission link: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=splc2020

This year, you submit via the SPLC EasyChair instance. Click on New Submission and select the "3rd W. on Variability and Evolution of Software-intensive Systems" to submit to this workshop.

Paper Categories (Maturity of Presented Work)

The workshop allows submissions at different levels of maturity. Make sure that you select the correct category on the submission page. Papers should range from 4 to 8 pages, with at most 2 more pages only for references (i.e., 4-8 +2).

  • Full papers: Papers containing original work and research results. Full papers should at least present a preliminary evaluation of the contributed results. Accepted papers will be published in Volume 2 of the official SPLC proceedings.

  • Short papers: Papers describing ongoing work and research. Accepted papers will be published in Volume 2 of the official SPLC proceedings.

  • Position papers: Papers of up to one page which present an arguable opinion on a relevant topic. Accepted contributions will be presented and discussed at the workshop but will not be published in the official proceedings.

  • Industrial Challenges and Lessons Learnt (ICLL) papers: This type of contribution explicitly targets industry. A dedicated workshop session is reserved for presentations of industrial challenges and lessons learnt, both connected with variability and evolution. The aim of this session is to make academic researchers aware of real-world problems. Accepted presentations will not be published in the proceedings. For submission, we expect a one-page abstract.

  • Tool demos: Informal tool demos shall be submitted through a one page abstract of the planned demonstration which will not be published in the official proceedings. The submission may include links to supplementary online material such as downloadable software and/or tool screencasts.

Review Process

Full and short papers will be peer-reviewed by at least three program committee members. Position papers, ICLL papers, and tool demos will not be peer-reviewed; the workshop organizers decide whether they are accepted or not, primarily based on their potential to stimulate interesting discussions. All accepted submissions, regardless of their level of maturity, will be given a presentation slot at the workshop.

The workshop does NOT follow a double-blind review process.

Committees

Organizing Committee

  • Jacob Krüger (OVGU Magdeburg, DE)

  • Sofia Ananieva (FZI Research Center for Information Technology Berlin, DE)

  • Lea Gerling (University of Hildesheim, DE)

  • Eric Walkingshaw (Oregon State University Corvallis, USA)

Program Committee

  • Wesley Assunção (Federal University of Technology - Paraná (UTFPR) , BR)

  • Larissa Braz (University of Zurich, CH)

  • Jessie Carbonnel (University of Montpellier, FR)

  • Mikaela Cashman (Iowa State University, USA)

  • Loek Cleophas (TU Eindhoven, NL / Stellenbosch University, ZA)

  • Sandra Greiner (University of Bayreuth, DE)

  • Timo Kehrer (Humboldt University Berlin, DE)

  • Christian Kröher (University of Hildesheim, DE)

  • Thomas Leich (Harz University Wernigerode, DE)

  • Lukas Linsbauer (TU Braunschweig, DE)

  • Wardah Mahmood (University of Gothenburg, SE)

  • Michael Nieke (TU Braunschweig, DE)

  • Rick Rabiser (JKU Linz, AT)

  • Marco Radavelli (University of Bergamo, IT)

  • Stefan Stanciulescu (ABB Research Center, CH)

  • Leopoldo Teixeira (Federal University of Pernambuco, BR)

  • Mahsa Varshosaz (Halmstad University, SE)

  • Shurui Zhou (Carnegie Mellon University, USA)

Steering Committee

  • Thorsten Berger (Chalmers | University of Gothenburg, SE)

  • Timo Kehrer (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, DE)

  • Klaus Schmid (University of Hildesheim, DE)

Contact

For further questions about the workshop, feel free to contact the workshop organizers:

Jacob Krüger, Sofia Ananieva, Lea Gerling, Eric Walkingshaw