Do #ifdef-based Variation Points Realize Feature Model Constraints?

Abstract

Two mechanisms widely used in the Software Product Lines (SPL) Engineering are the feature model and the conditional compilation. The former models the variability in the problem space and the latter realizes it in the solution space. Even though the research community know that the feature model imposes a number of constraints to the product line implementation, there is a lack of support to co-evolve problem space and solution space. In this paper, we present an exploratory study whether problem space constraints are considered at source code level of #ifdef-based SPL implementations. In order to accomplish our goal, we developed a preliminary approach to check problem and solution spaces in a prototype tool (fclcheck). The results show a lack of realization of feature model constraints while implementing variation points with that mechanism. We also evaluated the scalability of the approach and the recoverability of the tool.