Mapping problem-space to solution-space features: a feature interaction approach

Mapping problem-space features into solution-space features is a fundamental configuration problem in software product line en-gineering. A configuration problem is defined as generating the most optimal combination of software features given a require-ments specification and given a set of configuration rules. Current approaches however provide little support for expressing complex configuration rules between problem and solution space that sup-port incomplete requirements specifications. In this paper, we pro-pose an approach to model complex configuration rules based on a generalization of the concept of problem-solution feature interac-tions. These are interactions between solution-space features that only arise in specific problem contexts. The use of an existing tool to support our approach is also discussed: we use the DLV answer set solver to express a particular configuration problem as a logic program whose answer set corresponds to the optimal combina-tions of solution-space features. We motivate and illustrate our ap-proach with a case study in the field of managing dynamic adapta-tions in distributed software, where the goal is to generate an opti-mal protocol for accommodating a given adaptation