A model for variability design rationale in SPL

The management of variability in software product lines goes beyond the definition of variations, traceability and configurations. It involves a lot of assumptions about the variability and related models, which are made by the stakeholders all over the product line but almost never handled explicitly. In order to better manage the design with variability, we must consider the rationale behind its specification. In this paper we present a model for the specification of variability design rationale and its application to the modelling of architectural variability in software product lines