research-article

Understanding linux feature distribution

Authors:

Christian Dietrich,

Reinhard Tartler,

Wolfgang Schröder-Preikshat,

Daniel LohmannAuthors Info & Claims

MISS '12: Proceedings of the 2012 workshop on Modularity in Systems Software

Pages 15 - 20

https://doi.org/10.1145/2162024.2162030

Published: 27 March 2012 Publication History

Abstract

Managing variability is hard. This applies both to feature modeling itself as well as the maintenance of the corresponding feature implementations which poses additional challenges. Especially in embedded systems and system software that are developed using the tools CPP, GCC and MAKE, feature realizations happen on different levels of abstractions, concepts and implementation languages.

This particularly applies to Linux, which exposes over 11000 features on over two dozen different architectures. While features are modeled centrally with the Kconfig tool, feature-code is realized in various source-files and managed by the Kbuild build-system. In this article, we identify and relate levels of variability on which feature-code is implemented. The quantification of variability on the different levels in Linux disproves two common beliefs about the amount of implemented variability.

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Cited By

Yıldıran NOh JLawall JGazzillo P(2024)Maximizing Patch Coverage for Testing of Highly-Configurable Software without Exploding Build TimesProceedings of the ACM on Software Engineering10.1145/36437461:FSE(427-449)Online publication date: 12-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3643746
Xiang YHuang HLi MLi SYang X(2022)Looking For Novelty in Search-Based Software Product Line TestingIEEE Transactions on Software Engineering10.1109/TSE.2021.305785348:7(2317-2338)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2022
https://doi.org/10.1109/TSE.2021.3057853
Dietrich C(2021)CppSigProceedings of the 11th Workshop on Programming Languages and Operating Systems10.1145/3477113.3487268(62-68)Online publication date: 25-Oct-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3477113.3487268
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Index Terms

Understanding linux feature distribution
1. Software and its engineering

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

MISS '12: Proceedings of the 2012 workshop on Modularity in Systems Software

March 2012

58 pages

ISBN:9781450312172

DOI:10.1145/2162024

Program Chairs:
Christoph Borchert
Technische Universität Dortmund, Germany
,
Michael Haupt
Oracle Labs, Potsdam, Germany
,
Daniel Lohmann
Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
,
David Lorenz
The Open University of Israel

Copyright © 2012 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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New York, NY, United States

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Published: 27 March 2012

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March 27, 2012

Potsdam, Germany

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Cited By

Yıldıran NOh JLawall JGazzillo P(2024)Maximizing Patch Coverage for Testing of Highly-Configurable Software without Exploding Build TimesProceedings of the ACM on Software Engineering10.1145/36437461:FSE(427-449)Online publication date: 12-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3643746
Xiang YHuang HLi MLi SYang X(2022)Looking For Novelty in Search-Based Software Product Line TestingIEEE Transactions on Software Engineering10.1109/TSE.2021.305785348:7(2317-2338)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2022
https://doi.org/10.1109/TSE.2021.3057853
Dietrich C(2021)CppSigProceedings of the 11th Workshop on Programming Languages and Operating Systems10.1145/3477113.3487268(62-68)Online publication date: 25-Oct-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3477113.3487268
Passos LQueiroz RMukelabai MBerger TApel SCzarnecki KPadilla J(2021)A Study of Feature Scattering in the Linux KernelIEEE Transactions on Software Engineering10.1109/TSE.2018.288491147:1(146-164)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2021
https://doi.org/10.1109/TSE.2018.2884911
Pett TThüm TRunge TKrieter SLochau MSchaefer I(2019)Product Sampling for Product LinesProceedings of the 23rd International Systems and Software Product Line Conference - Volume A10.1145/3336294.3336322(78-83)Online publication date: 9-Sep-2019
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Florea RStray V(2019)The skills that employers look for in software testersSoftware Quality Journal10.1007/s11219-019-09462-5Online publication date: 28-Aug-2019
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Al-Hajjaji MThüm TLochau MMeinicke JSaake G(2019)Effective product-line testing using similarity-based product prioritizationSoftware and Systems Modeling (SoSyM)10.1007/s10270-016-0569-218:1(499-521)Online publication date: 1-Feb-2019
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Rhein ALiebig JJanker AKästner CApel S(2018)Variability-Aware Static Analysis at ScaleACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology10.1145/328098627:4(1-33)Online publication date: 16-Nov-2018
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Varshosaz MAl-Hajjaji MThüm TRunge TMousavi MSchaefer I(2018)A classification of product sampling for software product linesProceedings of the 22nd International Systems and Software Product Line Conference - Volume 110.1145/3233027.3233035(1-13)Online publication date: 10-Sep-2018
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Dintzner NDeursen APinzger M(2018)FEVEREmpirical Software Engineering10.1007/s10664-017-9557-623:2(905-952)Online publication date: 1-Apr-2018
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