On the Dependability for Dynamic Software Product Lines: A Comparative Systematic Mapping Study

Software Product Lines (SPLs) are techniques where several artefacts are reused (domain), and some are customised (variation points). An SPL can bind variation points statically (compilation time) or dynamically (runtime). Dynamic Software Product Lines (DSPLs) use dynamic binding to adapt to the environment or requirements changes. DSPLs are commonly used to build dependable systems, defined as systems with the ability to avoid more frequent or severe service failures than the acceptable. The main dependability attributes are availability, confidentiality, integrity, reliability, maintainability, and safety. To better understand this context, a Systematic Mapping Study (SMS) was applied searching proposals that include dependability attributes in DSPLs. Our results suggest that few solutions handle dependability in DSPL context. We selected nine primary studies in this regard. We performed a comparative study of the results, analysing other dimensions, and facets, aiming for a better understanding of this research area.