Supporting Tools for Managing Software Product Lines: a Systematic Mapping

In order to successfully design and build a Software Product Line (SPL), besides the difficult task of making a good domain engineering based on a solid knowledge – both theoretical and practical – about the subject domain, it is still necessary to consider other barriers such as lack of computational support, lack of documentation available and the complexity or unavailability of existing supporting tools. These are some of the reasons that may discourage the adoption and wide usage of SPL in organizations. In this context, this paper presents a Systematic Mapping (SM) of supporting tools for managing SPLs. This SM was performed in order to identify, gather and classify existing solutions in the literature that offer support for managing product lines both in single or multiple phases, since conception until product derivation and evolution of the SPL. The information gathered about the solutions selected is presented in the results. This information comprises the completeness of the solutions, their complexity and quality, and also points out their benefits and limitations. It is expected as the result of this SM an overview of SPL management solutions in order to support developers and SPL engineers to find suitable options to apply in their projects, in addition to highlight gaps on the research area and suggest future works. Keywords—Software Product Line Management; Systematic Mapping.