Operation-based Model Evolution

Models provide an abstraction of software systems. In model-driven development models are even the basis for code generation. As a result they govern the entire development life-cycle which makes them increasingly complex. In addition models are created and changed collaboratively by many participants in software development projects. This leads to simultaneous and frequent change, which must be controlled.
Historically software configuration management systems support collaboration and control of change for textual artifacts such as source code. However they do not support models which are essentially graphs.
This dissertation presents the Model Evolution Control System (MECS), a software configuration management system for models. MECS tracks change on models as model operations and detects conflicts on these operations. Furthermore MECS provides an algorithm for operation-based merging and issue-based merging, a method for the discussion and collaborative resolution of conflicts. Several case studies have been conducted to demonstrate the feasibility of MECS in the context of large development projects. The results indicate that MECS improves collaboration in model-driven development significantly.