Introduction

One of the goals of our solution [1] is to build evolvable SPL architectures, but, to the best of our knowledge, there is no consensual way for quantitatively assure that a SPL architecture is evolvable. Product architectures reflect evolution attributes of their SPL architecture. Thus, instead of analyzing the evolvability of single SPL architecture, this study comparatively assesses the product architectures. In this way, the architecture of a product can be compared against the architecture of a legacy application that has the same features. The architecture of a legacy application is the baseline of the assessment. So the first goal of this study is the following:

• Goal 1. To analyze the support for building evolvable product architectures;

The quality of the architectural structure plays a critical role in SPLs, because the architecture of several products are built based on the SPL architecture. Architectural elements and their services can be shared by multiple products. A shared architectural element can have some of their services unused in a particular product architecture, thus hindering architectural cohesion. SPL architectures should be sound, that is, when provided and required services are actually used [2]. The second goal of this study is the following:

• Goal 2. To analyze the SPL architecture soundness.