Dimensions of Software Configuration: On the Configuration Context in Modern Software Development
With the rise of containerization, cloud development, and continuous integration and delivery, configuration has become an essential aspect not only to tailor software to user requirements, but also to configure a software system’s environment and infrastructure. This heterogeneity of activities, domains, and processes blurs the term configuration, as it is not clear anymore what tasks, artifacts, or stakeholders are involved and intertwined. However, each re- search study and each paper involving configuration places their contributions and findings in a certain context without making the context explicit. This makes it difficult to compare findings, translate them to practice, and to generalize the results. Thus, we set out to evaluate whether these different views on configuration are really distinct or can be summarized under a common umbrella. By interviewing practitioners from different domains and in different roles about the aspects of configuration and by analyzing two qualitative studies in similar areas, we derive a model of configuration that provides terminology and context for research studies, identifies new research opportunities, and allows practitioners to spot possible challenges in their current tasks. Although our interviewees have a clear view about configuration, it substantially differs due to their personal experience and role. This indicates that the term configuration might be overloaded. However, when taking a closer look, we see the interconnections and dependencies among all views, arriving at the conclusion that we need to start considering the entire spectrum of dimensions of configuration.
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17:00 - 17:30: ConfigurationPaper Presentations / Research Papers / Visions and Reflections at Virtual room 1 | |||
17:00 - 17:02 Talk | Configuration Smells in Continuous Delivery Pipelines: A Linter and a Six-Month Study on GitLab Research Papers Carmine VassalloUniversity of Zurich, Switzerland, Sebastian ProkschDelft University of Technology, Netherlands, Anna JancsoUniversity of Zurich, Switzerland, Harald GallUniversity of Zurich, Switzerland, Massimiliano Di PentaUniversity of Sannio, Italy DOI Pre-print | ||
17:03 - 17:04 Talk | Dimensions of Software Configuration: On the Configuration Context in Modern Software Development Research Papers Norbert SiegmundLeipzig University, Nicolai RuckelBauhaus-University Weimar, Janet SiegmundTU Chemnitz, Germany DOI | ||
17:05 - 17:06 Talk | Global Cost/Quality Management across Multiple Applications Research Papers Liu LiuRutgers University, USA, Sibren IsaacmanLoyola University Maryland, USA, Uli KremerRutgers University, USA DOI | ||
17:07 - 17:08 Talk | Inferring and Securing Software Configurations using Automated Reasoning Visions and Reflections Paul GazzilloUniversity of Central Florida DOI | ||
17:09 - 17:10 Talk | Understanding and Discovering Software Configuration Dependencies in Cloud and Datacenter Systems Research Papers Qingrong ChenUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, Teng WangNational University of Defense Technology, China, Owolabi LegunsenCornell University, Shanshan LiNational University of Defense Technology, China, Tianyin XuUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA DOI | ||
17:11 - 17:30 Talk | Conversations on Configuration Paper Presentations Carmine VassalloUniversity of Zurich, Switzerland, Liu LiuRutgers University, Nicolai RuckelBauhaus-University Weimar, Paul GazzilloUniversity of Central Florida, Qingrong ChenUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, M: Sarah NadiUniversity of Alberta |