Cool Features and Tough Decisions: A Comparison of Variability Modeling Approaches

Variability modeling is essential for defining and managing the commonalities and variabilities in software product lines. Numerous variability modeling approaches exist today to support domain and application engineering activities. Most are based on Feature Modeling (FM) or Decision Modeling (DM), but so far no systematic comparison exists between these two major classes of approaches. Over the last two decades many new features have been added to both FM and DM and it is tough to decide which approach to use for what purpose.