Streamlined feature dependency representation in software product lines

Feature dependencies have very strong implications on the configurations in a software product line. Different types of dependencies between features and variation points make dependency validation and product configuration very complex. An approach to streamlining dependency types is proposed to transform different types of dependencies to a single type of dependencies - dependencies between variable features without changing the configuration implications. The semantics of the transformed dependencies become much more intuitive, which makes the product configurations more effective and efficient. As the configuration constraint of a transformed dependency is simplified the dependency validations in feature models becomes much easier. A case study based on a Library Software Product Line has been presented to demonstrate how the proposed approach works.