On logical and extensional characterizations of attributed feature models

Software-intensive systems can have thousands of interdependent configuration options across different subsystems. Feature models (FMs) allow designers to organize the configuration space by describing configuration options using interdependent features: a feature is a name representing some functionality and each software variant is identified by a set of features. Attributed feature models (AFMs) extend FMs to describe the, possibly constrained, choice of a value from domains such as integers or strings: each attribute is associated to one feature, and when the feature is selected then the attribute brings some additional information relative to the selected features. Different representations of FMs and AFMs have been proposed in the literature. In this paper we focus on the logical representation (which works well in practice) and the extensional representation (which has been recently shown well suited for theoretical investigations). We provide an algebraic and a logical characterization of operations and relations on FMs and AFMs, and we formalize the connection between the two characterizations as monomorphisms from lattices of logical FMs and AFMs to lattices of extensional FMs and AFMs, respectively. This formalization sheds new light on the correspondence between the algebraic and logical characterizations of operations and relations for FMs and AFMs. It aims to foster the development of a formal framework for supporting practical exploitation of future theoretical developments on FMs, AFMs and multi software product lines.