Towards Benchmarking Evolution Support in Model-to-Text Transformation Systems

In model-driven development, an evolving metamodel as part of a changing software system requires the adaptation of interrelated artifacts, such as, model-to-text (M2T) transformation specifications. In this paper, we propose a definition for a standard problem to evaluate the evolution support in M2T transformation systems. The objective of the standard problem is to allow for benchmarking of multiple evolution-support techniques for M2T transformations. For this, we selected an existing, real-world software application acting as the basis for the standard-problem definition, describe a metamodel-evolution scenario (migration), and define a measurement plan to benchmark different implementations (thus, making them comparable). The applicability of the standard problem definition is exemplified by benchmarking an approach of higher-order rewriting M2T generator templates.