A fundamental approach to model versioning based on graph modifications: from theory to implementation

In model-driven engineering, models are primary artifacts that can evolve heavily during their life cycle. Therefore, versioning of models is a key technique to be offered by integrated development environments for model-driven engineering. In contrast to text-based versioning systems, we present an approach that takes model structures and their changes over time into account. Considering model structures as graphs, we define a fundamental approach where model revisions are considered as graph modifications consisting of delete and insert actions. Two different kinds of conflict detection are presented: (1) the check for operation-based conflicts between different graph modifications, and (2) the check for state-based conflicts on merged graph modifications. For the merging of graph modifications, a two-phase approach is proposed: First, operational conflicts are temporarily resolved by always giving insertion priority over deletion to keep as much information as possible. Thereafter, this tentative merge result is the basis for manual conflict resolution as well as for the application of repair actions that resolve state-based conflicts. If preferred by the user, giving deletion priority over insertion might be one solution. The fundamental concepts are illustrated by versioning scenarios for simplified statecharts. Furthermore, we show an implementation of this fundamental approach to model versioning based on the Eclipse Modeling Framework as technical space.