Hybrid approach for metamodel and model co-evolution

Abstract

Evolution is an inevitable aspect which affects metamodels. When metamodels evolve, model conformity may be broken. Model co-evolution is critical in model driven engineering to automatically adapt models to the newer versions of their metamodels. In this paper we discuss what can be done to transfer models between versions of a metamodel. For this purpose we introduce hybrid approach for model and metamodel co-evolution, that first uses matching between two metamodels to discover changes and then applied evolution operators to migrate models. In this proposal, migration of models is done automatically; except, for non resolvable changes, where assistance is proposed to the users in order to co-evolve their models to regain conformity.