Session details: Fourth workshop on software architecture erosion and architectural consistency (SAEroCon 2017)

The more complex a software system is and the longer that software system evolves, the more difficult it is to avoid effects like software architecture erosion or architectural drift. This is where the architecture of the implemented system drifts from the originally envisaged architecture for the system [1]. This divergence is associated with negative impacts on the quality attributes associated with the intended architecture. As studies have shown, untreated divergence can lead to systems which are impossible to maintain in the long run. Expensive redevelopments and replacements are too often the consequences [2].

Studies suggest that software architecture erosion and architectural drift, and the inconsistencies resulting from these effects, are prevalent, yet under-researched problems in industrial practice. Technical challenges related to these problems are the recovery of intended architectures, particularly for legacy systems without a documented intended architecture; detection of erosion, drift, and inconsistencies; and avoiding or resolving the results of drift/erosion efficiently. However, organizational challenges like estimating the benefit of putting effort into pro-actively avoiding or resolving erosion play an important role in practice [3].

In recent years, researchers from different communities like software maintenance, model-driven development, and software architecture have all investigated aspects of software architecture erosion from different perspectives. This interest from such different communities points to the prevalence of the concern for the software engineering community.

The goal of this SAEroCon workshop is to intensify the exchange of ideas regarding the current state-of-the-art/the state-of-the-practice in this field, and to guide future research directions regarding architecture consistency, architecture recovery and erosion-result mitigation. The workshop targets all software engineering researchers and practitioners interested in discussing ideas regarding these topics and shaping future research related to them.