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Challenges in developing a software architecture evolution tool as a plug-in

Recent research has developed a theoretical basis for providing software architects with better support for planning and carrying out major evolutions of software systems. However, these theoretical models have yet to be implemented in a complete, integrated tool. In this paper, we consider some of the challenges involved in developing such a tool as a plug-in to an existing architecture modeling framework. We present an experience report based on the development of a prototype architecture evolution tool as a plug-in to MagicDraw, a commercial UML tool. We find that there are many practical obstacles to developing tools for architecture evolution modeling as plug-ins, and we discuss some of the key factors that plug-in developers should weigh when considering frameworks.