Growing up with stability: How open-source relational databases evolve. (October 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Skoulis, Ioannis; Vassiliadis, Panos; Zarras, Apostolos V.
• Is Part Of: Information systems. Volume 53(2015)
• Page Start: 363
• Page End: 385
• Publication Date: 2015-10
• Subjects: Schema evolution -- Software evolution -- Lehman׳s laws; Database management -- Periodicals; Electronic data processing -- Periodicals; Bases de données -- Gestion -- Périodiques; Informatique -- Périodiques; Database management; Electronic data processing; Periodicals; 005.7
• DOI: 10.1016/j.is.2015.03.009
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0306-4379

Abstract

Abstract: Like all software systems, databases are subject to evolution as time passes. The impact of this evolution can be vast as a change to the schema of a database can affect the syntactic correctness and the semantic validity of all the surrounding applications. In this paper, we have performed a thorough, large-scale study on the evolution of databases that are part of larger open source projects, publicly available through open source repositories. Lehman׳s laws of software evolution, a well-established set of observations on how the typical software systems evolve (matured during the last forty years), has served as our guide towards providing insights on the mechanisms that govern schema evolution. Much like software systems, we found that schemata expand over time, under a stabilization mechanism that constraints uncontrolled expansion with perfective maintenance. At the same time, unlike typical software systems, the growth is typically low, with long periods of calmness interrupted by bursts of maintenance and a surprising lack of complexity increase.