What Can Software Engineering Do for Sustainability: Case of Software Product Lines

Sustainable living, i.e., Living within the bounds of the available environmental, social, and economic resources, is the focus of many present-day social and scientific discussions. But what does sustainability mean within the context of Software Product Line Engineering (SPLE)? And what does SPLE do for sustainable living? In this paper we take the first step towards identification of the sustainability-related characteristics relevant to SPLE. The paper also discusses how the key areas of interest to the current SPL community (as reflected by what is measured and optimised in SPLs today) relate to these sustainability characteristics.