Recovering component dependencies hidden by frameworks - experiences from analyzing OSGi and Qt

In this paper we present experiences we made in the identification and analysis of software dependencies in the context of two popular software development frameworks: OSGi and Qt. Both frameworks are designed for minimizing coupling between software entities by enabling late binding. In case of OSGi, it is the service-oriented bundle concept, in Qt it is the signals and slots mechanisms, that hide dependencies from the programmer at development-time. However, in order to keep an overview of the system it is mandatory to reveal a bigger picture in terms of components and their connections as they are going to exist during runtime. In this paper, we elaborate on the experiences we made in dependency identification and analysis in the context of an industrial and an academic project. In particular, we show how the framework mechanisms of Qt and OSGi can be analyzed in order to reveal a system's component dependencies without having to execute the software.