<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>[Apologies for duplicate reception of this CFP]</div><div><br></div><div><br></div>IEEE SOFTWARE - 1ST SPECIAL ISSUE ON RELEASE ENGINEERING<br><br>Submission <b>Deadline: 1 August 2014</b><br>Publication: March/April 2015<div><br></div><div>More Information: <a href="http://releng.polymtl.ca/RELENG2014/html/SI.html">http://releng.polymtl.ca/RELENG2014/html/SI.html</a><br><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div>Software used to be released in shrink-wrapped form, but the advent of agile</div><div>methodologies and the web has overhauled the landscape. For example, a project</div><div>like Mozilla Firefox releases every 6 weeks, generating updates for dozens of</div><div>existing versions on 5 desktop, 2 mobile and 3 mobile desktop platforms, each of</div><div>which for more than 80 locales. In other words, deployment of modern</div><div>applications requires coordinating the release of applications on multiple</div><div>mobile platforms, web platforms with centralized backend services, and native</div><div>desktop clients. Furthermore, concepts like continuous delivery of software are</div><div>no longer curiosities, but essential to retain a competitive edge.</div><div><br></div><div>Release engineering deals with all activities in between regular development and</div><div>actual usage of a software product by the end user, i.e., integration, build,</div><div>test execution, packaging and delivery of software. Although research on this</div><div>topic goes back for decades, the increasing heterogeneity and variability of</div><div>software products along with the recent trend to reduce the release cycle to</div><div>days or even hours starts to question some of the common beliefs and practices</div><div>of the field.</div><div><br></div><div>The IEEE Software Special Issue on Release Engineering solicits experience</div><div>reports and papers on tools, methods, practices and techniques to streamline</div><div>release engineering. We especially welcome submissions targeting recent</div><div>challenges like continuous delivery and heterogeneous platform support, but the</div><div>Special Issue is open to any of the following topics:</div></div><div><br></div><div><div> * best practices for code movement (branching/integration)<br></div><div> * continuous integration and testing<br></div><div> * build and configuration of software<br></div><div> * build system maintenance<br></div><div> * testing and reporting infrastructures<br></div><div> * package and dependency management<br></div><div> * legal signoff and bill-of-materials<br></div><div> * delivery and deployment of software<br></div><div> * code signing and certificate management<br></div><div> * continuous delivery, deployment, installation and software update<br></div><div> * cloud provisioning and management<br></div><div> * cloud service release management<br></div><div> * interaction with app stores<br></div><div> * mobile app release management<br></div><div> * principles and automated techniques for release planning<br></div><div> * release engineering for product line systems<br></div><div> * devops and interaction with developers, end users, etc.<br></div><div> * devops practices and tools<br></div><div> * large-scale build and test farms<br></div><div> * multi-platform build and test<br></div><div> * feedback on continuous delivery and deployment</div></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>The goals for this Special Issue are three-fold:<br><br><div><div> * making researchers aware of the challenges and research opportunities, and</div><div> practitioners aware of research in release engineering</div><div> * sharing experiences with practical approaches, tools, methods and techniques for</div><div> release engineering</div><div> * building connections between different communities involved in release engineering.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>In an effort to engage with practitioners, one of the co-organizers of the</div><div>Special Issue is a release engineer at Mozilla and one half of the reviewers</div><div>will consist of release engineers, so we guarantee that each paper or abstract</div><div>submission receives at least one review from a practitioner.</div><div><br></div><div><b>Full submissions for the Special Issue must not exceed 5,400 words</b> including</div><div>figures and tables, which count for 200 words each. Submissions in excess of</div><div>these limits may be rejected without refereeing. The articles we deem within the</div><div>theme and scope will be peer-reviewed and are subject to editing for magazine</div><div>style, clarity, organization, and space. We reserve the right to edit the title</div><div>of all submissions. Be sure to include the name of the theme or Special Issue</div><div>you are submitting for.</div><div><br></div><div>We also solicit short “practice” papers from practitioners that contain</div><div>experience reports. These papers do not need to make a research contribution,</div><div>but should instead present the experiences of a practitioner or practitioners by</div><div>describing things such as current release processes used, challenges faced,</div><div>solutions attempted, and/or results obtained. <b>Practice papers should not exceed</b></div><div><b>3,500 words.</b></div><div><br></div><div>Articles should have a practical orientation and be written in a style</div><div>accessible to practitioners. Overly complex, purely research-oriented or</div><div>theoretical treatments are not appropriate. Articles should be novel. IEEE</div><div>Software does not republish material published previously in other venues,</div><div>including other periodicals and formal conference/workshop proceedings, whether</div><div>previous publication was in print or in electronic form.</div></div></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>For more information about the focus, please contact the Guest Editors:<br><br><div> * Bram Adams (<a href="http://mcis.polymtl.ca/bram.html">http://mcis.polymtl.ca/bram.html</a>), Polytechnique Montréal, Canada<br></div><div> * Stephany Bellomo (<a href="http://www.sei.cmu.edu/about/people/profile.cfm?id=bellomo_15351">http://www.sei.cmu.edu/about/people/profile.cfm?id=bellomo_15351</a>), SEI, USA<br></div><div> * Christian Bird (<a href="http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/people/cbird/">http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/people/cbird/</a>), Microsoft Research, USA<br></div><div> * Foutse Khomh (<a href="http://www.khomh.net/">http://www.khomh.net/</a>), Polytechnique Montréal, Canada</div><div> * Kim Moir (<a href="http://relengofthenerds.blogspot.com/">http://relengofthenerds.blogspot.com/</a>), Mozilla, Canada<br></div><div><br></div>For general author guidelines: <a href="http://www.computer.org/software/author.htm">http://www.computer.org/software/author.htm</a><br>For submission details: <a href="mailto:software@computer.org">software@computer.org</a></div></div></body></html>