Toolchain-independent variant management with the Leviathan filesystem

Abstract

Preprocessor-configured software needs tool support for the developer to be able to cope with the complexity introduced by optional and alternative code blocks in the source. Current approaches, which assist the software developer by providing preprocessed views, are all bound to a special integrated development environment. This eliminates them from being used both in industry settings (where domain-specific toolchains are often mandated) and in open-source projects (where diverse sets of editors and tools are being used and freedom of tool choice is crucial for the project success).