Négociation de contrats, des systèmes multi-agents aux composants logiciels

Abstract

The use of contracts becomes more and more relevant in component-based software engineering. In order to adapt contracts to hierarchical component models such as Fractal, we have proposed the ConFract system, which manages contracts on bindings between components, but especially on components themselves. As dynamic reconfigurations and fluctuations of extrafunctional aspects lead to frequent challenges of the contracts, some negotiation mechanisms are needed to automatically restore valid contracts. This paper presents a negotiation model for ConFract which is inspired from negotiation mechanisms in multi-agent systems. The main principles of the model and a concession-based negotiation policy are notably described.