Unveiling Code Clones in the Eclipse IIoT Software Ecosystem

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Li, Zengyang, Huang, Binbin, Li, Yimeng, Mo, Ran, Liang, Peng, Liu, Hui, Ma, Yutao
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Li, Zengyang
Huang, Binbin
Li, Yimeng
Mo, Ran
Liang, Peng
Liu, Hui
Ma, Yutao
author_facet Li, Zengyang
Huang, Binbin
Li, Yimeng
Mo, Ran
Liang, Peng
Liu, Hui
Ma, Yutao
contents Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has become a prominent topic recently, with an increasing number of IIoT OSS projects emerging, also within the Eclipse Foundation. Code cloning is a common practice that can adversely affect software maintenance. In the IIoT OSS domain, developers frequently reuse code and configurations for efficiency, which can lead to code clone proliferation and maintenance challenges. However, the extent and effects of code clones in the IIoT OSS domain remain understudied. This study aims to investigate the prevalence, evolution, and co-modification of code clones within the Eclipse IIoT OSS ecosystem. We collected 90 release versions from 15 projects in the Eclipse IIoT OSS ecosystem, and investigated their code clone situations based on source code and change history using the NiCad tool and our custom analysis module. The investigation covered clone distribution, patterns, evolution trends, co-modified clones, and cross-project clones. 1) Code clones are prevalent in Eclipse IIoT OSS projects, with 16.3% of code lines involved in clones - nearly twice the proportion observed in traditional OSS projects; 2) Most code clones occur between commits, while there are still a significant proportion of code clones that each clone pair happens within a commit; 3) Most Eclipse IIoT projects remain stable in clone numbers during version iterations; 4) An average of 0.17% of the clones have been co-modified, which negatively affect maintenance; and 5) Cross-project clone pairs are prevalent, more in Java than in C projects, with rare co-modifications (0.02%) only in Java projects. Our findings highlight the potential negative impacts of these clones on software maintenance, emphasizing the need to address these issues to improve overall software quality.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_27308
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Unveiling Code Clones in the Eclipse IIoT Software Ecosystem
Li, Zengyang
Huang, Binbin
Li, Yimeng
Mo, Ran
Liang, Peng
Liu, Hui
Ma, Yutao
Software Engineering
Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has become a prominent topic recently, with an increasing number of IIoT OSS projects emerging, also within the Eclipse Foundation. Code cloning is a common practice that can adversely affect software maintenance. In the IIoT OSS domain, developers frequently reuse code and configurations for efficiency, which can lead to code clone proliferation and maintenance challenges. However, the extent and effects of code clones in the IIoT OSS domain remain understudied. This study aims to investigate the prevalence, evolution, and co-modification of code clones within the Eclipse IIoT OSS ecosystem. We collected 90 release versions from 15 projects in the Eclipse IIoT OSS ecosystem, and investigated their code clone situations based on source code and change history using the NiCad tool and our custom analysis module. The investigation covered clone distribution, patterns, evolution trends, co-modified clones, and cross-project clones. 1) Code clones are prevalent in Eclipse IIoT OSS projects, with 16.3% of code lines involved in clones - nearly twice the proportion observed in traditional OSS projects; 2) Most code clones occur between commits, while there are still a significant proportion of code clones that each clone pair happens within a commit; 3) Most Eclipse IIoT projects remain stable in clone numbers during version iterations; 4) An average of 0.17% of the clones have been co-modified, which negatively affect maintenance; and 5) Cross-project clone pairs are prevalent, more in Java than in C projects, with rare co-modifications (0.02%) only in Java projects. Our findings highlight the potential negative impacts of these clones on software maintenance, emphasizing the need to address these issues to improve overall software quality.
title Unveiling Code Clones in the Eclipse IIoT Software Ecosystem
topic Software Engineering
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.27308