{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,20]],"date-time":"2025-11-20T05:57:10Z","timestamp":1763618230182,"version":"3.45.0"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,15]],"date-time":"2025-11-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1763164800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000001","name":"U.S. National Science Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["OAC-1835817","OAC-2209835","OAC-1835785","OAC-2209833"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["OAC-1835817","OAC-2209835","OAC-1835785","OAC-2209833"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000001","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Information"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study focuses on the process of updating and upgrading a large-scale legacy software system to ensure its compatibility with modern computing environments. The evolution and maintenance of legacy software pose significant challenges in software engineering, especially given the rapid advancements in technology, computing platforms, and dependent libraries. These challenges become even more pronounced when new systems are built upon existing open-source software, which may become outdated due to discontinued maintenance or lack of community support. In this work, we examine the problem from a sustainable computing perspective through the case study of the CyberWater project\u2014an innovative cyberinfrastructure framework designed to support open data access and open model integration in water science and engineering. CyberWater is built on top of VisTrails, an open-source scientific workflow system. VisTrails has not been actively maintained since 2017, requiring an upgrade to ensure CyberWater\u2019s continued functionality, compatibility, and long-term sustainability. This paper presents our work on upgrading VisTrails, including the complete upgrade process, tools developed and utilized, testing strategies, and the final outcomes. We also share key experiences and lessons learned, with a focus on the sustainability challenges and considerations that arise when maintaining and evolving large-scale open-source software systems in scientific computing environments.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/info16110988","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,19]],"date-time":"2025-11-19T15:03:15Z","timestamp":1763564595000},"page":"988","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Sustaining CyberWater-VisTrails: A Case Study in Software Upgrades and Reengineering"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Drew","family":"Bieger","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science, Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA"},{"name":"Department of Civil Engineering, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9311-1102","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ahmed","family":"Sheba","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Civil Engineering, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-0867-4841","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Adham M.","family":"Hassan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science, Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-8345-0724","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sherif","family":"Aly","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Civil Engineering, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ranran","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science, Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xu","family":"Liang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Civil Engineering, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yao","family":"Liang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science, Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104622","DOI":"10.1016\/j.envsoft.2020.104622","article-title":"An open-model framework for hydrological models\u2019 integration, evaluation and application","volume":"126","author":"Salas","year":"2020","journal-title":"Environ. Model. Softw."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"105384","DOI":"10.1016\/j.envsoft.2022.105384","article-title":"Open data and model integration through generic model agent toolkit in CyberWater framework","volume":"152","author":"Chen","year":"2022","journal-title":"Environ. Model. Softw."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Chen, R., Luna, D., Li, F., Young, R., Bieger, D., Song, F., Pamidighantam, S., Liang, Y., and Liang, X. (2022, January 12\u201321). CyberWater: An Open Framework for Data and Model Integration in Water Science and Engineering. Proceedings of the 31st ACM International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management (CIKM\u201922), Atlanta, GA, USA.","DOI":"10.1145\/3511808.3557186"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"307","DOI":"10.1016\/j.future.2024.04.023","article-title":"Asynchronous modeling workflows in CyberWater with on-demand HPC\/Cloud access","volume":"159","author":"Chen","year":"2024","journal-title":"Future Gener. Comput. Syst."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"106266","DOI":"10.1016\/j.envsoft.2024.106266","article-title":"Facilitating open data and open model integration with generic parameter input file generators in the CyberWater framework","volume":"185","author":"Luna","year":"2025","journal-title":"Environ. Model. Softw."},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"(2025, April 30). Main Page. Available online: https:\/\/www.vistrails.org\/index.php\/Main_Page."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"815","DOI":"10.5194\/nhess-20-815-2020","article-title":"Probabilistic landslide susceptibility analysis in tropical mountainous terrain using the physically based r. slope. stability model","volume":"20","author":"Mergili","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mens, T., Serebrenik, A., and Cleve, A. (2014). Evolving Software Systems, Springer. [1st ed.].","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-45398-4"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1060","DOI":"10.1109\/PROC.1980.11805","article-title":"Programs, life cycles, and laws of software evolution","volume":"68","author":"Lehman","year":"1980","journal-title":"Proc. IEEE"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cordy, J.R. (2006, January 9). Source transformation, analysis and generation in TXL. Proceedings of the 2006 ACM SIGPLAN Symposium on Partial Evaluation and Semantics-Based Program Manipulation, Charleston, SC, USA.","DOI":"10.1145\/1111542.1111544"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"751","DOI":"10.1007\/s10664-018-9637-2","article-title":"An empirical analysis of the transition from python 2 to python 3","volume":"24","author":"Malloy","year":"2019","journal-title":"Empir. Softw. Eng."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Howison, J., and Herbsleb, J.D. (2013, January 23). Incentives and integration in scientific software production. Proceedings of the 2013 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, San Antonio, TX, USA.","DOI":"10.1145\/2441776.2441828"},{"key":"ref_13","first-page":"3738","article-title":"Addressing software related issues on legacy systems\u2014A review","volume":"9","author":"Ali","year":"2020","journal-title":"Int. J. Innov. Sci. Technol. Res."},{"key":"ref_14","first-page":"1002","article-title":"Implications of legacy software system modernization\u2014A survey in a changed scenario","volume":"8","author":"Seetharamatantry","year":"2017","journal-title":"Int. J. Adv. Res. Comput. Sci."},{"key":"ref_15","unstructured":"Sommerville, I. (2014). Software Engineering, Pearson Publication. [9th ed.]."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Majthoub, M., Qutqut, M.H., and Odeh, Y. (2018, January 11\u201312). Software re-engineering: An overview. Proceedings of the 2018 8th International Conference on Computer Science and Information Technology (CSIT), Amman, Jordan.","DOI":"10.1109\/CSIT.2018.8486173"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"24","DOI":"10.1109\/MITP.2008.10","article-title":"Harnessing green IT: Principles and practices","volume":"10","author":"Murugesan","year":"2008","journal-title":"IT Prof."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"347","DOI":"10.1007\/s11334-023-00548-9","article-title":"A holistic approach to environmentally sustainable computing","volume":"20","author":"Pazienza","year":"2024","journal-title":"Innov. Syst. Softw. Eng."},{"key":"ref_19","unstructured":"(2025, April 30). PyQt5 Reference Guide\u2014PyQT Documentation v5.15.4. Available online: https:\/\/www.riverbankcomputing.com\/static\/Docs\/PyQt5."},{"key":"ref_20","unstructured":"(2025, April 30). GRASS GIS\u2014Bringing Advanced Geospatial Technologies to the World. Available online: https:\/\/grass.osgeo.org\/."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"De Souza, S.C., Anquetil, N., and de Oliveria, K.M. (2005, January 21\u201323). A study of the documentation essential to software maintenance. Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Internation Conference on Design of Communication: Documenting & Designing for Pervasive Information\u2014SIGDOC \u201905, Coventry, UK.","DOI":"10.1145\/1085313.1085331"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"14415","DOI":"10.1029\/94JD00483","article-title":"A simple hydrologically based model of land surface water and energy fluxes for general circulation models","volume":"99","author":"Liang","year":"1994","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Atmos."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"195","DOI":"10.1016\/0921-8181(95)00046-1","article-title":"Surface soil moisture parameterization of the VIC-2L model: Evaluation and modifications","volume":"13","author":"Liang","year":"1996","journal-title":"Glob. Planet. Change"},{"key":"ref_24","unstructured":"Hernandez, F. (2019). Integrated High-Resolution Modeling for Operational Hydrologic Forecasting. [Ph.D. Thesis, University of Pittsburgh]."},{"key":"ref_25","unstructured":"Wigmosta, M., Nijssen, B., and Storck, P. (2002). The distributed hydrology soil vegetation model. Mathematical Models of Small Watershed Hydrology and Applications, Water Resources Publications."}],"container-title":["Information"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2078-2489\/16\/11\/988\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,20]],"date-time":"2025-11-20T05:13:02Z","timestamp":1763615582000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2078-2489\/16\/11\/988"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,15]]},"references-count":25,"journal-issue":{"issue":"11","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,11]]}},"alternative-id":["info16110988"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/info16110988","relation":{},"ISSN":["2078-2489"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"2078-2489"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,15]]}}}