Document tracking for safe save operations

• US 10,198,452 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2014
• Issued: 02/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Habouzit, Pierre, Giampaolo, Dominic B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Beausoliel, Jr., Robert W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Khakhar, Nirav K
• Application Number:
  US14/502,577
• Publication Number:
  US 20150347440A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,589 Days
• Field of Search: 707638
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/166 File name conversion
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1734 Details of monitoring file system events, e.g. by the use of hooks, filter drivers, logs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1847 specifically adapted to static storage, e.g. adapted to flash memory or SSD
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1873 Versioning file systems, temporal file systems, e.g. file system supporting different historic versions of files

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed that track a document within a file system using document identifier (DOCID) that is preserved during safe save operations. The DOCID can be a universally unique identifier (UUID). The DOCID can be generated on a local file system or generated during a synchronization process with a remote synchronization service. Applications can opt in to document tracking. The kernel of the operating system can monitor file system operations on a per-application and per-thread basis and determine when a processing thread is about to perform a safe save. When a sequence of file system operations indicates that a safe save is to be performed, the kernel can generate and store a tombstone record that includes the DOCID and other metadata of the tracked document and pass the DOCID and metadata to the newly saved document.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of tracking a document within a file system, the method comprising:

monitoring, by a kernel, file system operations for the document;

opening the document for editing, the document having a document identifier that is unique within the file system and is distinct from a filename of the document, the document identifier persistently associated with the most recent version of the document having the filename;

storing the document identifier;

generating a temporary file containing the contents of the document, the temporary file having a second filename and the temporary file having no document identifier equivalent to the document identifier of the document opened for editing;

receiving one or more editing operations upon the document contents in the temporary file;

determining, by the kernel, that the file system operations include a sequence of file system operations that indicate that a safe save process is being performed; and

in response to the determining, persistently associating the document identifier with the filename and the most recent version of the contents of the document.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the document identifier is unchanged by file system operations subsequent to the saving.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

saving metadata about the document, the metadata comprising the document identifier that is unique within the file system, the document filename, and an inode associated with the document, wherein saving metadata about the document comprises storing the document identifier in an inode of the file system associated with the edited document contents.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the kernel, that an application that caused the sequence of file system operations to be generated has opted in to tracking the document within the file system; and

wherein the saving is performed in response to determining that the application has opted in to tracking the document within the file system.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the kernel, the document identifier.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining, by the kernel, whether the document already has a document identifier; and

performing one of;

reusing, by the kernel, the document identifier in response to determining that the document already has a document identifier;

or

generating, by the kernel, the document identifier in response to determining that the document does not already have a document identifier.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the sequence of file system operations that indicate that a safe save process is being performed include:

generating the temporary file comprising the contents of the document;

receiving the one or more editing operations;

saving the temporary file; and

performing at least one of;

renaming the temporary file over the document;

exchanging data between the temporary file and the document;

renaming the document to a temporary location;

renaming the document to a backup location;

or

unlinking the document from the file system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the temporary file is deleted after the safe save process is performed.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium programmed with instructions that, when executed, perform a method of tracking a document within a file system, the method comprising:

monitoring, by a kernel, a sequence of file system operations for the document;

opening the document for editing, the document having a document identifier that is unique within the file system and is distinct from a filename of the document, the document identifier persistently associated with the most recent version of the document having the filename;

storing the document identifier;

generating a temporary file containing the contents of the document, the temporary file having a second filename and the temporary file having no document identifier equivalent to the document identifier of the document opened for editing;

receiving one or more editing operations upon the document contents in the temporary file;

determining, by the kernel, that the sequence of file system operations includes a sequence of file system operations that indicate that a safe save process is being performed; and

in response to the determining, persistently associating the document identifier with the filename and the most recent version of the contents of the document.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the document identifier is unchanged by file system operations subsequent to the saving.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, further comprising:

saving metadata about the document, the metadata comprising the document identifier that is unique within the file system, the document filename, and an inode associated with the document, wherein saving metadata about the document comprises storing the document identifier in an inode of the file system associated with the edited document contents.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, further comprising:

determining, by the kernel, that an application that caused the sequence of file system operations to be generated has opted in to tracking the document within the file system; and

wherein the saving is performed in response to determining that the application has opted in to tracking the document within the file system.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, further comprising determining, by the kernel, the document identifier.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, further comprising:

determining, by the kernel, whether the document already has a document identifier; and

performing one of;

reusing, by the kernel, the document identifier in response to determining that the document already has a document identifier;

or

generating, by the kernel, the document identifier in response to determining that the document does not already have a document identifier.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the sequence of file system operations that indicate that a safe save process is being performed include:

generating the temporary file comprising the contents of the document;

receiving the one or more editing operations;

saving the temporary file; and

performing at least one of;

renaming the temporary file over the document;

exchanging data between the temporary file and the document;

renaming the document to a temporary location;

renaming the document to a backup location;

or

unlinking the document from the file system.

16. A system comprising:

a processing system programmed with executable instructions that, when executed, perform a machine implemented method of tracking a document within a file system, the method comprising;

monitoring, by a kernel, a sequence of file system operations for the document;

opening the document for editing, the document having a document identifier that is unique within the file system and is distinct from a filename of the document, the document identifier persistently associated with the most recent version of the document having the filename;

storing the document identifier;

generating a temporary file containing the contents of the document, the temporary file having a second filename and the temporary file having no document identifier equivalent to the document identifier of the document open for editing;

receiving one or more editing operations upon the document contents in the temporary file;

determining, by the kernel, that the sequence of file system operations includes a sequence of file system operations that indicate that a safe save process is being performed; and

in response to the determining, persistently associating the document identifier with the filename and the most recent version of the contents of the document.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the document identifier is unchanged by file system operations subsequent to the saving.

18. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

saving metadata about the document, the metadata comprising the document identifier that is unique within the file system, the document filename, and an inode associated with the document, wherein saving metadata about the document comprises storing the document identifier in an inode of the file system associated with the edited document contents.

19. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

determining, by the kernel, that an application that caused the sequence of file system operations to be generated has opted in to tracking the document within the file system; and

wherein the saving is performed in response to determining that the application has opted in to tracking the document within the file system.

20. The system of claim 16, further comprising determining, by the kernel, the document identifier.

21. The system of claim 20, further comprising:

determining, by the kernel, whether the document already has a document identifier; and

performing one of;

reusing, by the kernel, the document identifier in response to determining that the document already has a document identifier;

or

generating, by the kernel, the document identifier in response to determining that the document does not already have a document identifier.

22. The system of claim 16, wherein the sequence of file system operations that indicate that a safe save process is being performed include:

generating the temporary file comprising the contents of the document;

receiving one or more editing operations;

saving the temporary file; and

performing at least one of;

renaming the temporary file over the document;

exchanging data between the temporary file and the document;

renaming the document to a temporary location;

renaming the document to a backup location;

or

unlinking the document from the file system.