Updating program packages at distribution endpoint

• US 10,360,017 B1
• Filed: 01/02/2018
• Issued: 07/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/02/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Salameh, Jason Ghssane, Liu, Andy, Vintzel, John James, Hendrixson, Cory Alan
• Primary Examiner(s): Lyons, Andrew M.
• Application Number:
  US15/860,574
• Publication Number:
  US 20190205112A1
• Time in Patent Office: 567 Days
• Field of Search: 717168-178
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/30 Creation or generation of source code
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/658 Incremental updates; Differential updates

Abstract

A computing system is provided that includes a distribution endpoint including one or more processors configured to receive a request from a developer computing device to update a program managed by the distribution endpoint, the program being previously packaged and signed. The one or more processors of the distribution endpoint are further configured to receive a code file including a change to the program, retrieve a package of the program that has not been updated with the change to the program, generate an updated package of the program by adding the code file to the retrieved package of the program such that the updated package of the program logically represents a package of the updated program, and distribute the updated package of the program to an end user computing device.

Claims

1. A computing system, comprising:

a distribution endpoint including one or more processors configured to;

receive a request from a developer computing device to update a program managed by the distribution endpoint, the program being previously packaged and signed;

receive a code file including a change to the program and a footprint file that tracks the change to the program from the developer computing device, the footprint file including an updated map of units of code in an updated version of the program and a hash value for each unit of code;

retrieve a package of the program that has not been updated with the change to the program;

generate an updated package of the program based on the footprint file by comparing hash values of each unit of code in the updated map to hash values of corresponding units of code in a previous map of units of code of the retrieved package to identify units of code that have changed in the updated version of the program and updating the identified units of code by adding the code file to the retrieved package of the program such that the updated package of the program logically represents a package of the updated program; and

distribute the updated package of the program to an end user computing device.

2. The computing system of claim 1, wherein to add the code file to the retrieved package of the program, the one or more processors of the distribution endpoint are further configured to:

identify one or more unchanged code files of the program from the retrieved package; and

generate a new package that includes the one or more unchanged code files of the program identified from the retrieved package and the code file including the change to the program.

3. The computing system of claim 1, wherein to add the code file to the retrieved package of the program, the one or more processors of the distribution endpoint are further configured to add the code file to the retrieved package of the program without repackaging the program.

4. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the retrieved package of the program includes a plurality of subpackages, and wherein the one or more processors of the distribution endpoint are configured to add the code file to one or more of the plurality of subpackages based on the change to the program.

5. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the change to the program is determined by a developer side application executed on the developer computing device.

6. The computing system of claim 5, wherein the developer side application is configured to generate the footprint file that tracks the change to the program, and send the footprint file to the distribution endpoint with the code file.

7. The computing system of claim 6, wherein the footprint file is programmatically generated by the developer side application.

8. The computing system of claim 6, wherein the footprint file is generated via user input.

9. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the program is previously packaged and signed by a developer side application executed on the developer computing device.

10. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the program is previously packaged and signed by the distribution endpoint based on code files of the program received from the developer computing device.

21. The computing system of claim 1, wherein updating the identified units of code further includes updating a manifest of the retrieved package to point to the added code file for the identified units of code.

11. A method comprising:

at a processor of a distribution endpoint of a computing system;

receiving a request from a developer computing device to update a program managed by the distribution endpoint, the program being previously packaged and signed;

receiving a code file including a change to the program and a footprint file that tracks the change to the program from the developer computing device, the footprint file including an updated map of units of code in an updated version of the program and a hash value for each unit of code;

retrieving a package of the program that has not been updated with the change to the program;

generating an updated package of the program based on the footprint file by comparing hash values of each unit of code in the updated map to hash values of corresponding units of code in a previous map of units of code of the retrieved package to identify units of code that have changed in the updated version of the program and updating the identified units of code by adding the code file to the retrieved package of the program such that the updated package of the program logically represents a package of the updated program; and

distributing the updated package of the program to an end user computing device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein adding the code file to the retrieved package of the program further comprises:

identifying one or more unchanged code files of the program from the retrieved package; and

generating a new package that includes the one or more unchanged code files of the program identified from the retrieved package and the code file including the change to the program.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein adding the code file to the retrieved package of the program further comprises adding the code file to the retrieved package of the program without repackaging the program.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the retrieved package of the program includes a plurality of subpackages, and wherein the method comprises adding the code file to one or more of the plurality of subpackages based on the change to the program.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the change to the program is determined by a developer side application executed on the developer computing device.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises, at the developer side application, generating the footprint file that tracks the change to the program, and sending the footprint file to the distribution endpoint with the code file.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the footprint file is programmatically generated by the developer side application.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the program is previously packaged and signed by a developer side application executed on the developer computing device.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the program is previously packaged and signed by the distribution endpoint based on code files of the program received from the developer computing device.

20. A computing device comprising a processor configured to:

receive an update to a program stored on the computing device, the program being previously packaged and signed;

determine a code file including a change to the program and a footprint file that tracks the change to the program from the developer computing device, the footprint file including an updated map of units of code in an updated version of the program and a hash value for each unit of code;

retrieve a package of the program that has not been updated with the change to the program; and

generate an updated package of the program without repackaging the program based on the footprint file by comparing hash values of each unit of code in the updated map to hash values of corresponding units of code in a previous map of units of code of the retrieved package to identify units of code that have changed in the updated version of the program and updating the identified units of code by adding the code file to the retrieved package of the program and updating a manifest of the retrieved package to point to the added code file for the identified units of code such that the updated package of the program logically represents a package of the updated program.