Methods, systems, and computer program products for detecting the presence of an installation on a data processing system based on the relative storage locations of one or more files

• US 20050193216A1
• Filed: 03/01/2004
• Published: 09/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Gurda, Melanie, Jennings, James S., Ramm, Lenore
• Granted Patent: US 7,552,474 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/302 where the computing system component is a software system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3051 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the configuration of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring the presence of processing resources, peripherals, I/O links, software programs verification or detection of system hardware configuration G06F11/2247
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment

Abstract

The presence of an installation on a data processing system may be detected by providing a signature that includes m files having paths associated therewith, respectively. A number n files on the data processing system are determined that match files in the signature and a files found ratio given by n/m is determined. A transformation is applied to the signature by replacing at least a portion of at least one of the paths with a new path. Then, a distance is determined between the n files on the data processing system and the m signature files. The distance corresponds to a sum of a number of path segments associated with the m signature files that cannot be matched to a corresponding path segment associated with files on the data processing system. The presence of the installation on the data processing system is determined based on the files found ratio and the distance.

Claims

1. A method of detecting the presence of an installation on a data processing system, comprising:

providing a signature that comprises m files having paths associated therewith, respectively;

determining a number n files on the data processing system that match files in the signature;

determining a files found ratio given by n/m;

applying a transformation to the signature by replacing at least a portion of at least one of the paths with a new path;

then determining a distance between the n files on the data processing system and the m signature files, the distance corresponding to a sum of a number of path segments associated with the m signature files that cannot be matched to a corresponding path segment associated with files on the data processing system; and

determining if the installation is present on the data processing system based on the files found ratio and the distance.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining if the files found ratio is greater than a files found threshold; and

wherein determining the distance and determining if the installation is present are performed if the files found ratio is greater than the files found threshold.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein applying the transformation comprises:

selecting a transformation based on a path associated with one of the m signature files;

then

determining the distance between the n files on the data processing system and the m signature files using the selected transformation;

repeating selecting the transformation and determining the distance between the n files on the data processing system and the m signature files using the selected transformation for each one of the m signature files; and

applying a transformation to the signature that is associated with the smallest distance.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein if one of the m signature files matches a plurality of files on the data processing system, then the distance between the one of the m signature files and the plurality of matching files on the data processing system is a smallest distance between the one of the m signatures files and any one of the plurality of matching files on the data processing system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining if the installation is present comprises:

comparing the files found ratio to a files found threshold;

comparing the distance to a distance threshold; and

determining that the installation is present on the data processing system if the files found ratio exceeds the files found threshold and the distance is less than the distance threshold.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

selecting the files found threshold based on the number of signature files m and/or whether the installation has at least one file associated therewith whose installation is optional.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the number n files on the data processing system that match files in the signature comprises:

searching the data processing system to find a first file that matches a first one of the m signature files, the found file having a distance dmax associated therewith;

searching the data processing system to determine if another file that matches another one of the m signature files can be found within the distance dmax;

ending the search of the data processing system if the other file that matches the other one of the m signature files is found within the distance dmax;

updating the distance dmax with a value of a distance associated with the other file that matches the other one of the m signature files if the other file is not found within the distance dmax; and

performing searching the data processing system to determine if another file matches another one of the m signature files, ending the search, and updating the distance dmax for each of the m signature files.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the installation comprises a software program, a firmware program, a documentation file, a printer font, and/or a web file.

9. A system for detecting the presence of an installation on a data processing system, comprising:

means for providing a signature that comprises m files having paths associated therewith, respectively;

means for determining a number n files on the data processing system that match files in the signature;

means for determining a files found ratio given by n/m;

means for applying a transformation to the signature by replacing at least a portion of at least one of the paths with a new path;

means for determining a distance between the n files on the data processing system and the m signature files, the distance corresponding to a sum of a number of path segments associated with the m signature files that cannot be matched to a corresponding path segment associated with files on the data processing system; and

means for determining if the installation is present on the data processing system based on the files found ratio and the distance.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

means for determining if the files found ratio is greater than a files found threshold;

wherein the means for determining the distance comprises means for determining the distance between the n files on the data processing system and the m signature files if the files found ratio is greater than the files found threshold; and

wherein the means for determining if the installation is present comprises means for determining if the installation is present on the data processing system based on the files found ratio and the distance if the files found ratio is greater than the files found threshold.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the means for determining if the installation is present comprises:

means for comparing the files found ratio to a files found threshold;

means for comparing the distance to a distance threshold; and

means for determining that the installation is present on the data processing system if the files found ratio exceeds the files found threshold and the distance is less than the distance threshold.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

means for selecting the files found threshold based on the number of signature files m and/or whether the installation has at least one file associated therewith whose installation is optional.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the means for determining the number n files on the data processing system that match files in the signature comprises:

means for searching the data processing system to find a first file that matches a first one of the m signature files, the found file having a distance dmax associated therewith;

means for searching the data processing system to determine if another file that matches another one of the m signature files can be found within the distance dmax;

means for ending the search of the data processing system if the other file that matches the other one of the m signature files is found within the distance dmax; and

means for updating the distance dmax with a value of a distance associated with the other file that matches the other one of the m signature files if the other file is not found within the distance dmax.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the installation comprises a software program, a firmware program, a documentation file, a printer font, and/or a web file.

15. A computer program product for detecting the presence of an installation on a data processing system, comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to provide a signature that comprises m files having paths associated therewith, respectively;

computer readable program code configured to determine a number n files on the data processing system that match files in the signature;

computer readable program code configured to determine a files found ratio given by n/m;

computer readable program code configured to apply a transformation to the signature by replacing at least a portion of at least one of the paths with a new path;

computer readable program code configured to determine a distance between the n files on the data processing system and the m signature files, the distance corresponding to a sum of a number of path segments associated with the m signature files that cannot be matched to a corresponding path segment associated with files on the data processing system; and

computer readable program code configured to determine if the installation is present on the data processing system based on the files found ratio and the distance.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising:

computer readable program code configured to determine if the files found ratio is greater than a files found threshold;

wherein the computer readable program code configured to determine the distance comprises computer readable program code configured to determine the distance between the n files on the data processing system and the m signature files if the files found ratio is greater than the files found threshold; and

wherein the computer readable program code configured to determine if the installation is present on the data processing system comprises computer readable program code configured to determine if the installation is present on the data processing system based on the files found ratio and the distance if the files found ratio is greater than the files found threshold.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the computer readable program code configured to determine if the installation is present comprises:

computer readable program code configured to compare the files found ratio to a files found threshold;

computer readable program code configured to compare the distance to a distance threshold; and

computer readable program code configured to determine that the installation is present on the data processing system if the files found ratio exceeds the files found threshold and the distance is less than the distance threshold.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising:

computer readable program code configured to select the files found threshold based on the number of signature files m and/or whether the installation has at least one file associated therewith whose installation is optional.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the computer readable program code configured to determine the number n files on the data processing system that match files in the signature comprises:

computer readable program code configured to search the data processing system to find a first file that matches a first one of the m signature files, the found file having a distance dmax associated therewith;

computer readable program code configured to search the data processing system to determine if another file that matches another one of the m signature files can be found within the distance dmax;

computer readable program code configured to end the search of the data processing system if the other file that matches the other one of the m signature files is found within the distance dmax; and

computer readable program code configured to update the distance dmax with a value of a distance associated with the other file that matches the other one of the m signature files if the other file is not found within the distance dmax.

20. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the installation comprises a software program, a firmware program, a documentation file, a printer font, and/or a web file.