Communications handles and proxy agents

• US 20060206595A1
• Filed: 03/09/2005
• Published: 09/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Zarzycki, David Alexander
• Granted Patent: US 8,417,825 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/561 Adding application-functional data or data for application control, e.g. adding metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5651 Reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses for proxying communication requests to services hosted on a data processing system. In one exemplary method, an open-ended configuration file is distilled to create an object tree from the configuration file. In addition, distillation creates communication handles for the services. The object tree is serialized and forwarded to a proxy agent. The proxy agent registers the service and monitors the communication handles for service requests by establishing a kernel callback. When a communication handle is readable, the proxy agent passes the communication handle to appropriate service.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

distilling a configuration file, the configuration file comprises a plurality of objects for configuring a service, wherein the distilling comprises creating a communication handle associated with an object from the plurality of objects;

creating a serialized object tree from the plurality of objects, the serialized object tree comprises the communication handle; and

registering a service with a proxy agent, said registering comprises forwarding the serialized object tree to the proxy agent.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

launching the service with the proxy agent.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the launching the service is in response to receiving a request to the service.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the launching the service is in response to the registering the service.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the distilling further comprises creating a second communication handle associated with the object.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the distilling a configuration file comprises:

creating an object tree from the plurality of objects;

translating a user name associated with the plurality of objects into a user ID; and

translating a group name associated with the plurality of objects into a group ID.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein registering the service with a proxy agent comprises:

adding the service to a register list;

retrieving the communication handle from the serialized object tree; and

requesting a kernel callback for the service with the communication handle.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication handle is selected from the group consisting of an Internet Protocol socket, a Mach port, a pipe and a file handle.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of objects further comprise at least one of a user name, a group name, a root directory, a working directory, a priority value and a value indicating the service launches on demand.

10. A method for launching a software process, the method comprising:

creating a communication handle for a communication service;

registering the communication service with a proxy agent by passing the communication handle to the proxy agent; and

launching the communication service with the proxy agent, wherein a software entity responsible for said creating is separate from a software entity responsible for said launching.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the launching the communication service is in response to receiving a request to the communication service.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the launching the communication service is in response to the registering the communication service.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

creating a second communications handle for the communication service.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the registering the communication service with a proxy agent comprises:

adding the communication service to a register list;

retrieving the communication handle from a serialized object tree; and

requesting a kernel callback for the communication service with the communication handle.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the communication handle is selected from the group consisting of an Internet Protocol socket, a Mach port, a pipe and a file handle.

16. A method for launching a service comprising:

distilling a configuration file with a distillation agent, wherein the distilling comprises creating a set of configuration information associated with a service and the set of configuration information comprises a communication handle created by the distilling;

registering the service with a proxy agent by passing the set of configuration information to the proxy agent; and

causing a launching of the service with the proxy agent.

17. A machine-readable media having executable instructions to cause a processor to perform a method comprising:

distilling a configuration file, the configuration file comprises a plurality of objects for configuring a service, wherein the distilling comprises creating a communication handle associated with an object from the plurality of objects;

creating a serialized object tree from the plurality of objects, the serialized object tree comprises the communication handle; and

registering a service with a proxy agent, said registering comprises forwarding the serialized object tree to the proxy agent.

18. The machine-readable media of claim 17, further comprising:

launching the service with the proxy agent.

19. The machine-readable media of claim 17, wherein the distilling a configuration file comprises:

creating an object tree from the plurality of objects;

translating a user name associated with the plurality of objects into a user ID; and

translating a group name associated with the plurality of objects into a group ID.

20. The machine-readable media of claim 17, wherein registering the service with a proxy agent comprises:

adding the service to a register list;

retrieving the communication handle from the serialized object tree; and

requesting a kernel callback for the service with the communication handle.

21. A machine-readable media having executable instructions to cause a processor to perform a method for launching a software process, the method comprising:

creating a communication handle for a communication service;

registering the communication service with a proxy agent by passing the communication handle to the proxy agent; and

launching the communication service with the proxy agent, wherein a software entity responsible for said creating is separate from a software entity responsible for said launching.

22. The machine-readable media of claim 21, wherein the registering the communication service with a proxy agent comprises:

adding the communication service to a register list;

retrieving the communication handle from a serialized object tree; and

requesting a kernel callback for the communication service with the communication handle.

23. A machine-readable media having executable instructions to cause a processor to perform a method for launching a software process, the method comprising:

distilling a configuration file with a distillation agent, wherein the distilling comprises creating a set of configuration information associated with a service and the set of configuration information comprises a communication handle created by the distilling;

registering the service with a proxy agent by passing the set of configuration information to the proxy agent; and

causing a launching of the service with the proxy agent.

24. An apparatus comprising:

means for distilling a configuration file, the configuration file comprises a plurality of objects for configuring a service, wherein the distilling comprises creating a communication handle associated with an object from the plurality of objects;

means for creating a serialized object tree from the plurality of objects, the serialized object tree comprises the communication handle; and

means for registering a service with a proxy agent, said registering comprises forwarding the serialized object tree to the proxy agent.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising:

means for launching the service with the proxy agent.

26. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the means for distilling a configuration file comprises:

means for creating an object tree from the plurality of objects;

means for translating a user name associated with the plurality of objects into a user ID; and

means for translating a group name associated with the plurality of objects into a group ID.

27. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the means for registering the service with a proxy agent comprises:

means for adding the service to a register list;

means for retrieving the communication handle from the serialized object tree; and

means for requesting a kernel callback for the service with the communication handle.

28. An apparatus for launching a software process, the apparatus comprising:

means for creating a communication handle for a communication service;

means for registering the communication service with a proxy agent by passing the communication handle to the proxy agent; and

means for launching the communication service with the proxy agent, wherein a software entity responsible for said creating is separate from a software entity responsible for said launching.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the registering the communication service with a proxy agent comprises:

means for adding the communication service to a register list;

means for retrieving the communication handle from a serialized object tree; and

means for requesting a kernel callback for the communication service with the communication handle.