System and method using last known good for patches

• US 20060212849A1
• Filed: 03/21/2005
• Published: 09/21/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Shah, Munil, Sah, Maneesh, Tonev, Georgi
• Granted Patent: US 7,689,972 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/124
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/658 Incremental updates; Differential updates

Abstract

A system and method for last known good (LKG) for patches. A file cache is created to store binaries which have shipped as part of a previous wide public release—security fixes (GDRs) and service packs. There are two levels of cache, including an SP cache which keeps all of the files which were shipped as part of the service pack, and a GDR cache which keeps all of the files shipped in the GDRs. Customers do not need to download all of the binaries contained in a package when they already have the version of the dependent binaries on their system when they get the new patch. Customers only need to test the binaries which have changed, rather than everything in the new package, which speeds up the deployment of critical patches.

Claims

1. A system for patches which include binaries in a computer system comprising:

a file cache for storing binaries;

wherein only selected binaries are tested.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the file cache includes at least two levels.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein at least one level of the cache comprises an SP cache which includes files from a service pack.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein at least one level of the cache comprises a GDR cache which includes files form a GDR.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein once a GDR ships, all of the packaging scripts will point to the latest version of the GDR cache.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein once the file cache is created, binaries which have regressions in them are deleted to avoid being shipped in future public releases.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein a last known good determination is made as to whether a binary can be used from the file cache.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the last known good determination of whether a binary can be used from the file cache is based at least in part on the file versions which are stored when the dependencies are introduced.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the last known good determination of whether a binary can be used from the file cache is based at least in part on the generation time of the binary to determine whether the dependency was introduced before or after the binary in question was built.

10. A method for patches in a computer system, the method comprising:

testing only binaries which were updated within a selected timeframe along with the other dependent binaries which were added after the last release; and

testing other dependent binaries for integration.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein at least one level of the cache comprises an SP cache which includes files from a service pack.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein at least one level of the cache comprises a GDR cache which includes files from a GDR.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein a last known good determination of whether a binary can be used from the file cache is based at least in part on the file versions which are stored when the dependencies are introduced.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein a last known good determination of whether a binary can be used from the file cache is based at least in part on the generation time of the binary to determine whether the dependency was introduced before or after the binary in question was built.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein when a package is created if dependent binaries exist in one of the caches, then a determination is made as to whether the binary was generated after the dependency was introduced, and if it was not, then the latest binaries are picked up and the package is completed, wherein if the binary was generated after the dependency was introduced, then the binary is picked up from the cache and the package is completed.

20. The system of claim 10, wherein the directory structure for the GDR cache is organized around the binaries'"'"' names.

16. A system for patches in a computer system comprising:

a first cache for keeping files which were shipped as part of a service pack; and

a second cache for keeping files shipped in GDRs.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the root of the SP cache is pointed to by a root environment variable.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein all sub-cabs are extracted under selected parameters if the cab originally resided under a selected subdirectory.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein a reference text file is created in the SP cache by running a selected routine on the language sub-tree.