SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MITIGATING REPEATED CRASHES OF AN APPLICATION RESULTING FROM SUPPLEMENTAL CODE

• US 20080052677A1
• Filed: 08/04/2006
• Published: 02/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Computer Incorporated (Apple Inc.)
• Inventors: Wolf, Christopher A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,020,149 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/124
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/366 using diagnostics G06F11/0703 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/54 by adding security routines or objects to programs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/554 involving event detection and direct action
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/62 Uninstallation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44526 Plug-ins; Add-ons

Abstract

Provided is a method for mitigating the effects of an application which crashes as the result of supplemental code (e.g., plug-in), particularly a plug-in from a source other than the source of the operating system of the device or the source of the application that crashes. The method includes executing the application. As the application is running, it may be monitored to determine if normal execution of instructions ceases. When that occurs, the system will make a determination if code from a supplemental code module was the cause of the crash, and will make an evaluation if that supplemental code module is from a source other than the source(s) of the operating system and application in question. In some implementations, remedial steps may be provided, such as providing information on subsequent executions of the application.

Claims

1. A method of operating a computing device, comprising the acts of:

monitoring operation of an application operating on the computing device to determine if the application crashes;

in the event the application crashes, identifying a plurality of recent memory locations within a call stack; and

determining if any of the identified memory locations correlate to code from a source other than a source of the application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device comprises an operating system, and wherein the method further comprises the act of determining if any of the identified memory locations correlate to code from a source other than a source of the operating system.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the act of:

in the event that code from a source other than the source of the application and the source of the computing device operating system is evaluated and determined to be a cause for the application crash, interacting with the computing device user regarding the determination.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the act of interacting with the user is performed at least in part through a user interface presented to the user.

5. A method of determining a cause of an application crash on a computing device, comprising the acts of:

detecting when an application operating on the computing device has crashed, the application originating from a first source;

retrieving at least a portion of memory locations within a stack;

identifying if any of the retrieved memory locations correspond to code from a plug-in to the application, and for any such code identified to be from a plug-in, identifying if the code is from a source different from the first source; and

identifying if the identified plug-in code was a cause of the crash of the application.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the identified plug-in code is determined to be a cause of the application crash, the method further comprising the act of establishing an indicator in memory that the application crashed.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the identified plug-in code is determined to be a cause of the application crash, the method further comprising the act of establishing an indicator in memory that the plug-in was a cause of the crash.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the identified plug-in code is determined to be a cause of the application crash, the method further comprising the act of establishing a data store record that the application crashed, and that the plug-in was a cause of the crash.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the act of:

on a subsequent restarting of the application, communicating to the application that the application previously crashed.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising the act of:

on a subsequent restarting of the application, communicating to the application that the application previously crashed and that the plug-in was a cause of the crash.

11. A machine readable medium having a plurality of instructions, which when implemented by a machine, cause operations to be performed which comprise:

monitoring operations of an application operating on the machine to determine if the application crashes;

in the event the application crashes, identifying a plurality of recent memory locations within a stack; and

determining if any of the identified memory locations correspond to code from a source other than a source of the application.

12. The machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein said operations further comprise, determining if any of the identified memory locations correspond to code from a source other than a source of an operating system on the machine.

13. A machine-readable medium including a set of instructions which when implemented by a machine, cause operations to be performed which comprise deciding whether to load one or more supplemental code modules into an application, the operations further comprising:

executing the application; and

determining whether the application has crashed since its last execution because of a third party supplemental code module.

14. The machine-readable medium of claim 13, wherein said operations further comprise, if the determination is made that the application has crashed since its last execution because of a third party supplemental code module, taking an action with respect to the supplemental code module.

15. The machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the action taken with respect to the supplemental code module comprises disabling the supplemental code module.

16. A machine readable medium having a plurality of instructions, which when implemented by a machine, cause operations to be performed which comprise:

operations to perform the intended functionality of an application program, which application program is configured to utilize supplemental code; and

operations which interface with a monitoring system external to the application, comprising;

initiating a call to the monitoring system to request information regarding whether the application crashed during a prior instantiation as a result of supplemental code from a source different than a source of the application; and

providing a user interface to present information to a user regarding a prior crash, the information received in response to the initiated call.

17. A method of evaluating crashes of an application operating on a computing device, wherein the application utilizes plug-ins, comprising the acts of:

detecting that the application has crashed;

identifying a plurality of recently loaded code modules, and evaluating if any identified code modules are from a source other than a source of the application, and also from a source other than a source of an operating system on the computing device;

determining a cause of the crash of the application;

evaluating if code modules evaluated to be from a source other than the source of the application and other than the source of the operating system played a role in the crash of the application.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising the act of:

establishing a record accessible to the computing device that an identified code module is estimated to have played a role in the application crash, the record identifying the time of the crash.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising the acts of:

upon a loading of the application subsequent to the crash, identifying to the application that it crashed during a prior loading; and

taking an action is response to the identification of the prior crash.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the action comprises displaying a user interface to a user of the computing device.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the action comprises preventing loading of a plug-in containing the first code module.

22. A computing device having at least one application operable thereby, and wherein the application operates in part through use of supplemental code modules which interact with the application through at least one application program interface, comprising:

a first monitoring system configured to determine if an implementation of the application crashes during a first use, and to retrieve data including a series of memory addresses in a stack for the application;

a second monitoring system in communication with the first monitoring system and configured to evaluate the retrieved code modules and to evaluate if any of the retrieved code modules are from a source other than the source of the application;

a determination system configured to determine if any retrieved code module evaluated to be from a source other than the source of the application was a cause of the application crash; and

a response system configured to take an action in response to a determination that a retrieved code module was a cause of the application crash.

23. The computing device of claim 22, wherein the action taken by the response system in response to a determination that a retrieved code module was a cause of the application crash, comprises:

establishing a record assessable to the computing device that a retrieved code module evaluated to be from a source other than the source of the application was a cause of the crash.

24. The computing device of claim 22, wherein the action taken by the response system in response to a determination that a retrieved code module was a cause of the application crash, comprises:

upon a loading of the application subsequent to the crash, identifying to the application that it crashed during a prior loading.

25. The computing device of claim 22, wherein the action taken by the response system in response to a determination that a retrieved code module was a cause of the application crash, comprises displaying a dialog to a user of the computing device.

26. The computing device of claim 22, wherein the action taken by the response system in response to a determination that a retrieved code module was a cause of the application crash, comprises preventing loading of a plug-in containing the retrieved code module upon a subsequent loading of the application.

27. A method for determining a probable cause of a crash of an application, the method comprising the acts of:

detecting a crash of the application; and

deciding whether the application has crashed because of a third party supplemental code module.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the act of deciding further comprises the acts of:

identifying a most recent frame in a plurality of frames, each of the frames representing an address at which code was executed by the application during execution;

determining whether an address of the identified frame is within an address range of a code module in a plurality of code modules loaded by the application during execution; and

determining whether an origin attribute of the code module indicates origin of the code module from a third party.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the act of deciding further comprises the acts of:

obtaining a plurality of frames, each of said frames representing an address at which code was executed by the application during execution, and a plurality of code modules loaded by the application during execution, each of said code modules having an address range associated with a respective code module;

determining whether an address of a frame is within an address range of a code module in the plurality of code modules for each of a predetermined number of frames of the plurality of frames;

determining whether an origin attribute of the code module indicates origin from a third party; and

identifying a code module having the most frames within its address range and the descriptive attribute of the third party as the cause of the crash of the application during execution.

30. The method of claim 28, where the act of determining whether the origin attribute of the code module indicates origin with a third party comprises the acts of:

retrieving the descriptive attribute corresponding to an attribute type for the code module;

retrieving a descriptive attribute for each of the application and an operating system of an attribute type that corresponds to the attribute type for the descriptive attribute for the code module; and

determining whether the retrieved descriptive attribute of the code module does not match the retrieved descriptive attribute of the operating system and the retrieved descriptive attribute of the application.

31. The method of claim 27, further comprising the acts of:

presenting a user interface to the user identifying the third party supplemental code module as the cause of crashing the application during its last execution and querying the user as to an action to be taken in response to the identification of the third party supplemental code module;

receiving the user'"'"'s selection in response to the querying; and

selectively performing one of ignoring the presentation of the user interface, reporting the supplemental code module as the cause of crashing the application and re-executing the application based on the user'"'"'s selection.

32. A method for deciding whether to load one or more supplemental code modules into an application, the method comprising the acts of:

determining whether the application has crashed since its last execution because of a third party supplemental code module; and

selectively performing an action based on the determination and selected from the group consisting of uninstalling, disabling and loading the third party supplemental code module.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the act of selectively performing, further comprises the acts of:

presenting a user interface to a user identifying the third party supplemental code module which was responsible for crashing the application;

querying the user as to a selection of one of uninstalling, disabling and loading of the third party supplemental code module in response to the identification of the third party supplemental code module; and

receiving the user'"'"'s selection in response to the querying.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein the act of determining further comprises the act of:

retrieving a date and time associated with the last execution of the application;

retrieving a date and time associated with a most recent crash of the application; and

comparing the date and time of the most recent crash to the time and date of the last execution to determine whether the application has crashed since its last execution.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein the act of determining further comprises the acts of:

retrieving a supplemental code module name corresponding to a supplemental code module that has caused a most recent crash of the application; and

determining whether the supplemental code module is provided by a third party.

36. The method of claim 32, wherein the act of determining further comprises the acts of:

retrieving a supplemental code module name corresponding to a supplemental code module that has caused a most recent crash of the application;

determining whether the supplemental code module is provided by a third party;

retrieving a plurality of supplemental code module names corresponding to supplemental code modules that caused earlier crashes of the application; and

determining whether the name of the supplemental code module occurs a predetermined number of times in the plurality of supplemental code module names to determine a pattern of crashes caused by the supplemental code module.

37. The method of claim 32, the method further comprising the acts of:

retrieving a current date and time associated with the execution of the application; and

recording the current date and time for retrieval during a next execution of the application to determine whether the application crashed since its execution represented by the current date and time.

38. The method of claim 32, further comprising the act of generating a hint for a supplemental code module when the supplemental code module is loaded into the application, the hint identifying a developer of the supplemental code module and a descriptive name for the supplemental code module.

39. The method of claim 32, wherein the act of determining further comprises the act of detecting the crash of the application during its last execution.

40. The method of claim 39, further comprising the act of deciding whether the third party supplemental code module was a cause of the crash of the application during its last execution.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the act of deciding further comprises the acts of:

identifying a recent frame in a plurality of frames, each of the frames representing an address at which code was executed by the application during its prior execution;

determining whether an address of the identified frame is within an address range of a code module in a plurality of code modules loaded by the application during the prior execution; and

determining whether an origin attribute of the code module is indicative of third party origin.

42. The method of claim 40, wherein the act of deciding further comprises the acts of:

obtaining a plurality of frames, each of said frames representing an address at which code was executed by the application during it last execution, and a plurality of code modules loaded by the application during its last execution, each of said code modules having an address range associated with a respective code module;

determining whether an address of a frame is within an address range of a code module in the plurality of code modules for each of a predetermined number of frames of the plurality of frames;

determining whether an origin attribute of the code module is third party; and

identifying a code module having the most frames within its address range and the origin attribute of third party as the cause of the crash of the application during its last execution.

43. The method of claim 41, where act of determining whether the origin attribute of the code module is from a third party comprises the acts of:

retrieving the descriptive attribute corresponding to an attribute type for the code module;

retrieving a descriptive attribute for each of the application and an operating system of an attribute type that corresponds to the attribute type for the descriptive attribute for the code module; and

determining whether the retrieved descriptive attribute of the code module does not match the retrieved descriptive attribute of the operating system and the retrieved descriptive attribute of the application.

44. The method of claim 40, further comprising the acts of:

presenting a user interface to the user identifying the third party supplemental code module as the cause of crashing the application during its last execution and querying the user as to a selection in response to the identification of the third party supplemental code module; and

receiving the user'"'"'s selection in response to the querying.

45. A system for deciding whether to load one or more supplemental code modules into an application, the system comprising:

a crash determination module adapted to determine whether the application has crashed since its last execution because of a third party supplemental code module; and

a supplemental code loading module adapted to selectively perform an action relative to an identified third party supplemental code module, the action selected from the group consisting of uninstalling, disabling and loading the third party supplemental code module.

46. The system of claim 45, further including an application presentation module adapted to:

present a user interface to a user identifying the third party supplemental code module which was responsible for crashing the application;

query the user as to a selection of one of uninstalling, disabling and loading of the third party supplemental code module in response to the identification of the third party supplemental code module; and

receive the user'"'"'s selection in response to the query.

47. The system of claim 45, wherein the crash determination module is further adapted to:

retrieve a date and time associated with the last execution of the application;

retrieve a date and time associated with a most recent crash of the application; and

compare the date and time of the most recent crash to the time and date of the last execution to determine whether the application has crashed since its last execution.

48. The system of claim 45, wherein the crash determination module is further adapted to:

retrieve a supplemental code module name corresponding to a supplemental code module that has caused a most recent crash of the application; and

determine whether the supplemental code module is provided by a third party.

49. The system of claim 45, wherein the crash determination module is further adapted to:

retrieve a supplemental code module name corresponding to a supplemental code module that has caused a most recent crash of the application;

determine whether the supplemental code module is provided by a third party;

retrieve a plurality of supplemental code module names corresponding to supplemental code modules that caused earlier crashes of the application; and

determine whether the name of the supplemental code module occurs a predetermined number of times in the plurality of supplemental code module names to determine a pattern of crashes caused by the supplemental code module.

50. The system of claim 45, wherein the crash determination module is further adapted to:

retrieve a current date and time associated with the execution of the application;

record the current date and time for retrieval during a next execution of the application to determine whether the application crashed since its execution represented by the current date and time.

51. The system of claim 45, further comprising a hint module adapted to generate a hint for a supplemental code module when the supplemental code module is loaded into the application, the hint identifying a developer of the supplemental code module and a descriptive name for the supplemental code module.

52. The system of claim 45, further comprising a crash detection module adapted to detect the crash of the application during its last execution.

53. The system of claim 52, further comprising a crash cause decision module adapted to decide whether the third party supplemental code module was a cause of the crash of the application during its last execution.

54. The system of claim 52, wherein the crash cause decision module is further adapted to:

identify a recent frame in a plurality of frames, each of the frames representing an address at which code was executed by the application during its last execution;

determine whether an address of the identified frame is within an address range of a code module in a plurality of code modules loaded by the application during its last execution; and

determine whether an origin attribute of the code module indicates third party origin.

55. The system of claim 52, wherein the crash cause decision module is further adapted to:

obtain a plurality of frames, each of said frames representing an address at which code was executed by the application during it last execution, and a plurality of code modules loaded by the application during its last execution, each of said code modules having an address range associated with a respective code module;

determine whether an address of a frame is within an address range of a code module in the plurality of code modules for each of a predetermined number of frames of the plurality of frames;

determine whether an origin attribute of the code module indicates third party origin; and

identify a code module having the most frames within its address range and the origin attribute of third party as the cause of the crash of the application during its last execution.

56. The system of claim 55, further comprising a supplemental code origin determination module adapted to:

retrieve a descriptive attribute corresponding to an attribute type for the code module;

retrieve a descriptive attribute for each of the application and an operating system of an attribute type that corresponds to the attribute type for the descriptive attribute for the code module; and

set the origin attribute to third party origin based on a determination of whether the descriptive attribute of the code module does not match a descriptive attribute of the operating system and the descriptive attribute of the application.

57. A system for determining a probable cause of a crash of an application, the system comprising:

a crash detection module adapted to detect a crash of the application; and

a crash cause decision module adapted to decide whether the application has crashed because of a third party supplemental code module.

58. The system of claim 57, wherein the crash cause decision module is further adapted to:

identify a most recent frame in a plurality of frames, each of the frames representing an address at which code was executed by the application during execution;

determine whether an address of the identified frame is within an address range of a code module in a plurality of code modules loaded by the application during execution; and

determine whether an origin attribute of the code module is that of a third party.

59. The system of claim 57, wherein the crash cause decision module is further adapted to:

obtain a plurality of frames, each of said frames representing an address at which code was executed by the application during execution, and a plurality of code modules loaded by the application during execution, each of said code modules having an address range associated with a respective code module;

determine whether an address of a frame is within an address range of a code module in the plurality of code modules for each of a predetermined number of frames of the plurality of frames;

determine whether an origin attribute of the code module is that of a third party; and

identify a code module having the most frames within its address range and the origin attribute of third party as the cause of the crash of the application during execution.

60. The system of claim 59, further comprising a supplemental code origin determination module adapted to:

retrieve the descriptive attribute corresponding to an attribute type for the code module;

retrieve a descriptive attribute for each of the application and an operating system of an attribute type that corresponds to the attribute type for the descriptive attribute for the code module; and

set the origin attribute to third party origin based on a determination of whether the descriptive attribute of the code module does not match a descriptive attribute of the operating system and the descriptive attribute of the application.

61. The system of claim 57, further comprising a presentation module adapted to:

present a user interface to the user identifying the third party supplemental code module as the cause of crashing the application during its last execution and querying the user as to an action to take in response to the identification of the third party supplemental code module;

receive the user'"'"'s input in response to the querying; and

selectively take an action in response to the user'"'"'s input.