SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MANAGING SOFTWARE PATCHES

• US 20090222811A1
• Filed: 02/29/2008
• Published: 09/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Faus, Norman Lee, Huff, David P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,423,993 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

Embodiments relate to systems and methods for managing software patches. Embodiments incorporate a patch server that collects aggregate patch history information from a community of software application users. The set of available patches for a given software application can be registered to a data store, and the number of uses electing to install a patch, as well as usage information such as the frequency of bug reports or rollbacks associated with individual patches can be tracked. When a user desires to update a software application, the various available patches and their combined usage history can be displayed in a patch selection dialog. The user can view and select the patch version best suited to their needs, for example to best match their particular hardware configuration, or to install a patch having the fewest bug reports.

Claims

1. A method of managing software patches, comprising;

aggregating patch history information from a set of clients associated with a set of software products installed on the set of clients;

receiving a patch download request from a requesting client;

generating patch selection information based on the aggregate patch history information and the patch download request; and

transmitting the patch selection information to the requesting client.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the patch selection information comprises at least one of patch version information, bug report information, patch rollback information, software compatibility information, and hardware compatibility information.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a patch selection dialog to present to a user of the requesting client.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising accepting a user selection from the patch selection dialog to download a selected patch.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising downloading the selected patch to the requesting client.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising installing the selected patch.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising creating a system restore point before installing the selected patch.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of software products comprises at least one of a set of application, a set of operating systems, a set of utilities, and a set of drivers.

9. A system for managing software patches, comprising:

an interface to a set of clients associated with a set of software products installed on the set of clients, and

a patch engine, the patch engine being configured to—

aggregate patch history information from the set of clients, receive a patch download request from a requesting client, generate patch selection information based on the aggregate patch history

information and the patch download request, and transmit the patch selection information to the requesting client.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the patch selection information comprises at least one of patch version information, bug report information, patch rollback information, software compatibility information, and hardware compatibility information

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the patch engine is further configured to generate a patch selection dialog to present to a user of the requesting client.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the patch engine is further configured to accept a user selection from the patch selection dialog to download a selected patch.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the patch engine is further configured to download the selected patch to the requesting client.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the selected patch is installed on the requesting client.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the requesting client creates a system restore point before installing the selected patch.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the set of software products comprises at least one of a set of application, a set of operating systems, a set of utilities, and a set of drivers.

17. The system of claim 9, wherein the patch engine is hosted on a patch server.

18. A computer-readable medium, the computer-readable medium being readable to execute a method for software patch management, the method comprising:

aggregating patch history information from a set of clients associated with a set of software products installed on the set of clients;

receiving a patch download request from a requesting client;

generating patch selection information based on the aggregate patch history information and the patch download request; and

transmitting the patch selection information to the requesting client.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the patch selection information comprises at least one of patch version information, bug report information, patch rollback information, software compatibility information, and hardware compatibility information.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, further comprising generating a patch selection dialog to present to a user of the requesting client.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, further comprising accepting a user selection from the patch selection dialog to download a selected patch.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the set of software products comprises at least one of a set of application, a set of operating systems, a set of utilities, and a set of drivers.

23. A software patch, the software patch being generated by a method of:

aggregating patch history information from a set of clients associated with a set of software products installed on the set of clients;

receiving a patch download request from a requesting client;

generating patch selection information based on the aggregate patch history information and the patch download request; and

transmitting the patch selection information to the requesting client.

24. The software patch of claim 23, wherein the patch selection information comprises at least one of patch version information, bug report information, patch rollback information, software compatibility information, and hardware compatibility information.

25. The software patch of claim 23, wherein the method further comprises generating a patch selection dialog to present to a user of the requesting client.

26. The software patch of claim 25, wherein the method further comprises accepting a user selection from the patch selection dialog to download a selected patch.

27. The software patch of claim 26, wherein the method further comprises downloading the selected patch to the requesting client.

28. The software patch of claim 27, wherein the method further comprises installing the selected patch.

29. The software patch of claim 28, wherein the method further comprises creating a system restore point before installing the selected patch.

30. The software patch of claim 23, wherein the set of software products comprises at least one of a set of application, a set of operating systems, a set of utilities, and a set of drivers.