Detecting Impact of Operating System Upgrades

• US 20110083126A1
• Filed: 10/06/2009
• Published: 04/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines SA (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Morris, James Tai, Bhakta, Sagar, Sze, Calvin
• Granted Patent: US 8,516,471 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

Methods, systems, and products for detecting impact of operating system upgrades on software components. Embodiments detect the impact of differences between a current operating system and an upgraded operating system. The operating system is configured to provide a run-time environment. In one embodiment, a method comprises detecting a call from a software entity running on a first data processing system to the current operating system of the data processing system; recording the detected call in a data structure configured to contain one or more recorded calls; scanning the upgraded operating system on a second data processing system upon which the upgraded operating system is installed and running, before execution of the software entity in the run-time environment of the upgraded operating system, to identify the recorded calls in the data structure that are not supported by the upgraded operating system; and presenting an indication of the identified calls.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for detecting impact of an operating system upgrade, the method comprising:

detecting a call from a software entity running on a first data processing system to a current operating system of the first data processing system;

recording the detected call in a data structure configured to contain one or more recorded calls;

scanning an upgraded operating system on a second data processing system upon which the upgraded operating system is installed and running, before execution of the software entity in a run-time environment of the upgraded operating system, to identify the recorded calls in the data structure that fail to be supported by the upgraded operating system; and

presenting an indication of the identified calls.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein scanning the upgraded operating system comprises scanning the upgraded operating system prior to installation of the upgraded operating system on the first data processing system.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the software entity fails to be installed on the second data processing system.

4. The method of claim 1 comprising installing the upgraded operating system on the first data processing system.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising exporting the data structure from the first data processing system to a separate data storage unit before the installation of the upgraded operating system on the first data processing system.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising exporting the data structure from the first data processing system to the second data processing system prior to scanning the upgraded operating system on the second data processing system.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein recording the detected call in the data structure comprises listing the detected call in the data structure such that a particular call is listed in the data structure only once.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein:

recording the detected call in the data structure comprises;

listing a particular call in the data structure; and

associating the particular call with a particular software entity from which the particular call originated; and

presenting the indication of the identified calls comprises presenting the particular call and the particular software entity associated with the particular call.

9. A computer program product for detecting impact of an operating system upgrade, the computer program product comprising:

a computer-readable medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising;

computer program instructions for detecting a call from a software entity running on a first data processing system to a current operating system of the first data processing system;

computer program instructions for recording the detected call in a data structure configured to contain one or more recorded calls;

computer program instructions for scanning an upgraded operating system on a second data processing system upon which the upgraded operating system is installed and running, before execution of the software entity in a run-time environment of the upgraded operating system, to identify the recorded calls in the data structure that fail to be supported by the upgraded operating system; and

computer program instructions for presenting an indication of the identified calls.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein computer program instructions for scanning the upgraded operating system comprise computer program instructions for scanning the upgraded operating system prior to installation of the upgraded operating system on the first data processing system.

11. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein the software entity fails to be installed on the second data processing system.

12. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein the upgraded operating system is installed on the first data processing system.

13. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein computer program instructions for recording the detected call in the data structure comprise computer program instructions for listing the detected call in the data structure such that a particular call is listed in the data structure only once.

14. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein:

computer program instructions for recording the detected call in the data structure comprise;

computer program instructions for listing a particular call in the data structure; and

computer program instructions for associating the particular call with a particular software entity from which the particular call originated; and

computer program instructions for presenting the indication of the identified calls comprise computer program instructions for presenting the particular call and the particular software entity associated with the particular call.

15. A system for detecting impact of an operating system upgrade, the system comprising:

a first data processing system comprising a processor and a computer memory operatively coupled to the processor, the computer memory having disposed within it;

computer program instructions for detecting a call from a software entity running on the first data processing system to a current operating system of the first data processing system;

computer program instructions for recording the detected call in a data structure configured to contain one or more recorded calls;

a second data processing system comprising a processor and a computer memory operatively coupled to the processor, the computer memory having disposed within it;

computer program instructions for scanning an upgraded operating system on the second data processing system upon which the upgraded operating system is installed and running, before execution of the software entity in a run-time environment of the upgraded operating system, to identify the recorded calls in the data structure that fail to be supported by the upgraded operating system; and

computer program instructions for presenting an indication of the identified calls.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein computer program instructions for scanning the upgraded operating system comprise computer program instructions for scanning the upgraded operating system prior to installation of the upgraded operating system on the first data processing system.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein the software entity fails to be installed on the second data processing system.

18. The system of claim 15 wherein the upgraded operating system is installed on the first data processing system.

19. The system of claim 15 wherein computer program instructions for recording the detected call in the data structure comprise computer program instructions for listing the detected call in the data structure such that a particular call is listed in the data structure only once.

20. The system of claim 15 wherein:

computer program instructions for recording the detected call in the data structure comprise;

computer program instructions for listing a particular call in the data structure; and

computer program instructions for associating the particular call with a particular software entity from which the particular call originated; and

computer program instructions for presenting the indication of the identified calls comprise computer program instructions for presenting the particular call and the particular software entity associated with the particular call.