Application Reporting Library

• US 20110209008A1
• Filed: 02/25/2010
• Published: 08/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Arapov, Anton
• Granted Patent: US 8,245,082 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/48
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0706 the processing taking place on a specific hardware platform or in a specific software environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0781 Error filtering or prioritizing based on a policy defined by the user or on a policy defined by a hardware/software module, e.g. according to a severity level

Abstract

An apparatus and a method for detecting and reporting malfunctions in computer programs is described. A reporting library of an Application Programming Interface (API) is configured to direct a report of software malfunction to a specified server. The API is implemented in an application to be executed on a computer system. The application implementing the API is to report software malfunction of the application to the specified server.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

configuring a reporting library of an Application Programming Interface (API) to direct a report of software malfunction to a specified server; and

implementing the API in an application to be executed on a computer system, wherein the application is to report software malfunction of the application to the specified server.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

detecting at least one type of a software malfunction as defined in the reporting library by a malfunction detector provided by the API;

collecting data of the software malfunction and generating a crash report by a data collector provided by the API; and

reporting the crash report in a manner specified in the reporting library to the specified server.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the application implementing the API is to redirect the report of software malfunction from a default server associated with the application to the specified server.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 wherein the application implementing the API does not report to the default server associate with the application.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the application implementing the API is to form a first reporting module and a second reporting module, the first reporting module configured to report to a first server, the second reporting module configured to report to a second server.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the computer system communicates with the specified server over a network.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the API is implemented with at least one application in the computer system.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having instructions stored therein, which when executed, cause a computer system to perform a method comprising:

configuring a reporting library of an Application Programming Interface (API) to direct a report of software malfunction to a specified server; and

implementing the API in an application to be executed on a computer system, wherein the application is to report software malfunction of the application to the specified server.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 wherein the method further comprises:

detecting at least one type of a software malfunction as defined in the reporting library by a malfunction detector provided by the API;

collecting data of the software malfunction and generating a crash report by a data collector provided by the API; and

reporting the crash report in a manner specified in the reporting library to the specified server.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 wherein the application implementing the API is to redirect the report of software malfunction from a default server associated with the application to the specified server.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 wherein the application implementing the API does not report to the default server associate with the application.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 wherein the application implementing the API is to form a first reporting module and a second reporting module, the first reporting module configured to report to a first server, the second reporting module configured to report to a second server.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 wherein the computer system communicates with the specified server over a network.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 wherein the API is implemented with at least one application in the computer system.

15. A computer system comprising:

a memory comprising an application;

a processor coupled to the memory;

a configurable malfunction reporting application programming interface (API) stored in the memory to be implemented in an application executed by the processor, the configurable malfunction reporting API comprising;

a malfunction detector configured to detect a malfunction of the application;

a data collector configured to collect data of the malfunction and generating a crash report; and

a reporting module configured to direct a report of the malfunction to a specified server.

16. The computer system of claim 15 wherein the application implementing the API is to redirect the report of software malfunction from a default server associated with the application to the specified server.

17. The computer system of claim 16 wherein the application implementing the API does not report to the default server associate with the application.

18. The computer system of claim 15 wherein the application implementing the API is to form a first reporting module and a second reporting module, the first reporting module configured to report to a first server, the second reporting module configured to report to a second server.

19. The computer system of claim 15 wherein the computer system communicates with the specified server over a network.

20. The computer system of claim 15 wherein the API is implemented with at least one application in the computer system.