Systems And Methods For Embedded Shared Libraries In An Executable Image

• US 20140282457A1
• Filed: 03/13/2013
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Harvey, John P., Chow, Alex C.
• Granted Patent: US 9,104,504 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/164
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/54 Link editing before load time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44521 Dynamic linking or loading; Link editing at or after load time, e.g. Java class loading

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for deploying new software application features as a dynamically-loadable executable package including one or more dynamically-linked shared dependent libraries. The dynamically-loadable executable package may be capable of being loaded into volatile memory and executed in an information handling system environment with or without the dependent shared libraries, and without duplicating the presence or use of redundant shared libraries that may be already present on the existing software stack.

Claims

1. An information handling system, comprising:

at least one processing device, the processing device being configured to execute a runtime loader module and at least one application;

non-volatile system memory coupled to the processing device, the non-volatile memory containing an executable application file including the at least one application, the executable application file also including an embedded file system image segment that contains one or more dynamically-linkable dependent shared library versions selected for use by the at least one application when it is executed; and

volatile system memory coupled to the processing device, the volatile system memory being configured to contain the application in private memory space and being further configured to contain one or more dynamically-linkable runtime dependent shared library versions in first shared memory space that are available to be accessed by the application from the application private memory space during execution on the processing device;

where the at least one processing device is configured to execute the runtime loader module to;

load the application from the executable application file into the application private memory space of the volatile system memory,

selectably load one or more shared dependent library versions from the embedded file system image segment into a second shared memory space of the volatile system memory that is separate and different from the first shared memory space, and

dynamically link the loaded application to the one or more shared dependent library versions loaded from the embedded file system image segment into the second shared memory space of the volatile system memory.

2. The information handling system of claim 1, where the executable application file also includes embedded library version information that indicates the identity of all dependent library versions required by the application;

and where the at least one processing device is further configured to execute the runtime loader to;

examine the embedded library version information of the executable application file to determine the identity of all dependent library versions required by the application;

determine the identity of the any dynamically-linkable runtime dependent shared library versions currently contained in shared memory space of the volatile system memory;

compare the determined identity of all dependent library versions required by the application to the determined identity of any dynamically-linkable runtime dependent shared library versions currently contained in the shared memory space of the volatile system memory to determine if any dependent library versions required by the application are not currently contained in shared memory space of the volatile system memory; and

selectably load one or more shared dependent library versions from the embedded file system image segment into the second shared memory space of the volatile system memory that correspond to any dependent library versions required by the application that are not currently contained in the first shared memory space of the volatile system memory.

3. The information handling system of claim 2, where the at least one processing device is further configured to execute the runtime loader to not load the application from the executable application file into private memory space of the volatile system memory if it is determined by the runtime loader that one or more shared library versions are not contained in either of the first shared memory space of the volatile system memory or the embedded file system image segment.

4. The information handling system of claim 1, where the at least one processing device is configured to execute the runtime loader module together with a first application and second different application;

where the executable application file includes the first application, the executable application file also including an embedded file system image segment that contains one or more dynamically-linkable dependent shared library versions selected for use by the first application;

where the volatile system memory is configured to contain one or more dynamically-linkable runtime dependent shared library versions in the first shared memory space that are available to be accessed by each of the first and second applications from the private memory space of each respective different application during execution on the processing device; and

where the at least one processing device is further configured to execute the runtime loader to;

selectably load at least one given shared dependent library version required by the first application but not required by the second application from the embedded file system image segment into the second shared memory space of the volatile system memory that corresponds to the first application when the given shared dependent library version is not currently contained in first shared memory space of the volatile system memory;

where at least one given shared dependent library version is required by the first application but not required by the second application.

5. The information handling system of claim 4, where the at least one processing device is further configured to execute the runtime loader to:

selectably load the at least one given shared dependent library version required by the first application but not required by the second application from the embedded file system image segment into the second shared memory space of the volatile system memory that corresponds to the first application when the given shared dependent library version is not currently contained in the first shared memory space of the volatile system memory without modifying the one or more dynamically-linkable runtime dependent shared library versions in the first shared memory space.

6. The information handling system of claim 4, where the embedded library version information also includes a list of the one or more embedded dependent library versions contained in the file system image;

and where the at least one processing device is further configured to execute the runtime loader to;

compare the one or more shared library versions that are not contained in either of the first shared memory space of the volatile system memory to the one or more embedded dependent library versions contained in the file system image; and

not load the application from the executable application file into private memory space of the volatile system memory if it is determined by the runtime loader that one or more shared library versions are not contained in the first shared memory space are not included in the list of the one or more embedded dependent library versions contained in the file system image.

7. The information handling system of claim 1, where the information handling system is a server that includes a remote access controller (RAC);

and where the information handling system further comprises;

an out-of-band processing device of the RAC that is configured to execute the runtime loader module; and

an in-band processing device coupled to the out-of-band processing device, the in-band processing device being a separate processing device from the out-of-band processing device;

where the volatile system memory comprises volatile random access memory (RAM) of the RAC; and

where the non-volatile memory comprises persistent storage coupled to the out-of band processing device of the RAC.

8. The information handling system of claim 7, where the out-of-band processing device is configured to execute a first operating system (OS);

and where the runtime loader module is configured as a kernel of the first OS.

9. The information handling system of claim 7, where the out-of-band processing device is configured to execute a first operating system (OS);

where the in-band processing device is configured to execute a second operating system (OS); and

where the runtime loader module is ported and compiled on both the in-band processor and the out-of-band processor.

10. The information handling system of claim 7, where the out-of-band processing device comprises a service processor or embedded processor running a service processor OS;

and where the in-band processor comprises a host central processing unit (CPU) running a host OS for the information handling system.

11. A method of loading and executing an application on at least one processing device of an information handling system, the method comprising:

using the processing device to load one or more dynamically-linkable runtime dependent shared library versions in a first shared memory space of volatile memory of the information handling system, the dynamically-linkable runtime dependent shared library versions in the shared memory space being available to be accessed by applications executing on the processing device;

using the processing device to load an application from an executable application file contained in non-volatile memory of the information handling system into an application private memory space of volatile system memory of the information handling system, the executable application file including the at least one application and an embedded file system image segment that contains one or more dynamically-linkable dependent shared library versions selected for use by the at least one application when it is executed;

using the processing device to selectably load one or more shared dependent library versions from the embedded file system image segment into a second shared memory space of the volatile system memory that is separate and different from the first shared memory space;

using the processing device to dynamically link the loaded application to the one or more shared dependent library versions loaded from the embedded file system image segment into the second shared memory space of the volatile system memory; and

using the processing device to execute the loaded application on the at least one processing device of the information handling system.

12. The method of claim 11, where the executable application file also includes embedded library version information that indicates the identity of all dependent library versions required by the application;

and where the method further comprises;

using the processing device to examine the embedded library version information of the executable application file to determine the identity of all dependent library versions required by the application;

using the processing device to determine the identity of the any dynamically-linkable runtime dependent shared library versions currently contained in shared memory space of the volatile system memory;

using the processing device to compare the determined identity of all dependent library versions required by the application to the determined identity of any dynamically-linkable runtime dependent shared library versions currently contained in the shared memory space of the volatile system memory to determine if any dependent library versions required by the application are not currently contained in shared memory space of the volatile system memory; and

using the processing device to selectably load one or more shared dependent library versions from the embedded file system image segment into the second shared memory space of the volatile system memory that correspond to any dependent library versions required by the application that are not currently contained in the first shared memory space of the volatile system memory.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising using the at least one processing device to not load the application from the executable application file into private memory space of the volatile system memory if it is determined that one or more shared library versions are not contained in either of the first shared memory space of the volatile system memory or the embedded file system image segment.

14. The method of claim 11, where the executable application file includes a first application, the executable application file also including an embedded file system image segment that contains one or more dynamically-linkable dependent shared library versions selected for use by the first application;

where the one or more dynamically-linkable runtime dependent shared library versions in the first shared memory space are available to be accessed by each of the first and a second application from the private memory space of each respective different application during execution on the processing device; and

where the method further comprises using the at least one processing device to;

execute the first application and the second different application; and

selectably load at least one given shared dependent library version required by the first application but not required by the second application from the embedded file system image segment into the second shared memory space of the volatile system memory that corresponds to the first application when the given shared dependent library version is not currently contained in first shared memory space of the volatile system memory;

where at least one given shared dependent library version is required by the first application but not required by the second application.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising using the at least one processing device to:

selectably load the at least one given shared dependent library version required by the first application but not required by the second application from the embedded file system image segment into the second shared memory space of the volatile system memory that corresponds to the first application when the given shared dependent library version is not currently contained in the first shared memory space of the volatile system memory without modifying the one or more dynamically-linkable runtime dependent shared library versions in the first shared memory space.

16. The method of claim 14, where the embedded library version information also includes a list of the one or more embedded dependent library versions contained in the file system image;

and where the at least one processing device is further configured to execute the runtime loader to;

compare the one or more shared library versions that are not contained in either of the first shared memory space of the volatile system memory to the one or more embedded dependent library versions contained in the file system image; and

not load the application from the executable application file into private memory space of the volatile system memory if it is determined by the runtime loader that one or more shared library versions are not contained in the first shared memory space are not included in the list of the one or more embedded dependent library versions contained in the file system image.

17. The method of claim 11, where the information handling system is a server that includes a remote access controller (RAC);

and where the information handling system further comprises;

an out-of-band processing device of the RAC that is configured to execute the runtime loader module; and

an in-band processing device coupled to the out-of-band processing device, the in-band processing device being a separate processing device from the out-of-band processing device;

where the volatile system memory comprises volatile random access memory (RAM) of the RAC; and

where the non-volatile memory comprises persistent storage coupled to the out-of band processing device of the RAC.

18. The method of claim 17, where the out-of-band processing device comprises a service processor or embedded processor running a service processor OS;

and where the in-band processor comprises a host central processing unit (CPU) running a host OS for the information handling system.