Method and apparatus for remote object code inclusion

• US 6,185,733 B1
• Filed: 01/20/1998
• Issued: 02/06/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Breslau, Franklin C., Greenstein, Paul G., Rodell, John T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chaki, Kakali
• Application Number:
  US09/009,444
• Time in Patent Office: 1,113 Days
• Field of Search: 395/701, 395/702, 395/703, 395/705, 395/710, 709/305, 709/217-219, 709/312, 709/331, 709/332, 707/513, 717/1-5, 717/10
• US Class Current: 717/163
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44521 Dynamic linking or loading; Link editing at or after load time, e.g. Java class loading

Abstract

A method and apparatus for operating a computer linkage editor to process include statements contained in an input stream that specify object modules resident at non-connected network locations. The linkage editor also receives as input library definition statements specifying object module libraries. The linkage editor initially examines each library definition statement to determine whether it specifies an object module library resident at a non-connected network location. If it does, the linkage editor establishes a connection with the network location and obtains a list of the contents of the object module library via the connection. The linkage editor then examines each include statement to determine whether it specifies an object module resident at a non-connected network location. If it does, the linkage editor establishes a connection with the network location and obtains the object module via the connection. The retrieved object module is then edited along with other object modules into an executable load module.

Claims

1. In a computer linkage editor for editing an input stream comprising one or more include statements into an executable load module, each of said include statements directing the replacement of the statement with the contents of an object module specified by the statement, a method of operating said linkage editor to process said include statements, comprising the steps of:

scanning said input stream for include statements specifying object modules resident at non-connected network locations;

in response to detecting an include statement specifying an object module, adding an entry for said object module to an object module list;

scanning said object module list for entries for object modules resident at non-connected network locations; and

in response to detecting an entry for an object module resident at a non-connected network location, establishing a connection with said network location and obtaining said object module via said connection.

2. The method of claim 1 in which the detected include statement specifies a network address of said non-connected network location.

3. The method of claim 1 in which the detected include statement specifies a name of said non-connected network location that is resolvable by a name server.

4. The method of claim 1 in which the detected include statement specifies a uniform resource locator for said object module.

5. The method of claim 1 in which the entries in said object module list are sorted by location before being scanned.

6. In a computer linkage editor for editing an input stream comprising one or more object modules and one or more include statements into an executable load module, each of said include statements directing the replacement of the statement with the contents of an object module specified by the statement, apparatus for processing said include statements, comprising:

means for scanning said input stream for include statements specifying object modules resident at non-connected network locations;

means responsive to the detection of an include statement specifying an object module for adding an entry for said object module to an object module list;

means for scanning said object module list for entries for object modules resident at non-connected network locations; and

in response to detecting an entry for an object module resident at a non-connected network location, establishing a connection with said network location and obtaining said object module via said connection.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 in which the entries in said object module list are sorted by location before being scanned.

8. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for operating a computer linkage editor to process one or more include statements in an input stream on a local system, said linkage editor editing said input stream into an executable load module, each of said include statements directing the replacement of the statement with the contents of an object module specified by the statement, said method steps comprising:

scanning said input stream for include statements specifying object modules resident at non-connected network locations;

in response to detecting an include statement specifying an object module, adding an entry for said object module to an object module list;

scanning said object module list for object modules resident at non-connected network locations; and

in response to detecting an entry for an object module resident at a non-connected network location, establishing a connection with said network location and obtaining said object module via said connection.

9. The program storage device of claim 8 in which the entries in said object module list are sorted by location before being scanned.

10. In a computer linkage editor for editing an input stream comprising one or more include statements into an executable load module, each of said include statements directing the replacement of the statement with the contents of an object module specified by the statement, said linkage editor also receiving as input one or more library definition statements, each of which specifies an object module library containing one or more object modules, a method of operating said linkage editor to process said include statements, comprising the steps of:

examining each of said library definition statements to determine whether the library definition statement specifies an object module library resident at a non-connected network location;

in response to detecting an library definition statement specifying an object module library resident at a non-connected network location, establishing a connection with said network location and obtaining a list of the contents of said object module library via said connection;

scanning said input stream for include statements specifying object modules resident at non-connected network locations; and

in response to detecting an include statement specifying an object module resident at a non-connected network location, establishing a connection with said network location and obtaining said object module via said connection.

11. The method of claim 10, comprising the further step of storing said list in a temporary library accessible to said linkage editor.

12. The method of claim 11 in which lists of the contents of a plurality of remotely resident object module libraries are stored in said temporary library.

13. The method of claim 11 in which said temporary library has a path specification, said method comprising the further step of adding said path specification to a list of path specifications for object module libraries.

14. The method of claim 10, comprising the further step of:

storing library definition data on said local system for object module libraries resident at non-connected network locations.

15. The method of claim 14 in which said data specifies the network locations of said libraries.

16. The method of claim 14 in which said data specifies access parameters for said libraries.

17. The method of claim 14 in which said data specifies metering parameters for said libraries.

18. The method of claim 14 in which said data specifies the object modules contained in said libraries.

19. The method of claim 18 in which said scanning step comprises the steps of:

scanning said input stream for include statements; and

in response to detecting an include statement, determining whether said include statement specifies an object module resident at non-connected network locations.

20. The method of claim 19 in which said determining step comprises the step of:

examining the object modules specified for each of the libraries in said library definition file to determine the library containing the object module referenced in said statement.

21. In a computer linkage editor for editing an input stream comprising one or more object modules and one or more include statements into an executable load module, each of said include statements directing the replacement of the statement with the contents of an object module specified by the statement, said linkage editor also receiving as input one or more library definition statements, each of which specifies an object module library containing one or more object modules, apparatus for processing said include statements, comprising:

means for examining each of said library definition statements to determine whether the library definition statement specifies an object module library resident at a non-connected network location;

means responsive to detecting an library definition statement specifying an object module library resident at a non-connected network location for establishing a connection with said network location and obtaining a list of the contents of said object module library via said connection;

means for scanning said input stream for include statements specifying object modules resident at non-connected network locations; and

means responsive to the detection of an include statement specifying an object module resident at a non-connected network location for establishing a connection with said network location and obtaining said object module via said connection.

22. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for operating a computer linkage editor to process one or more include statements in an input stream on a local system, said linkage editor editing said input stream into an executable load module, each of said include statements directing the replacement of the statement with the contents of an object module specified by the statement, said linkage editor also receives as input one or more library definition statements, each of which specifies a library containing one or more object modules, said method steps comprising:

examining each of said library definition statements to determine whether the statement specifies an object module library resident at a non-connected network location;

in response to detecting an library definition statement specifying an object module library resident at a non-connected network location, establishing a connection with said network location and obtaining a list of the contents of said object module library via said connection;

scanning said input stream for include statements specifying object modules resident at non-connected network locations; and

in response to detecting an include statement specifying an object module resident at a non-connected network location, establishing a connection with said network location and obtaining said object module via said connection.