Computer system, program product and method utilizing executable file with alternate program code attached as a file attribute

• US 6,654,954 B1
• Filed: 02/17/1998
• Issued: 11/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hicks, Daniel Rodman
• Primary Examiner(s): CHAVIS, JOHN Q
• Application Number:
  US09/024,111
• Time in Patent Office: 2,107 Days
• Field of Search: 395/709, 717/9, 717/162, 717/203
• US Class Current: 717/162
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45516 Runtime code conversion or optimisation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99954 Version management

Abstract

A computer system, program product, and method utilize alternate program code associated with an executable file using a file attribute so that the alternate program code may be retrieved and executed in lieu of the primary program code stored in the file. As one example, for a platform-independent executable file such as a Java class file, a file attribute of the file may be analyzed to determine if native program code for a particular platform is associated with the file. If so, the native program code may be retrieved and executed directly without the additional overhead associated with interpreting the platform-independent program code in the file. If, on the other hand, the native program code is not detected, the native program code may be generated and associated with the file using a file attribute such that the native program code is detected in subsequent attempts to retrieve and execute the file.

Claims

1. A method of retrieving a program for execution on a computer system, the program stored in a file on the computer system and including a first set of program code, the method comprising:

(a) retrieving the file;

(b) generating a second set of program code from the first set of program code; and

(c) associating the second set of program code with the file using a file attribute.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving the file includes loading the file from a file system.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising executing the second set of program code on the computer system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the second set of program code includes compiling the first set of program code.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the first and second sets of program code is selected from the group consisting of source code, script code, intermediate code, object code, and combinations thereof.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of program code is platform-independent, and wherein the second set of program code is native to the computer system.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first set of program code includes a set of Java bytecodes, and wherein the second set of program code includes native program code compiled from the set of Java bytecodes.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the file is a Java class file.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the file is a Java archive (JAR) file.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the file attribute is stored in a header portion of the file.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the second set of program code is stored in the header portion of the file.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the second set of program code is stored in a second file, and wherein the file attribute includes a reference to the second file.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the file attribute is hidden from file input/output operations performed in the computer system.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the file attribute is modifiable only by a file management system in the computer system.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising separately controlling file access rights to the first and second sets of program code.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing a prerequisite associated with the second set of program code, the prerequisite defining at least one condition that must be met for the second set of program code to be executed.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing a revision status for the second set of program code.

18. A method of retrieving a program for execution on a computer system, the program stored in a file on the computer system and including a first set of program code, the method comprising:

(a) analyzing a file attribute for the file to detect existence of a second set of program code that is an alternate representation of the first set of program code; and

(b) if the second set of program code exists, retrieving the second set of program code.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising determining a revision status of the second set of program code, wherein retrieving the second set of program code is performed only if the revision status of the second set of program code matches that of the first set of program code.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein determining the revision status includes analyzing first and second timestamps associated respectively with the first and second sets of program code.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein determining the revision status includes analyzing first and second checksums associated respectively with the first and second sets of program code.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein determining the revision status includes analyzing an update attribute associated with at least one of the first and second sets of program code, the method further comprising placing the update attribute in a first state whenever the first set of program code is modified, and placing the update attribute in a second state whenever the second set of program code is updated to incorporate modifications to the first set of program code.

23. The method of claim 18, further comprising analyzing at least one prerequisite associated with the second set of program code, wherein retrieving the second set of program code is performed only if the prerequisite is met.

24. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

(a) generating a third set of program code from the first set of program code;

and

(b) associating the third set of program code with the file using a file attribute.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein generating the third set of program code is performed in response to at least one of a determination that a revision status of the second set of program code does not match that of the first set of program code, and a determination that a prerequisite associated with the second set of program code is not met.

26. The method of claim 18, further comprising executing the second set of program code on the computer system.

27. The method of claim 18, wherein each of the first and second sets of program code is selected from the group consisting of source code, script code, intermediate code, object code, and combinations thereof.

28. The method of claim 18, wherein the first set of program code is platform-independent, and wherein the second set of program code is native to the computer system.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the first set of program code includes a set of Java bytecodes, and wherein the second set of program code includes native program code compiled from the set of Java bytecodes.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the file is a Java class file.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein the file is a Java archive (JAR) file.

32. The method of claim 18, wherein the file attribute is stored in a header portion of the file.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the second set of program code is stored in the header portion of the file.

34. The method of claim 18, wherein the second set of program code is stored in a second file, and wherein the file attribute includes a reference to the second file.

35. The method of claim 18, wherein the file attribute is hidden from file input/output operations performed in the computer system.

36. The method of claim 18, wherein the file attribute is modifiable only by a file management system in the computer system.

37. The method of claim 18, further comprising separately controlling file access rights to the first and second sets of program code.

38. A method of optimizing execution of a program on a computer system, the program stored in a file on the computer system and including a first set of program code, the method comprising:

(a) analyzing a file attribute for the file to detect existence of a second set of program code that is an alternate representation of the first set of program code;

(b) if the second set of program code exists, retrieving and executing the second set of program code; and

(c) if the second set of program code does not exist;

(1) generating the second set of program code from the first set of program code;

(2) associating the second set of program code with the file using a file attribute; and

(3) executing the second set of compiled program code.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the first set of program code includes Java bytecodes stored in a Java class file, wherein the file attribute includes a reference to a second file stored in the computer system, and wherein the second set of program code is stored in the second file and includes a compiled representation of the Java bytecodes that is native to the computer system.

40. A computer system, comprising:

(a) a file system configured to store at least one file; and

(b) a processor, coupled to the file system, the processor configured to receive a file that includes a first set of program code and to generate a second set of program code from the first set of program code, the processor further configured to store the second set of program code in the file system with the second set of program code associated with the file using a file attribute for the file.

41. The computer system of claim 40, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the second set of program code on the computer system.

42. The computer system of claim 40, wherein the processor is further configured to compile the first set of program code to generate the first set of program code.

43. The computer system of claim 40, wherein each of the first and second sets of program code is selected from the group consisting of source code, script code, intermediate code, object code, and combinations thereof.

44. The computer system of claim 40, wherein the first set of program code is platform-independent, and wherein the second set of program code is native to the computer system.

45. The computer system of claim 44, wherein the first set of program code includes a set of Java bytecodes, and wherein the second set of program code includes native program code compiled from the set of Java bytecodes.

46. The computer system of claim 40, wherein the file attribute is stored in a header portion of the file.

47. The computer system of claim 46, wherein the second set of program code is stored in the header portion of the file.

48. The computer system of claim 40, wherein the second set of program code is stored in a second file, and wherein the file attribute includes a reference to the second file.

49. The computer system of claim 40, wherein the second set of program code includes a prerequisite associated therewith, the prerequisite defining at least one condition that must be met for the second set of program code to be executed.

50. The computer system of claim 40, wherein the second set of program code includes a revision status associated therewith.

51. A computer system, comprising:

(a) a memory; and

(b) a processor, coupled to the memory, the processor configured to detect existence of a second set of program code that is an alternate representation of a first set of program code in a file by analyzing a file attribute of the file, and to retrieve into the memory the second set of program code if the second set of program code is detected.

52. The computer system of claim 51, wherein the processor is further configured to determine a revision status of the second set of program code, and in response thereto, to retrieve the second set of program code only if the revision status of the second set of program code matches that of the first set of program code.

53. The computer system of claim 52, wherein the processor utilizes at least one of a timestamp, a checksum, and an update attribute in determining the revision status of the second set of program code.

54. The computer system of claim 51, wherein the processor is further configured to analyze at least one prerequisite associated with the second set of program code, and in response thereto, to retrieve the second set of program code only if the prerequisite is met.

55. The computer system of claim 51, wherein the processor is further configured to generate a third set of program code from the first set of program code, and to associate the third set of program code with the file using a file attribute.

56. The computer system of claim 55, wherein the processor is further configured to generate the third set of program code in response to at least one of a determination that a revision status of the second set of program code does not match that of the first set of program code, and a determination that a prerequisite associated with the second set of program code is not met.

57. The computer system of claim 51, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the second set of program code.

58. The computer system of claim 51, wherein each of the first and second sets of program code is selected from the group consisting of source code, script code, intermediate code, object code, and combinations thereof.

59. The computer system of claim 51, wherein the first set of program code is platform-independent, and wherein the second set of program code is native to the computer system.

60. The computer system of claim 59, wherein the first set of program code includes a set of Java bytecodes, and wherein the second set of program code includes native program code compiled from the set of Java bytecodes.

61. The computer system of claim 51, wherein the file attribute is stored in a header portion of the file.

62. The computer system of claim 61, wherein the second set of program code is stored in the header portion of the file.

63. The computer system of claim 51, wherein the second set of program code is stored in a second file, and wherein the file attribute includes a reference to the second file.

64. A program product, comprising:

(a) a first program configured to perform a method of retrieving a second program for execution on a computer system, the second program configured to be stored in a file on the computer system and including a first set of program code, the method comprising;

(1) retrieving the file;

(2) generating a second set of program code from the first set of program code; and

(3) associating the second set of program code with the file using a file attribute; and

(b) a signal bearing media bearing the program.

65. The program product of claim 64, wherein the signal bearing media is transmission type media.

66. The program product of claim 64, wherein the signal bearing media is recordable media.

67. A program product, comprising:

(a) a first program configured to perform a method of retrieving a second program for execution on a computer system, the second program configured to be stored in a file on the computer system and including a first set of program code, the method comprising;

(1) analyzing a file attribute for the file to detect existence of a second set of program code that is an alternate representation of the first set of program code; and

(2) if the second set of program code exists, retrieving the second set of program code; and

(b) a signal bearing media bearing the program.

68. The program product of claim 67, wherein the signal bearing media is transmission type media.

69. The program product of claim 67, wherein the signal bearing media is recordable media.