Lightweight global distribution mechanism
First Claim
1. In a distributed system having a publishing master and a client system, a computer implemented method for distributing packages to various computer systems, said method comprising:
- providing at the publishing master an index of available packages for loading by the client system, said packages being one of a computer program and a patch for a computer program;
storing at the client system data that identifies packages to which the client system subscribes;
programmatically accessing the index on behalf of the client system to identify at least one selected package for loading at the client system, said selecting using the information identifying packages that may be loaded at the client system, and the data that identifies packages to which the client system subscribes, said programmatic accessing occurring without user-participation; and
loading the selected package at the client system, said package being received from the publishing master in response to a request from said client system.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A lightweight global distribution mechanism distributes packages within a distributed system. The packages may hold any type of content and may hold contents such as patches, programs, documents or files. The distribution mechanism is lightweight in that it incurs minimal computational and memory overhead. With the distribution mechanism, a package index that identifies packages for installation is stored at a publishing master. Client systems may access and analyze the package index to determine which packages to install. The client systems may hold subscription lists that identify the packages to which the clients subscribe. The packages need not be stored at the publishing master but rather may be stored at separate repositories.
-
Citations
29 Claims
-
1. In a distributed system having a publishing master and a client system, a computer implemented method for distributing packages to various computer systems, said method comprising:
-
providing at the publishing master an index of available packages for loading by the client system, said packages being one of a computer program and a patch for a computer program; storing at the client system data that identifies packages to which the client system subscribes; programmatically accessing the index on behalf of the client system to identify at least one selected package for loading at the client system, said selecting using the information identifying packages that may be loaded at the client system, and the data that identifies packages to which the client system subscribes, said programmatic accessing occurring without user-participation; and loading the selected package at the client system, said package being received from the publishing master in response to a request from said client system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. In a distributed system having a server and a client, a computer implemented method for distributing packages to various computer systems, said method comprising:
-
storing at the server an index identifying packages that may be installed at the client, said packages being one of a computer program and a patch for a computer program; storing at the client data that identifies packages to which the client subscribes; and using the index identifying packages that may be installed at the client and the data that identifies packages to which the client subscribes to determine which of the packages are to be installed at the client, said determining comprising generating a list of packages that may be installed at the client to which the client wants to describe and which have not already been installed at the client. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. In a computer network having a server and a client, a method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:
-
(a) providing at the server an index regarding what packages are available for installation, said packages being one of a computer program and a patch for a computer program; (b) providing at the client an itemization of packages to which the client subscribes; and (c) with the client, repeating multiple times the following steps; (i) programmatically accessing the index regarding what packages are available and accessing the itemization of packages to which the client subscribes to determine what selected packages to install, said programmatic accessing occurring without user-participation; and (ii) installing selected packages at the client, said package being received from the server in response to a request from said client. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
-
-
14. In a distributed system having a publishing master, at least one repository for holding packages and multiple client computer systems, said packages being at least one of a computer program and a patch for a computer program a computer implemented method comprising:
-
providing a package index at the publishing master, wherein the package index identifies names and versions of packages stored on the repository; providing a subscription list at each client system, wherein each subscription list identifies the packages to which the client system subscribes; and for each client system, at periodic intervals; (i) programmatically identifying selected packages to be loaded by referencing the package index and the subscription list;
said programmatic identifying occurring without user-participation; and(ii) loading the selected packages at the client system, said package being received from the publishing master in response to a request from said client system. - View Dependent Claims (15)
-
-
16. A distributed system, comprising:
-
a publishing master holding an index of packages that are available for installation, said packages being at least one of a computer program and a patch for a computer program; a repository for storing the packages that are available for installation; and a client computer system for identifying selected packages among the packages indexed by the index of packages, obtaining the selected packages from the repository and installing the selected packages at the client computer system said identifying using information from a client-maintained subscription list of packages to which the client computer system subscribes, said obtaining of the selected packages being received from the publishing master occurring in response to a request from said client system. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
-
-
19. In a distributed system having a publishing master with an index of packages available for installation and a client system, said packages being at least one of a computer program and a patch for a computer program, a computer implemented method performed by the client system comprising:
-
requesting at least a portion of the index from the publishing master; receiving at least a portion of the index from the publishing master in response to the request; identifying packages that are already installed at the client; processing the received portion of the index to identify a selected package to install;
said processing using information about the identified packages already installed on the client system; andobtaining a copy of the selected package in response to a request from the client system. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23)
-
-
24. In a distributed system having a publishing master having an index of packages available for installation and a client system, said packages being at least one of a computer program and a patch for a computer program, a computer-readable medium holding computer-executable instructions for performing a method performed by the client system comprising:
-
requesting at least a portion of the index from the publishing master; receiving at least a portion of the index from the publishing master in response to the request; identifying packages that are already installed at the client; processing the received portion of the index to identify a selected package to install;
said processing using information about the identified packages already installed on the client; andobtaining a copy of the selected package in response to a request from the client. - View Dependent Claims (25)
-
-
26. In a distributed system having a publishing master and a client system, a medium holding computer executable steps for a method, said method comprising:
-
providing at the publishing master an index of available packages for loading, said packages being one of a computer program and a patch for a computer program; storing at the client system data that identifies packages to which the client system subscribes; programmatically accessing the index on behalf of the client system to identify at least one selected package for loading at the client system, said selecting using the information identifying packages that may be loaded at the client system, and the data that identifies packages to which the client system subscribes, said programmatic accessing occurring without user-participation; and loading the selected package at the client system, said package being received from the publishing master in response to a request. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29)
-
Specification