System and method for identifying changes made to a computer system due to software installation
First Claim
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1. A method of identifying changes made to a computer system resulting from installation of software, the method comprising:
- for each of a first plurality of objects, recording at least one first state of the computer system prior to installation of the software;
for each of a second plurality of objects, recording at least one second state of the computer system, at least some of the objects in the first plurality corresponding to at least some of the objects in the second plurality, after the installation of the software;
comparing the at least one second state with the at least one first state, said comparing comprising comparing a reference count for each of at least one DLL file recorded in the first state with a reference count for each of the at least one DLL file recorded in the second state; and
producing a record of the changes responsive to the comparing step.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus identifies changes made to a computer system caused by the installation of software. The state of the computer system is recorded before the software is installed and, after the software is installed, the recorded state is compared against the state of the computer system. Changes are written into a manifest, which may be combined with any new or changed files and an installation program to produce a package which can be sent to another computer system for installation.
31 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method of identifying changes made to a computer system resulting from installation of software, the method comprising:
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for each of a first plurality of objects, recording at least one first state of the computer system prior to installation of the software; for each of a second plurality of objects, recording at least one second state of the computer system, at least some of the objects in the first plurality corresponding to at least some of the objects in the second plurality, after the installation of the software; comparing the at least one second state with the at least one first state, said comparing comprising comparing a reference count for each of at least one DLL file recorded in the first state with a reference count for each of the at least one DLL file recorded in the second state; and producing a record of the changes responsive to the comparing step. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for identifying changes made to a computer system resulting from installation of software, the computer program product comprising:
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computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to, for each of a first plurality of objects, record at least one first state of the computer system prior to installation of the software; computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to, for each of a second plurality of objects, record at least one second state of the computer system, at least some of the objects in the first plurality corresponding to at least some of the objects in the second plurality, after the installation of the software; computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to compare the at least one second state with the at least one first state, said comparing comprising comparing a reference count for each of at least one DLL file recorded in the first state with a reference count for each of the at least one DLL file recorded in the second state; and computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to produce a record of the changes responsive to the computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to compare. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A system for identifying changes made to a computer system due to an installation of software, the system comprising:
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a space state retriever having an input operatively coupled to receive at least one property of at least one file, the space state retriever for providing at an output a first set of property information responsive to the at least one property received at the first input and not after the installation of the software; a before tree storage having an input/output coupled to the space state retriever output for storing the set of property information; and a difference calculator having a first input coupled to the before tree storage input/output for receiving the set of property information, a second input operatively coupled to receive at least one property corresponding to a state of the computer system after the installation of the software, the difference calculator for performing a comparison between the first set and the at least one property and providing at an output coupled to an apparatus output a second set of property information responsive to the comparison, the second set comprising at least one indication indicating one selected from deletion and addition, said comparison comprising comparing a reference count for each of at least one DLL file recorded in the first state with a reference count for each of the at least one DLL file recorded in the second state. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification