Efficient patching
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method in a computing system, comprising:
- receiving in the computing system a distinguished patch package for modifying the behavior of a distinguished program;
automatically extracting from the distinguished patch package (1) patch application information, identifying a distinguished portion of the distinguished program against which a patch is to be applied, and (2) patch behavior information, specifying a manner in which to modify the behavior of the identified distinguished portion of the distinguished program, wherein the extracted patch behavior information specifies modifying the behavior of the identified distinguished portion of the distinguished program to perform value validation by invoking a helper function that performs value validation on a data value accessed by the distinguished program;
prior to application of the patch against the distinguished program, automatically adding a distinguished entry to a patch table, the distinguished entry containing the extracted patch application information and patch behavior information, wherein the patch table is configured to include a plurality of entries containing information extracted from a plurality of patch packages; and
when the identified distinguished portion of the distinguished program is executed, invoking the helper function to perform value validation on the data value accessed by the distinguished program.
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Abstract
A facility for automatically processing software patches is described. The facility receives in a computing system a distinguished patch package for modifying the behavior of a programmatic entity. The facility automatically extracts from the distinguished patch package (1) patch application information that identifies a distinguished programmatic entity against which the patches to be applied, and (2) patch behavior information that specifies a manner in which to modify the behavior of the distinguished programmatic entity. The facility automatically adds to a patch table a distinguished entry containing the extracted patch application information and patch behavior information.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method in a computing system, comprising:
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receiving in the computing system a distinguished patch package for modifying the behavior of a distinguished program; automatically extracting from the distinguished patch package (1) patch application information, identifying a distinguished portion of the distinguished program against which a patch is to be applied, and (2) patch behavior information, specifying a manner in which to modify the behavior of the identified distinguished portion of the distinguished program, wherein the extracted patch behavior information specifies modifying the behavior of the identified distinguished portion of the distinguished program to perform value validation by invoking a helper function that performs value validation on a data value accessed by the distinguished program; prior to application of the patch against the distinguished program, automatically adding a distinguished entry to a patch table, the distinguished entry containing the extracted patch application information and patch behavior information, wherein the patch table is configured to include a plurality of entries containing information extracted from a plurality of patch packages; and when the identified distinguished portion of the distinguished program is executed, invoking the helper function to perform value validation on the data value accessed by the distinguished program. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A computer storage medium whose contents cause a computing system to perform a method comprising:
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receiving in the computing system a distinguished patch package for modifying the behavior of a distinguished programmatic entity; automatically extracting from the distinguished patch package (1) patch application information, identifying a distinguished portion of the distinguished programmatic entity against which a patch is to be applied, and (2) patch behavior information, specifying a manner in which to modify the behavior of the distinguished portion of the distinguished programmatic entity, wherein the extracted patch behavior information specifies modifying the behavior of the identified distinguished portion of the distinguished programmatic entity to perform value validation by invoking a helper function that performs value validation on a data value accessed by the distinguished programmatic entity; prior to application of the patch against the distinguished programmatic entity, automatically adding a distinguished entry to a patch table, the distinguished entry containing the extracted patch application information and patch behavior information, wherein the patch table is configured to include a plurality of entries containing information extracted from a plurality of patch packages; and when the identified distinguished portion of the distinguished programmatic entity is executed, invoking the helper function to perform value validation on the data value accessed by the distinguished programmatic entity. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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21. A computing system that automatically implements received code patches, the system comprising one or more computer storage media collectively encoding:
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a library of helper functions; and a computer program comprising a patching agent that; receives a package including one or more code patches, each code patch targeting a group of one or more executable modules and; automatically extracts from the package (1) patch application information, identifying an executable module in the group against which a code patch is to be applied, and (2) patch behavior information, identifying a helper function in the library and specifying a manner in which to modifying the behavior of the executable module by invoking the identified helper function to perform value validation on a data value accessed by an executable module in the group; prior to application of the code patch against the executable module, automatically adds an entry to a patch table, the entry containing the extracted patch application information and patch behavior information, wherein the patch table is configured to include a plurality of entries containing information extracted from a plurality of packages; and when the identified executable module in a group targeted by a received code patch is executed, invokes the identified helper function to perform value validation on a data value accessed by an executable module in the group. - View Dependent Claims (22)
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Specification