System and method for manipulating a registry

• US 8,244,683 B2
• Filed: 04/18/2007
• Issued: 08/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Behman, Daniel D., Wilding, Mark F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Trujillo, James
• Assistant Examiner(s): Black, Linh
• Application Number:
  US11/736,974
• Publication Number:
  US 20070288742A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,945 Days
• Field of Search: 707/796, 707/803, 707/659, 705/56, 710/8, 710/10, 713/1, 715/735, 719/327
• US Class Current: 707/659
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/523 Mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/526 Mutual exclusion algorithms
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation

Abstract

A system, method and facility for manipulating registries on a computer system. The system includes a generic registry facility, which features functions classified according to the breadth of their applicability to varying types of registries. The registries may be classified as file-based and proprietary. The file-based registries may be binary or text-based. The generic registry facility provides a library of generic registry facility functions that may be included in a specific registry manipulation module through which a computer program can manipulate a specific registry. The generic registry facility functions may be customized by the developer of the registry manipulation module for a specific registry. The functions may include an action verification function that includes a commit sequence for ensuring that requested changes to a registry are made successfully. The functions may also include a trigger function for triggering events upon the occurrence of a change to a registry.

Claims

1. A method for implementing a requested change to a registry on a computer system, the method comprising the steps of:

maintaining the registry on the computer system, wherein the registry comprises configuration information for the computer system;

creating a temporary registry on the computer system, the temporary registry being a copy of the registry;

causing a requested change to be made to the temporary registry;

comparing the temporary registry to the registry to identify a difference between the temporary registry and the registry, after the requested change has been made to the temporary registry;

comparing the difference to the requested change to determine if the difference and the requested change match; and

replacing the registry with the temporary registry if the difference and the requested change match.

2. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of comparing the temporary registry to the registry includes reading a line from the temporary registry, reading a corresponding line from the registry, and comparing the line to the corresponding line to identify if they match.

3. The method claimed in claim 2, wherein the step of comparing the temporary registry to the registry further includes, when the difference is not found, a step of incrementing a line pointer before repeating the steps of reading a line, reading a corresponding line and comparing the lines.

4. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the registry has a registry path name and the computer system includes a backup registry having a backup path name, and wherein the step of replacing includes unlinking the backup path name from the backup registry, linking the backup path name to the registry, and renaming the temporary registry with the registry path name.

5. The method claimed in claim 1 further comprising indicating whether the difference and the requested change match with a return code to indicate success or failure.

6. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the requested change includes an addition to the specific registry.

7. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the requested change includes a deletion from the specific registry.

8. The method claimed in claim 1 further comprising performing an action in response to the performance of the requested change to the registry.

9. The method claimed in claim 8, wherein the action includes sending a signal to an active process.

10. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the steps are performed when a verify feature is enabled that confirms that the requested change to the temporary registry has completed successfully before the requested change is implemented in the registry.

11. The method claimed in claim 10, wherein the steps are not performed when a verify feature is disabled, such that the requested change is implemented directly to the registry without being made to the temporary registry.

12. The method claimed in claim 10, wherein the requested change comprises an add, change or delete function.

13. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the replacing step comprises a commit sequence, such that the registry becomes a back-up registry and the temporary registry replaces the registry.

14. The method claimed in claim 13, wherein the registry remains active after becoming the back-up registry, such that any user or process actively viewing the registry is not affected by the commit sequence.