Certifying a software application based on identifying interface usage

• US 8,332,817 B2
• Filed: 11/08/2005
• Issued: 12/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Li, Richard Ding, Miller, David S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kang, Insun
• Application Number:
  US11/268,487
• Publication Number:
  US 20070168957A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,590 Days
• Field of Search: 379/9.01, 717/124, 717127-129
• US Class Current: 717/124
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3604 Software analysis for verifying properties of programs byte-code verification G06F9/44589

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a mechanism for certifying the compatibility of a software product by identifying the interfaces (API or ABI) used by that product. The source code or object code of a component is analyzed by a tool that traces which interfaces and data structures of an ABI/API are being utilized. For example, an ISV or IHV may be required to run the tool on their respective components in order to have that component certified with a particular version of an operating system and submit the results to a certification service. The certification service may collect this API/ABI information into an integrated database. The certification service may then use this database to analyze the impact of changes to an operating system at the binary interface level, proactively notify vendors prior to these changes, test compatibility and emulation libraries, and certify components are compatible with an operating system without the need of significant testing.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying, by a processor, a set of application interfaces used by a set of software applications provided by a first authenticated user to operate with an operating system;

determining a change to the set of application interfaces resulting from a change to the operating system;

searching a history database to identify at least one software application of the set of software applications that is affected by the change to the set of application interfaces;

identifying a remainder of the set of software applications in the history database that is not affected by the change to the set of application interfaces;

certifying the remainder of the set of software applications as compatible with the change to the operating system; and

providing access to a list of the certified set of software applications to a second authenticated user based on access permissions in a profile of support associated with the second authenticated user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the set of application interfaces used by the set of software applications comprises identifying the set of application interfaces used by the set of software applications at runtime.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the set of application interfaces used by the set of software applications comprises identifying the set of application interfaces used by the set of software applications at compile time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the set of application interfaces used by the set of software applications comprises identifying a set of symbols used by the set of software applications.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the set of application interfaces used by the set of software applications comprises identifying interfaces of an application programming interface (API) used by the set of software applications.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the set of application interfaces used by the set of software applications comprises identifying interfaces of an application binary interface (ABI) used by the set of software applications.

7. A method comprising;

identifying, by a processor, a first version of an operating system that software components provided by a first authenticated user have been certified as compatible with;

identifying a set of application interfaces used by the software components to operate with the first version of the operating system;

determining changes to the set of application interfaces in response to an update to the operating system from the first version to a second version;

searching a history database to identify at least one of the software components whose compatibility with the second version of the operating system is affected by the changes to the set of application interfaces;

identifying a remainder of the software components in the history database whose compatibility with the second version of the operating system is not affected by the changes to the set of application interfaces;

certifying the remainder of the software components as compatible with the second version of the operating system; and

providing access to a list of the certified set of software components to a second authenticated user based on access permissions in a profile of support associated with the second authenticated user.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein identifying the set of application interfaces used by the software components to operate with the first version of the operating system comprises identifying a set of symbols used by the first version of the operating system that indicate an offset in a library file of the operating system.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein identifying the set of application interfaces used by the software components to operate with the first version of the operating system comprises identifying interfaces of an application programming interface (API) of the operating system.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein identifying the set of application interfaces used by the software components to operate with the first version of the operating system comprises identifying interfaces of an application binary interface (ABI) of the operating system.

11. A system configured to collect information about application interfaces used by software applications to operate with an operating system, said system comprising:

a set of application interfaces used by the software applications provided by a first authenticated user to operate with the operating system; and

a processor configured to determine a change to the set of application interfaces resulting from a change to the operating system, search a history database to identify at least one of the software applications whose compatibility with the change to the operating system is affected by the change to the set of application interfaces, identify a remainder of the software applications in the history database whose compatibility with the change to the operating system is not affected by the change to the set of application interfaces and certify the remainder of the software applications as compatible with the change to the operating system, and providing access to a list of the certified set of software applications to a second authenticated user based on access permissions in a profile of support associated with the second authenticated user.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to determine that a compatibility of the set of application interfaces with the at least one of the software applications will not be certified.

13. The system of claim 11, further comprising an interface module configured to provide information that indicates the change to the set of application interfaces resulting from the change to the operating system.

14. The system of claim 11, further comprising an archive module configured to identify information that indicates a history of usage by the software applications of the set of application interfaces.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the set of application interfaces is a set of application program interfaces (APIs).

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the set of application interfaces is a set of application binary interfaces (ABIs).