Method and system for configuration of virtualized software applications

• US 8,776,038 B2
• Filed: 08/07/2008
• Issued: 07/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Code Systems Incorporated (VOXX International Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Code Systems Incorporated (VOXX International Corporation)
• Inventors: Larimore, Stefan I., Murphey, C. Michael, Obata, Kenji C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): HEBERT, THEODORE E
• Application Number:
  US12/188,155
• Publication Number:
  US 20100037206A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,161 Days
• Field of Search: 717/168
• US Class Current: 717/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/188 Virtual file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines

Abstract

A method of virtualizing an application to execute on a plurality of operating systems without installation. The method includes creating an input configuration file for each operating system. The templates each include a collection of configurations that were made by the application during installation on a computing device executing the operating system. The templates are combined into a single application template having a layer including the collection of configurations for each operating system. The collection of configurations includes files and registry entries. The collections also identifies and configures environmental variables, systems, and the like. Files in the collection of configurations and references to those files may be replaced with references to files stored on installation media. The application template is used to build an executable of the virtualized application. The application template may be incorporated into a manifest listing other application templates and made available to users from a website.

Claims

1. A method of virtualizing an application configured to be installed natively and executed on a plurality of operating systems, the method comprising:

creating a plurality of input configuration files, each input configuration file corresponding to a different one of the plurality of operating systems, each input configuration file comprising a collection of configurations made to a computing device executing the corresponding operating system by native installation of the application on the computing device;

combining the plurality of input configuration files into an application template, the application template comprising a plurality of conditional layers, each conditional layer corresponding to both a different one of a plurality of operating systems and the input configuration file that corresponds to the operating system that corresponds to the conditional layer, each conditional layer including the collection of configurations of the input configuration file that corresponds to the conditional layer; and

providing the application template to a virtual application executable constructor operable by a user and configured to use the application template to build a virtualized application executable configured to execute on the plurality of operating systems without installation, the application executing within a virtual operating system when the virtualized application executable is executed on one of the plurality of operating systems, the virtualized application executable comprising the plurality of conditional layers, the plurality of conditional layers being readable by a virtualization runtime during initialization of the virtualized application executable on a particular one of the plurality of operating systems, the virtualization runtime being configured to identify the conditional layer corresponding to the particular operating system and use the collection of configurations of the identified conditional layer to configure the virtualized application, the virtualization runtime being further configured to ignore the collection of configurations of each of the plurality of conditional layers that does not correspond to the particular operating system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

incorporating customizable configuration options in the application template, the virtual application executable constructor being configured to display the customizable configuration options to the user, receive responses from the user to the customizable configuration options displayed, and configure the virtualized application executable in accordance with the responses received from the user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the collection of configurations of each input configuration file comprises references to files and registry entries.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of operating systems has at least one special folder, and the collection of configurations of each input configuration file comprises registry entries including a file path, the method further comprising, for each registry entry in the collection of configurations of each input configuration file:

determining whether the registry entry includes a file path;

if the registry entry includes a file path, determining a second file path relative to at least one special folder in the operating system corresponding to the input configuration file; and

replacing the file path in the registry entry with the second file path.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

if the registry entry includes a file path, determining whether the file path has been shortened; and

if the file path has been shorted, expanding the file path.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein determining whether the registry entry includes a file path comprises:

using a regular expression to identify a candidate path;

attempting to expand the candidate path; and

if the attempt is not successful, removing an end portion of the candidate path and repeating the attempt to expand the candidate path.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein combining the plurality of input configuration files into the application template comprises:

combining the collection of configurations of each of the input configuration files into a combined collection of configurations, each collection of configurations comprising application files and references to those application files;

identifying a portion of the application files of the combined collection of configurations that are stored on installation media provided by the user;

in the combined collection of configurations, replacing references to the portion of the application files stored on installation media with references to files stored on installation media provided by the user; and

omitting the portion of the application files stored on installation media provided by the user from the application template.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein

each of the plurality of conditional layers includes a conditional element that is satisfied by the one of the plurality of operating systems that corresponds to the conditional layer.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein combining the plurality of input configuration files into the application template comprises:

defining a default layer in the application template;

identifying at least one configuration included in all of the collections of configurations of the plurality of input configuration files; and

inserting the identified at least one configuration into the default layer, the virtualized application executable comprising the default layer, the default layer being readable by the virtualization runtime during initialization of the virtualized application executable on the particular operating system, the virtualization runtime using the identified at least one configuration of the default layer to configure the virtualized application.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein combining the plurality of input configuration files into the application template comprises:

identifying a particular configuration that is included in more than one of the collections of configurations of the plurality of input configuration files;

defining a new conditional layer in the application template, the new conditional layer comprising the particular configuration and an indication of to which ones of the plurality of operating systems the new conditional layer applies;

the virtualized application executable comprising the new conditional layer, the new conditional layer being readable by the virtualization runtime during initialization of the virtualized application executable on the particular operating system, the virtualization runtime determining whether the new conditional layer applies to the particular operating system, and

if the virtualization runtime determines the new conditional layer applies to the particular operating system, the virtualization runtime using the particular configuration of the new conditional layer to configure the virtualized application.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the application template to the virtual application executable constructor comprises:

listing the application template in a manifest displayable to the user by the virtual application executable constructor, the virtual application executable constructor being configured to allow the user to select the application template from the manifest;

receiving an indication that the user has selected the application template from the manifest; and

in response to receiving the indication the user has selected the application template, sending the application template to the virtual application executable constructor to be used to build the virtualized application executable.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the application template to the virtual application executable constructor comprises:

listing an identification of the application template in a manifest displayed at a website viewable by a client computer operable by the user, the client computer being configured to display the manifest to the user, receive an indication that the user would like to select the application template, and in response to receiving the indication, request the application template from the website;

receiving the request for the application template; and

in response to receiving the request for the application template, transmitting the application template to the client computer for use by the virtual application executable constructor to build the virtualized application executable.

13. At least one non-transitory computer-readable media storing a template for building a virtual application executable configured to execute an application on a host computing device implementing a host operating system having a host filesystem and a host registry, the virtual application executable comprising a virtual operating system in which the application executes when the virtual application executable is executed, the virtual operating system comprising a virtual filesystem and a virtual registry, the template comprising:

information for configuring a plurality of operating systems to each execute a native installation of the application, the plurality of operating systems comprising the host operating system, the information comprising a filesystem configuration portion and an application configuration portion;

the filesystem configuration portion comprising a plurality of files stored in locations, the filesystem configuration portion being operable to configure the virtual filesystem to store the plurality of files in virtual locations corresponding to the locations in which they are stored in the filesystem configuration portion, the virtual locations of the virtual filesystem corresponding to physical locations in the host filesystem; and

the application configuration portion comprising references to the files in the filesystem configuration portion, the application configuration portion being operable to configure an application configuration file to include a plurality of conditional layers, each conditional layer comprising a conditional element satisfied by a different one of the plurality of operating systems, and during execution of the virtual application executable, the application configuration file being operable to configure the virtual operating system using the conditional layer that comprises the conditional element satisfied by the host operating system, the virtual operating system being configured to execute the application and at least partially isolate the execution of the application from the host operating system,

during execution of the virtual application executable, the virtual filesystem being configured to receive requests to access the plurality of files located in the virtual locations of the virtual filesystem and process those requests by accessing the physical locations of the host operating system corresponding to the virtual locations, and the virtual registry comprising references one of the plurality of files by their virtual locations in the virtual filesystem.