User centric product files distribution

• US RE40,633 E1
• Filed: 03/11/2005
• Issued: 02/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Ventures I LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Hall Aluminum LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Porter, Swain W.
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN BA, HOANG VU A
• Application Number:
  US11/078,918
• Time in Patent Office: 1,425 Days
• Field of Search: 717168-178, 707/203, 715/511, 713/191, 700/121, 701/33
• US Class Current: 717/170
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99954 Version management

Abstract

A user centric approach to program product distribution, such as a program product, including a complementary multi-vendor code control system (MVCCS) suitable for use to practice the user centric distribution approach is disclosed. Under the user centric approach, versioning control information of the source/object files of various program products to be installed on various user computer systems are maintained on a user computer system by user computer system basis. Each user computer system or its proxy is provided with a portion or an entire MVCCS to facilitate receipt and storage into a common repository for the user computer system versioning control information of different source/object files of different software vendors, and to facilitate retrieval of selective versions of the different source/object files for the user computer system using versioning control information stored in the common repository for the user computer system. In one embodiment, the MVCCS is further equipped to facilitate receipt and storage into a common library, the different source/object files identified by corresponding universally unique identifiers (UUID), and the versioning control information includes predecessor UUID information. In one embodiment, both the common repository and the common library, as well as the entire MVCCS are disposed on the user computer system.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method comprising:

generating versioning control information for a plurality of source/object files of a program product; and

distributing a plurality of the versioning control information to one or more user or non-user computer systems, wherein a user computer system stores the versioning control information for the user computer system'"'"'s own use, and a non-user computer system correspondingly stores one or more copies of the versioning control information for storage for a plurality of one or more user computer systems, with the storage of the versioning control information being performed on a user computer system by user computer system basis, one copy of the versioning control information per user computer system, enabling each user computer system to use the corresponding copy of the versioning control information to selectively generate a version of the program product desired by the user computer system independent of other user computer systems.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the files comprise source files, and each of the source files are is in either a base or a delta form, and the method further comprises generating and assigning an universally unique identifier (UUID) to identify each of the base/ or delta source files.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the files comprise source files, and said generating of versioning control information for the plurality of source/object files comprises generating predecessor UUID information for selected ones of the source files.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said distributing of versioning control information for storage for a plurality of user computer systems, comprises distributing to a non-user computer system the versioning control information for corresponding storage of a plurality of copies of the versioning control information in a plurality of repositories for a plurality of user computer systems, one copy per repository for each per user computer system, each repository storing versioning control information of a plurality of program products vendors for a the corresponding user computer system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises distributing source/object to a non-user computer system the files for corresponding storage of one or more copies of the files in a plurality of corresponding one or more libraries for one or more user computer systems, one copy of the files per library for each per user computer system, each library storing source/object files for a plurality of program products vendors for a the corresponding user computer system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said distributing of versioning control information further comprises distributing to a user or non-user computer system selected ones of

(a) dependency information, including cross program product dependency information for some of the files,

(b) locking information for selected ones of the source files to prevent the selected ones of the files from being updated, and

(c) privilege or security information for some of the source files.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said files comprise source files are written in a selected one of a text mark up language and a natural language.

61. The method of claim 1, wherein the versioning control information includes dependency information between files.

62. The method of claim 61, wherein the dependency information includes cross program product dependency information.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a storage medium;

a processor;

a code control/distribution system stored in said storage medium to be operated by the processor to generate versioning control information for a plurality of source/object files of associated with a program product, and to distribute a plurality of the versioning control information to one or more user or non-user computer systems for a user computer system to store a copy of the versioning control information for the user computer system'"'"'s own use, and for a non-user computer system to correspondingly store one or more copies of the versioning control information for storage for a plurality of one or more user computer systems, with the corresponding storage of the versioning control information being performed on a user computer system by user computer system basis, one copy of the versioning control information per user computer system, to enable each of the user computer systems to be able to use the copy of the versioning control information correspondingly stored for the user computer system to selectively generate a version of the program product desired by the user computer system independent of other user computer systems.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said files comprise source files, and each of the source files are is in either a base or a delta form, and the code control/distribution system generates and assigns an universally unique identifier (UUID) to identify each of the base/ or delta source files.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said code control/distribution system further generates predecessor UUID information for each of the base/ or delta source files.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said code control/distribution system distributes the versioning control information for storage in a plurality of to a non-user computer system to correspondingly store one or more copies of the versioning control information in one or more repositories for one or more user computer systems, one copy per repository for each per user computer system, each repository storing versioning control information of a plurality of program products vendors for a the corresponding user computer system.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the code control/distribution system further distributes to a non-user computer system the source/object files for corresponding storage in a plurality of corresponding of one or more copies of the files in one or more libraries for one or more user computer systems, one copy per library for each per user computer system, each library storing source/object files for a plurality of program products vendors for a the corresponding user computer system.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said code control/distribution system further distributes to a user or non-user computer system selected ones of

(a) dependency information, including cross program product dependency information of the files,

(b) locking information for selected ones of the source files to prevent the selected ones of the files from being updated, and

(c) privilege or security information for some of the source files.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said files comprise source files are written in a selected one of a text mark up language and a natural language.

63. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the versioning control information includes dependency information between files.

64. The apparatus of claim 63, wherein the dependency information includes cross program product dependency information.

15. An article of manufacture comprising:

a recordable medium having recorded thereon a plurality of programming instructions for use to program an apparatus to enable the apparatus to be able to generate versioning control information for a plurality of source/object files of a program product, and to be able to distribute a plurality of the versioning control information to one or more user or non-user computer systems for a user computer system to store a copy of the versioning control information for the user computer system'"'"'s own use, and for a non-user computer system to correspondingly store one or more copies of the versioning control information for storage for a plurality of for one or more user computer systems, with the storage of the versioning control information being performed on a user computer system by user computer system basis, one copy of the versioning control information per user computer system, to enable each of the user computer systems to be able to use the copy of the versioning control information correspondingly stored for the user computer system to selectively generate a version of the program product desired by the user computer system independent of other user computer systems.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein each of the files comprise source files are in either a base or a delta form, and the programming instructions enable the apparatus to be able to generate and assign an universally unique identifier (UUID) to identify each of the base/ or delta source files.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein said programming instructions enable the apparatus to be able to generate predecessor UUID information for each of the base/ or delta source files.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein the programming instructions enable the apparatus to be able to distribute the versioning control information for storage to a non-user computer system to correspondingly store one or more copies of the versioning control information in a plurality of one or more repositories for one or more user computer systems, one copy per repository for each per user computer system, each repository storing versioning control information of source/object files of associated with a plurality of program products vendors for a the corresponding user computer system.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein said programming instructions enable the apparatus to be able to distribute to a non-user computer system the source/object files for storage in a plurality of corresponding to correspondingly store one or more copies of the files in one or more libraries for one or more user computer systems, one copy per library for each per user computer system, each library storing source/object the files for a plurality of program products vendors for the corresponding user computer system.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein said programming instructions further enable the apparatus to be able to distribute to a non-user computer system selected ones of

(a) dependency information, including cross program product dependency information of some of the files,

(b) locking information for selected ones of the source files to prevent the selected ones of the files from being updated, and

(c) privilege or security information for some of the source files.

21. A computer implemented method comprising:

facilitating receipt and storage into a common repository for a user computer system private copies a first and a second own copy of versioning control information of the user computer system of a first and a second plurality of source/object files files associated with a first and a second program product of a first and a second software vendor respectively; and

facilitating retrieval of selective versions of the first and second plurality of source/object files for the user computer system using said private first and second own copies of versioning control information of the user computer system stored in the common repository for the user computer system to selectively generate a first and a second version of the first and second program products desired by the user computer system independent of other user computer systems.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein

each of the first and second plurality ofsaid files comprise source files isin either a base or a delta source fileform, identified with an universally unique identifier (UUID), and

said facilitating of receipt and storage into a common repository for the user computer system versioning control information of the first and second plurality of source files, comprises facilitating receipt and storage into the common repository for the user computer system predecessor UUID information for the corresponding UUID of the first and second plurality of base/delta one or more source files.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein said facilitating of receipt and storage into a common repository for the user computer system versioning control information of the first and second plurality of source/object files, comprises facilitating receipt and storage storing into a common repository disposed on the user computer system said own copies of the versioning control information.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein said method further comprises of facilitating receipt and storage storing of the first and second plurality of source/object files of the first and second program products of the first and second software vendors, including first and second source files, each source file being identified with an universally unique identifier (UUID).

25. The method of claim 24, wherein said facilitating of receipt and storage of the first and second plurality of source/object files identified by UUID comprises facilitating receipt and storage storing into a common library for the user computer system the first and second plurality of source/object files, including first and second source files, each source file being identified by an UUID.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein said common library is disposed on the user computer system.

27. The method of claim 21, wherein

said first and second plurality of source/object files are source/object files of a first and a second software program product of the first and the second software vendor, and

said facilitating of retrieval ofthe method further comprises using the selective versions of the first and second plurality of source/object files is performedretrieved to facilitate selective generation ofselectively generate the first and second versions of the first and/or the second software program products for the user computer system independent of other computer systems.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein said facilitating of retrieval of selective versions of the first and second plurality of source/object files is performed to facilitate and selective generation of the first and/or the second software versions of the program products for the user computer system, independent of other user computer systems, are performed in response to a request expressed in a timeline context by a user of the user computer system.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein said facilitating of retrieval of selective versions of the first and second plurality of source/object files is performed to facilitate and selective generation of the first and/or the second software program products for the user computer system, independent of other user computer systems, are performed to maintain software compatibility for on the user computer system.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein said facilitating of receipt and storage into a common repository for the user computer system versioning control information of the first and second plurality of source/object files further comprises facilitating receipt and storage into the common repository for the user computer system selected ones of

(a) dependency information, including cross software product dependency information, for the different versions some of the first and second plurality of source/object files of the first and second software program products,

(b) locking information for selected ones of the first and second plurality of source files to prevent the selected ones files from being updated, and

(c) privilege or security information for some of the first and second plurality of source files.

31. A user computer system comprising:

a processor;

a storage medium;

a multi-vendor code control system (MVCCS) stored into the storage medium for operation by the processor to facilitate receipt and storage into a common repository for the user computer system, private first and second own copies of versioning control information of the user computer system of a first and a second plurality of source/object files files of a first and a second program product of a first and a second software vendor respectively, and to facilitate retrieval of selective versions of the first and second plurality of source/object files for the user computer system, using said private own copies of the versioning control information of the user computer system stored in the common repository for the user computer system, to selectively generate desired versions of the first and second program products for the user computer system independent of other user computer systems.

32. The user computer system of claim 31, wherein

each of the first and second plurality of files comprise source files isin either a base or a delta source fileform, identified with an universally unique identifier (UUID), and

said MVCCS facilitates receipt and storage into the common repository for the user computer system predecessor UUID information for the corresponding UUID of the first and second plurality of base/delta each source files .

33. The user computer system of claim 31, wherein said user computer system further includes said common repository for the user computer system.

34. The user computer system of claim 31, wherein said MVCCS further facilitates receipt and storage of the first and second plurality of source/object files of the first and second program products of the first and second software vendors, each being identified with an universally unique identifier (UUID).

35. The user computer system of claim 34, wherein said MVCCS further facilitates receipt from the first and the second distributor, and storage of the first and second plurality of object files or a combination of source and source/ object files identified by UUID into a common library for the user computer system.

36. The user computer system of claim 35, wherein said user computer system further includes said common library.

37. The user computer system of claim 31, wherein

said first and second plurality of source/object files are source files of a first and a second software program product of the first and the second software vendor, and

said MVCCS is adapted to performs said facilitating of retrieval of selective versions of the first and second plurality of source/object files to facilitate selective generation of the desired versions of the first and/or the second software program products for the user computer system.

38. The user computer system of claim 37, wherein said user computer system further comprises input/output devices to facilitate a user of the user computer system to submit a request in a timeline context to cause said MVCCS to facilitate said retrieval of selective versions of the first and second plurality of source/object files to facilitate selective generation of the desired versions of the first and/or the second software program products for the user computer system.

39. The user computer system of claim 37, wherein said MVCCS is adapted to facilitates said retrieval of selective versions of the first and second plurality of source/object files to facilitate selective generation of the first and/or the second software program products for the user computer system to maintain software compatibility for the user computer system.

40. The user computer system of claim 37, wherein said MVSCS is further adapted to facilitates receipt and storage into the common repository for the user computer system selected ones of

(a) dependency information, including cross software product dependency information, for the different versions of the first and second plurality of source/object files of the first and second software program products,

(b) locking information for selected ones of the first and second plurality of source files to prevent the selected ones files from being updated, and

(c) privilege or security information for the first and second plurality of source files.

41. An article of manufacture comprising:

a recordable medium having recorded thereon a plurality of programming instructions for use to program an apparatus to enable the apparatus to be able to facilitate receiving and storing into a common repository for a user computer system, private first and second own copies of versioning control information of the user computer system of a first and a second plurality of source/object files files of a first and a second program product of a first and a second software vendor respectively, and to be able to facilitate retrieval of selective versions of the first and second plurality of source/object files for the user computer system using said private first and second own copies of versioning control information of the user computer system stored in the common repository for the user computer system, to selectively generate first and second desired versions of the first and second program products independent of other user computer systems.

42. The article of manufacture of claim 41, wherein each of the first and second plurality of files comprise source files is in either a base or a delta source file form, identified with an universally unique identifier (UUID), and said programming instructions enable the apparatus to be able to facilitate receipt and storage into the common repository for the user computer system, predecessor UUID information for the UUIDs of the first and second plurality of base/delta source files.

43. The article of manufacture of claim 41, wherein said programming instructions further enable the apparatus to be able to facilitate receipt and storage into a common source library for the user computer system, the first and second plurality of source/object files of the first and second program products of the first and second software vendors, each being identified with an universally unique identifier (UUID).

44. The article of manufacture of claim 41, wherein said first and second plurality of source/object files are source/object files of a first and a second software program product of the first and the second software vendor, and said facilitating of retrieval of selective versions of the first and second plurality of source/object files is are performed to facilitate selective generation of the first and/or the second software program product for the user computer system, independent of other user computer systems.

45. The article of manufacture of claim 44, wherein said programming instructions enable the apparatus to be able to facilitate retrieval of selective versions of the first and second plurality of source/object files for selective generation of different versions of the first and/or the second software program products for the user computer system, in response to a request expressed in a timeline context by a user of the user computer system.

46. The article of manufacture of claim 44, wherein said programming instructions enable the apparatus to facilitate retrieval of selective versions of the first and second plurality of source/object files for selective generation of different versions of the first and/or the second software program products for the user computer system to maintain software compatibility for the user computer system.

47. The article of manufacture of claim 41, wherein said programming instructions further enable the apparatus to facilitate receipt and storage into the common repository for the user computer system selected ones of

(a) dependency information, including cross software product dependency information, for the different versions of some of the first and second plurality of source/object files of the first and second software program products,

(b) locking information for selected ones of the first and second plurality of source files to prevent the selected ones files from being updated, and

(c) privilege or security information for some of the first and second plurality of source files.

48. A method comprising:

receiving first versioning control information for a plurality of files associated with a first software product; and

correspondingly storing a plurality of copies of the first versioning control information in a first storage medium for a plurality of user computer systems, wherein a respective copy of the first versioning control information is stored for each user computer system using a one-to-one correspondence to enable each of the user computer systems to be able to use the copy of the first versioning control information correspondingly stored for the user computer system to selectively generate a version of the first software product desired by the user computer system independent of other user computer systems.

49. The method of claim 48, further comprising:

receiving second versioning control information for a plurality of files associated with a second software product; and

correspondingly storing a plurality of copies of the second versioning control information in a second storage medium, for a plurality of user computer systems, wherein a respective copy of the second versioning control information is stored for each user computer system using a one-to-one correspondence to enable each of the user computer systems to be able to use the copy of the second versioning control information correspondingly stored for the user computer system to selectively generate a version of the second software product desired by the user computer system independent of other user computer systems.

50. The method of claim 49, wherein the first and second storage media are one of the same storage medium.

51. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a multi-vendor control system (MVCS) configured to be operated by the processor to

receive first versioning control information for a plurality of files associated with a first software product; and

correspondingly store a plurality of copies of the first versioning control information in a first storage medium for a plurality of user computer systems, wherein a respective copy of the first versioning control information is stored for each user computer system using a one-to-one correspondence to enable each of the user computer systems to be able to use the copy of the first versioning control information correspondingly stored for the user computer system to selectively generate a version of the first software product desired by the user computer system independent of other user computer systems.

52. The apparatus of claim 51, wherein the MVCS is further configured to be operated by the processor to

receive second versioning control information for a plurality of files associated with a second software product;

and

correspondingly store a plurality of copies of the second versioning control information in a second storage medium for a plurality of user computer systems, wherein a respective copy of the second versioning control information is stored for each user computer system using a one-to-one correspondence to enable each of the user computer systems to be able to use the copy of the second versioning control information correspondingly stored for the user computer system to selectively generate a version of the second software product desired by the user computer system independent of other user computer systems.

53. The apparatus of claim 51, wherein the first and second storage media are one of the same storage medium.

54. A method of operation to be performed by a user computer system, comprising:

accessing a library associated with the user computer system on a one-to-one basis to retrieve first and second versioning control information of a first and second plurality of files of a first and a second software product of a first and second vendor, respectively; and

generating a first and a second version of the first and second software products, using the retrieved first and second versioning control information of the first and second plurality of files and the first and second software products, respectively, independent of other user computer systems.

55. The method of claim 54, further comprising receiving and storing into the library, the first and second copies of the first and second versioning control information of the first and second plurality of files of the first and second software products of the first and second vendors.

56. The method of claim 54, wherein the first and second vendors are one of the same vendor.

57. A user computer system comprising:

a processor; and

a multi-vendor control system (MVCS) configured to be operated by the processor to access a library associated with the user computer system on a one-to-one basis, to retrieve from a first and a second own copy of first and second versioning control information of first and second plurality of files of a first and a second software product of a first and a second vendor, respectively, and generate a first and a second version of the first and second software product, using the retrieved first and second versioning control information of the first and second plurality of files of the first and second software products, respectively, independent of other user computer systems.

58. The user computer system of claim 57, wherein the MVCS is further configured to receive and store into the library, the first and second copies of the first and second versioning control information of the first and second plurality of files of the first and second software products of the first and second vendors.

59. The user computer system of claim 57, further comprising a storage device communicatively coupled to the processor in which said library is stored.

60. The user computer system of claim 57, wherein the first and second vendors are one of the same vendor.