File tree conflict processor

• US 20040015456A1
• Filed: 12/12/2001
• Published: 01/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Pandey, Vivek, Holtz, Brian, Dubey, Nidheesh, Sharma, Aseem, Balasubramanian, Vijay
• Granted Patent: US 7,165,248 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 706/11
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1787 Details of non-transparently synchronising file systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99938 Concurrency, e.g. lock management in shared database

Abstract

The embodiments of the present invention provide a method for resolving conflicting changes encountered when reconciling parallel user changes to two synchronized trees of folders and files. According to one embodiment, these conflicts are presented to the user as an interface that requires an indication from the user to the winner of the conflict. According to another embodiment, since certain conflicts cannot be resolved independently, they have to be combined and presented to the user as a single conflict. According to yet another embodiment, after the user has indicated which operations are the winners of all or some of the conflicts, the winning operations are applied to the file tree with which they are in conflict.

Claims

1. A method for processing conflicts in a first and second file tree comprising:

presenting one or more conflicts to a user;

presenting more than one unresolved independent conflicts as a single conflict to said user;

obtaining input from said user; and

handling said one or more conflicts and said single conflict based on said input.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein one or more winning conflicts are applied to a file tree with which they were in conflict.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said winning conflicts are server operations.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein said winning conflicts are client operations.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein said server operations are translated back up a conflict list across all previous server operations, and then down a conflict list across all client operations.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein said client operations are translated back up a conflict list across all previous client operations, and then down the conflict list across all server operations.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein if said translation is a rename or a reparent of an object of said winning operation, said winning operation is translated to refer to said object using its new lineage.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein if said translation is a rename or a reparent of one of an ancestor of said object in the tree, said winning operation is translated to refer to the object using its new lineage.

9. The method of claim 3 wherein said winning server operations are en-queued for transmission to the client.

10. The method of claim 4 wherein said winning client operations are applied against said server'"'"'s filesystem.

11. An article of manufacture comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for processing conflicts in a first and second file tree, said computer readable program code in said article of manufacture comprising;

computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to present one or more conflicts to a user;

computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to present more than one unresolved independent conflicts as a single conflict to said user;

computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to obtain input from said user; and

computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to handle said one or more conflicts and said single conflict based on said input.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 11 wherein one or more winning conflicts are applied to a file tree with which they are in conflict.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 12 wherein said winning conflicts are server operations.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 12 wherein said winning conflicts are client operations.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 13 wherein said server operations are translated back up a conflict list across all previous server operations, and then down a conflict list across all client operations.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 14 wherein said client operations are translated back up a conflict list across all previous client operations, and then down the conflict list across all server operations.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 15 wherein if said translation is a rename or a reparent of an object of said winning operation, said winning operation is translated to refer to said object using its new lineage.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 16 wherein if said translation is a rename or a reparent of one of an ancestor of said object in the tree, said winning operation is translated to refer to the object using its new lineage.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 13 wherein said winning server operations are en-queued for transmission to the client.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 14 wherein said winning client operations are applied against said server'"'"'s filesystem.

21. A computer program product comprising:

a computer useable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein configured to process conflicts in a first and second file tree, said computer program product comprising;

computer readable code configured therein to cause a computer to present one or more conflicts to a user;

computer readable code configured therein to cause a computer to present more than one unresolved independent conflicts as a single conflict to said user;

computer readable code configured therein to cause a computer to obtain input from said user; and

computer readable code configured therein to cause a computer to handle said one or more conflicts and said single conflict based on said input.

22. The computer program product of claim 21 wherein one or more winning conflicts are applied to a file tree with which they were in conflict.

23. The computer program product of claim 22 wherein said winning conflicts are server operations.

24. The computer program product of claim 22 wherein said winning conflicts are client operations.

25. The computer program product of claim 23 wherein said server operations are translated back up a conflict list across all previous server operations, and then down a conflict list across all client operations.

26. The computer program product of claim 24 wherein said client operations are translated back up a conflict list across all previous client operations, and then down the conflict list across all server operations.

27. The computer program product of claim 25 wherein if said translation is a rename or a reparent of an object of said winning operation, said winning operation is translated to refer to said object using its new lineage.

28. The computer program product of claim 26 wherein if said translation is a rename or a reparent of one of an ancestor of said object in the tree, said winning operation is translated to refer to the object using its new lineage.

29. The computer program product of claim 23 wherein said winning server operations are en-queued for transmission to the client.

30. The computer program product of claim 24 wherein said winning client operations are applied against said server'"'"'s filesystem.