Software certification and update process

• US 20060184927A1
• Filed: 02/14/2005
• Published: 08/17/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Fischer, Donald, Ibanescu, Mihai, Deblaquiere, Joe, Katz, Jeremy, Woods, Deb, Likins, Adrian
• Granted Patent: US 8,635,609 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/57 Certifying or maintaining trusted computer platforms, e.g. secure boots or power-downs, version controls, system software checks, secure updates or assessing vulnerabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

An update service is provided for maintaining software of one or more users, or an enterprise. On behalf of users or enterprises, the update service collects information from various software vendors about the certification and updates for their software. Dependencies or issues between the software are determined based on the information collected from the software vendors. A set of applicable updates for particular users or enterprises may then be determined based on the dependencies or issues. The update service may then broker various aspects of the delivery and installation of these updates.

Claims

1. A method of notifying a client regarding a set of software updates, wherein the set of updates includes a parent update generated by a first entity and a child update generated by one or more additional entities, said method comprising:

determining dependencies between the child update and the parent update;

determining at least one effect of the parent update and the child update on the client based on the dependencies; and

sending information to the client about the parent update.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining dependencies between the child update and the parent update comprises determining dependencies between an application and an operating system component.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining dependencies between the child update and the parent update comprises determining dependencies between an update to an application and an update to a Linux kernel.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the at least one effect of the parent update and the child update comprises determining an effect of updating an operating system kernel installed on the client.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the at least one effect of the parent update and the child update includes determining an effect of updating a Linux kernel on applications installed on the client.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

identifying the applications affected by an update to the Linux kernel; and

determining whether updates are available for the identified applications.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein sending information to the client about the parent update comprises sending information when updates for at least one of the identified applications are available.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein sending information to the client about the parent update comprises sending information to the client when updates for all of the identified applications that are affected by the update to the Linux kernel are available.

9. A method of preparing a set of software updates for a client, wherein a parent update generated by a first entity affects operation of software from the first entity and software from an additional entity that is installed on the client, said method comprising:

determining a configuration of software from the first entity and the additional entity that are installed on the client;

identifying the parent update to be installed on the client based on the configuration of software installed on the client;

determining an effect of the parent update on the software installed on the client;

selecting a child update for the software from the additional entity to compensate for the effect of the parent update on the operation of the software from the additional entity; and

brokering delivery of the parent update and the selected child update to the client.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein identifying the parent update to be installed comprises identifying an update to a Linux kernel.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein identifying the parent update to be installed comprises:

determining information from the client that indicates Linux operating system components installed on the client;

determining a version of at least one component of the Linux operating system based on the received information; and

identifying an update to a Linux kernel as the parent update based on the version of the at least one component of the Linux operating system.

12. The method of claim of claim 9, wherein selecting the set of child updates comprises:

receiving dependency information from a software vendor that indicates a dependency of an application provided by the software vendor on a kernel that has been provided by the first entity;

receiving update information from the independent software vendor that indicates an update that is available for the application;

determining when an update to the kernel affects operation of the application from the software vendors based on the dependency information and update information; and

selecting an available update to the application as a child update that compensates for at least some of the effect of the update to the kernel.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein brokering delivery of the parent update and the child update comprises:

determining a location of the child update; and

providing a link to the location of the child update.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein brokering delivery of the parent update and the child update comprises:

retrieving the child update; and

providing the child update to the client.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein brokering delivery of the parent update and the child update comprises providing a package that includes program code for installing the parent update and the child update.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein brokering delivery of the parent update and the child update comprises providing separate packages for the parent update and the child update.

17. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving information that identifies the client; and

authenticating the client based on the received information.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein brokering delivery of the parent update and the child update comprises:

determining a set of rights granted to the client based on the authentication of the client; and

permitting delivery of the parent update and the child update based on the set of rights.

19. A method of installing a set of updates to software installed on a client, wherein the software includes software provided from a first entity and software provided from an additional entity, and wherein the set of updates includes a parent update and a child update, said method comprising:

receiving program code for installing the parent update to software provided from the first entity;

installing the parent update;

receiving, from an update service, brokered information that indicates a child update that compensates for an effect of the parent update on the software from the additional entity;

retrieving the child update based on the information brokered from the update service; and

installing the child update.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein receiving the program code for installing the parent update comprises:

submitting a request to a server;

providing information that authenticates an attribute of the client; and

receiving the program code based on the attribute of the client.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein receiving the program code for installing the parent update comprises receiving program code for installing an update to a Linux kernel.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein retrieving the child update comprises:

opening a connection to the update service;

receiving information from the update service that indicates a location of the child update;

retrieving the child update from the location.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein retrieving the child update comprises:

opening a connection to the update service; and

receiving program code for installing the child update from the update service.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein retrieving the child update comprises:

opening a connection to a server that receives brokered information from the update service;

receiving from the server information that indicates the child update; and

receiving the information that indicates the child update from the server.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein receiving the information that indicates the child update from the server comprises receiving a location of another server that is configured to provide the child update.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein receiving the information that indicates the child update from the server comprises receiving program code for installing the child update from the server.

27. The method of claim 19, wherein installing the child update comprises installing the child update during the installation of the parent update.

28. The method of claim 19, wherein installing the child update comprises installing the child update after the installation of the parent update.

29. A method of brokering updates to software for a computer, comprising:

determining whether an update to a version of a first piece of software exists on the computer;

determining that an update to a second piece of software is needed because the second piece of software depends on the first piece of software;

brokering, on behalf of the computer, retrieval of the update to the first piece of software and the update to the second piece of software.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein determining whether the update to the version of the first piece of software exists on the computer comprises receiving information from a software vendor of the first piece of software.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein determining that the update to the second piece of software is needed comprises receiving dependency information from a software vendor of the second piece of software.

32. The method of claim 29 wherein determining that the update to the second piece of software is needed comprises:

determining a function of the first piece of software; and

determining whether the second piece of software relies on the function of the first piece of software.

33. The method of claim 29, wherein brokering, on behalf of the computer, retrieval of the update to the first piece of software and the update to the second piece of software comprises sending update code for the first piece of software to the computer.

34. The method of claim 29, wherein brokering, on behalf of the computer, retrieval of the update to the first piece of software and the update to the second piece of software comprises sending separate packages of update code for the first piece of software to the computer and the second piece of software.

35. The method of claim 29, wherein brokering, on behalf of the computer, retrieval of the update to the first piece of software and the update to the second piece of software comprises sending a link to a location of the update to the first piece of software.