Determining candidate patches for a computer software

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10417017-B2
Application number	US-201715465090-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 21, 2017
Priority date	Mar 21, 2017
Publication date	Sep 17, 2019
Grant date	Sep 17, 2019

Abstract

A method, computer system, and computer program product for determining a candidate patch for computer software is provided. According to a method, fingerprint(s) of patch(es) for a computer software is obtained first, wherein a fingerprint of a patch comprises function(s) being revised in the computer software if the patch is installed into the computer software. Then whether every function in the obtained fingerprint(s) of patch(es) has been called is monitored in response to beginning of execution of the computer software along to code path(s) related to bug(s). And at last candidate patch(es) is determined in response to end of the execution of the computer software along to the code path(s) related to the bug(s), wherein every function in the fingerprint of the candidate patch(es) has been called during the execution of the computer software.

First claim

The claims are as follows:

1. A method for determining candidate patches for computer software, comprising:
obtaining, by a processor of a computing system, fingerprint(s) of patch(es) for a computer software, wherein a fingerprint of a patch comprises function(s) being revised in the computer software when the patch is installed into the computer software;
monitoring, by the processor, whether every function in the obtained fingerprint(s) of patch(es) has been called in response to a beginning of execution of the computer software along to code path(s) related to bug(s), wherein the monitoring includes accumulating a number of times for every function in the obtained fingerprint(s) of patch(es) being called;
determining, by the processor, candidate patch(es) in response to an end of the execution of the computer software along to the code path(s) related to the bug(s) based on the number of times for every function in the obtained fingerprint is called being greater than a predefined threshold, wherein the patch(es) is further determined to be a candidate patch when every function in the fingerprint of the patch(es) has been called during the execution of the computer software, and the patch(es) is determined not to be a candidate patch when at least one function in the fingerprint of the patch has not been called during the execution of the computer software; and
instructing, by the processor, the candidate patch to be installed into the computer software to revise one or more functionalities of the computer software previously working incorrectly.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining further comprises:
sorting, by the processor, the candidate patch(es) based on the number of times for every function in the fingerprint(s) of the candidate patch(es).

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the determining further comprises:
determining, by the processor, the candidate patch(es) with a higher accumulated number of times for every function in the fingerprint(s) of the candidate patch(es) to be the candidate patch(es) with a higher probability level.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein obtaining a fingerprint of a patch comprises:
checking-in, by the processor, a source code of the patch into an original source code of the computer software to obtain a revised source code of the computer software;
comparing, by the processor, the original source code and the revised source code of the computer software to obtain a plurality of revised functions in the computer software; and
storing, by the processor, the plurality of revised functions as the fingerprint of the patch.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a function in the fingerprints of the patch are presented as a specific method in a specific class in a specific package for the computer software, using object-oriented programming code.

6. A computer system comprising:
a processor;
a memory device coupled to the processor; and
a computer readable storage device coupled to the processor, wherein the storage device contains program code executable by the processor via the memory device to implement a method for determining candidate patches for computer software, the method comprising:
obtaining, by a processor of a computing system, fingerprint(s) of patch(es) for a computer software, wherein a fingerprint of a patch comprises function(s) being revised in the computer software when the patch is installed into the computer software;
monitoring, by the processor, whether every function in the obtained fingerprint(s) of patch(es) has been called in response to a beginning of execution of the computer software along to code path(s) related to bug(s), wherein the monitoring includes accumulating a number of times for every function in the obtained fingerprint(s) of patch(es) being called;
determining, by the processor, candidate patch(es) in response to an end of the execution of the computer software along to the code path(s) related to the bug(s) based on the number of times for every function in the obtained fingerprint is called being greater than a predefined threshold, wherein the patch(es) is further determined to be a candidate patch when every function in the fingerprint of the patch(es) has been called during the execution of the computer software, and the patch(es) is determined not to be a candidate patch when at least one function in the fingerprint of the patch has not been called during the execution of the computer software; and

instructing, by the processor, the candidate patch to be installed into the computer software to revise one or more functionalities of the computer software previously working incorrectly.

7. The computer system according to claim 6 , wherein the determining further comprises:
sorting, by the processor, the candidate patch(es) based on the number of times for every function in the obtained fingerprint(s) of the candidate patch(es).

8. The computer system according to claim 7 , wherein the determining further comprises:
determining, by the processor, the candidate patch(es) with a higher accumulated number of times for every function in the fingerprint(s) of the candidate patch(es) to be the candidate patch(es) with a higher probability level.

9. The computer system according to claim 6 , wherein obtaining the fingerprint of the patch comprises:
checking in, by the processor, a source code of the patch into an original source code of the computer software to obtain a revised source code of the computer software;
comparing, by the processor, the original source code and the revised source code of the computer software to obtain a plurality of revised functions in the computer software; and
storing, by the processor, the plurality of revised functions as the fingerprint of the patch.

10. The computer system according to claim 6 , wherein a function in the fingerprints of the patch are presented as a specific method in a specific class in a specific package for the computer software, using object-oriented programming code.

11. A computer program product, comprising a computer readable hardware storage device storing a computer readable program code, the computer readable program code comprising an algorithm that when executed by a computer processor of a computing system implements a method for determining candidate patches for computer software, the method comprising:
obtaining, by a processor of a computing system, fingerprint(s) of patch(es) for a computer software, wherein a fingerprint of a patch comprises function(s) being revised in the computer software when the patch is installed into the computer software;
monitoring, by the processor, whether every function in the obtained fingerprint(s) of patch(es) has been called in response to a beginning of execution of the computer software along to code path(s) related to bug(s), wherein the monitoring includes accumulating a number of times for every function in the obtained fingerprint(s) of patch(es) being called;
determining, by the processor, candidate patch(es) in response to an end of the execution of the computer software along to the code path(s) related to the bug(s) based on the number of times for every function in the obtained fingerprint is called being greater than a predefined threshold, wherein the patch(es) is further determined to be a candidate patch when every function in the fingerprint of the patch(es) has been called during the execution of the computer software, and the patch(es) is determined not to be a candidate patch when at least one function in the fingerprint of the patch has not been called during the execution of the computer software, and
instructing, by the proce

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Duan Zi Hui
• Sun Lu
• Wei Jing Jing
• Zou Dian Guo

Classifications

• G06F8/77

  Software metrics · CPC title

• G06F8/658 Primary

  Incremental updates; Differential updates · CPC title

• G06F8/71

  Version control (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57); Configuration management · CPC title

• G06F9/4488 Primary

  Object-oriented · CPC title