Modular Co-Versioning in a Dynamically Linked Runtime Environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016239279-A1
Application number	US-201514622639-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 13, 2015
Priority date	Feb 13, 2015
Publication date	Aug 18, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Modular co-versioning may involve the creation of multi-version libraries that may include multiple versions of a class. A multi-version library may include a base version and one or more other versions each of which may correspond to a particular, respective version of a software development kit, runtime environment or software platform, according to various embodiments. At runtime, a multi-version library may be searched in order to load a version of a class that corresponds to the version of the currently executing runtime environment. If the multi-version library does not include a version of the class corresponding to the currently executing version of the environment/platform, a version of the class corresponding to a previous version of the environment may be loaded if found in the multi-version library. Alternatively, if no other version of the class is found, a base version of the class may be loaded from the multi-version library.

First claim

1 . A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium storing program instructions that when executed on a computing device cause the computing device to perform:
loading, at runtime by a runtime module executing within a runtime environment, a class from a runtime linkable, multi-version library, wherein the multi-version library is configured to include multiple versions of classes, wherein all versions of a respective class correspond to an identical class signature for the respective class; wherein said loading comprises:
determining whether the multi-version library includes a version of the class associated with a current version of a software development kit for implementing software executable within a respective current version of the runtime environment; and
in response to determining that the multi-version library does include the version of the class associated with the current version of the software development kit, loading, from the multi-version library, the version of the class associated with the current version of the software development kit.

2 . The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein to load the version of the class associated with the current version of the software development kit, the program instructions further cause the computing device to perform:
loading the version of the class from a folder in the multi-version library associated with the current version of the software development kit, wherein the folder is configured to store versions of multiple classes, each associated with the current version of the software development kit.

3 . The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions further cause the computing device to perform:
in response to determining that the multi-version library does not include the version of the class associated with the current version of the software development kit:
determining whether the multi-version library comprises a version of the class associated with a specific previous version of the software development kit, wherein the specific previous version of the software development kit occurs prior than the current version of the software development kit in a defined order of software development kit versions; and
in response to determining that the multi-version library does include the version of the class associated with the specific previous version of the software development kit, loading, from the multi-version library, the version of the class associated with the specific previous version of the software development kit.

4 . The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 3 , wherein the program instructions further cause the computing device to perform:
in response to determining that the multi-version library does not include the version of the class associated with the specific previous version of the software development kit, loading a base version of the class from the multi-version library, wherein the base version of the class is not associated with any particular version of the software development kit.

5 . The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 3 , wherein to load, from the multi-version library, the version of the class associated with the specific previous version of the software development kit, the program instructions further cause the computing device to perform:
loading the version of the class associated with the specific previous version of the software development kit from a folder in the multi-version library associated with the specific previous version of the software development kit, wherein the folder is configured to store versions of multiple classes, each associated with the specific previous version of the software development kit.

6 . The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein said determining whether the multi-version library includes a version of the class associated with a current version of a software development kit is performed without regard to the presence, within the multi-version library of a version of the class associated with a later version of the software development, wherein the later version of the software development kit occurs after the current version of the software development in a defined order of software development kit versions.

7 . The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the multi-version library is a multi-version archive implemented using a platform-independent, object oriented programming language.

8 . A computing device, comprising:
a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory comprises program instructions that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform: executing a class loader within a runtime environment; loading, at runtime by the class loader, a class from a runtime linkable, multi-version library, wherein the multi-version library is configured to include multiple versions of classes, wherein all versions of a respective class correspond to an identical class signature for the respective class; wherein said loading comprises:
determining whether the multi-version library includes a version of the class associated with a current version of a software development kit for implementing software executable within a respective current version of the runtime environment within which the class loader is executing; and
in response to determining that the multi-version library does include the version of the class associated with the current version of the software development kit, loading, from the multi-version library, the version of the class associated with the current version of the software development kit.

9 . The computing device of claim 8 , wherein to load the version of the class associated with the current version of the software development kit, the program instructions further cause the processor to perform:
loading the version of the class from a folder in the multi-version library associated with the current version of the software development kit, wherein the folder is configured to store versions of multiple classes, each associated with the current version of the software development kit.

10 . The computing device of claim 8 , wherein the program instructions further cause the processor to perform:
in response to determining that the multi-version library does not include the version of the class associated with the current version of the software development kit:
determining whether the multi-version library comprises a version of the class associated with a specific previous version of the software development kit, wherein the specific previous version of the software development kit occurs prior than the current version of the software development kit in an order to software development kit versions; and
in response to determining that the multi-version library does include the version of the class associated with the specific previous version of the software development kit, loading, from the multi-version library, the version of the class associated with the specific previous version of the software development kit.

11 . The computing device of claim 10 , wherein the program instructions further cause the processor to perform:
in response to determining that the multi-version library does not include the version of the class associated with the specific previous version of the software development kit, loading a base version of the class from the multi-version library, wherein the base version of the class is not associated with any particular version of the software development kit.

Assignees

• Oracle Int Corp

Inventors

• Goetz Brian
• Sandoz Paul D

Classifications

• G06F9/44521 Primary

  Dynamic linking or loading; Link editing at or after load time, e.g. Java class loading · CPC title

• G06F8/54 Primary

  Link editing before load time · CPC title

• G06F8/71

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

• G06F9/44536

  Selecting among different versions · CPC title