JPH03257531A - Patch system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] When a partial change occurs in a program, it is possible to specify the timing and scope of application of a patch with regard to the patch method for making corrections using patch data. The purpose is to realize a patch with.

Regarding the application of patch data in an information processing device that is controlled by multiple programs stored in a file device and has a patch processing function for modifying the programs using patch data.

a first function that provides patch control information that specifies constraint conditions such as application time, application program, and application target equipment; and that creates patch data and patch control information files through operator intervention in the patch processing function; The configuration includes a second function for passing punch data based on the patch control information when specified by the operator or before starting IMPL.

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention is applicable to an information processing device that loads and executes a program stored in a file device such as a hard disk or a semiconductor storage device, when a partial change occurs in the program in the file device.

This invention relates to a patch method that performs corrections using patch data.

In general, information processing devices use a patch method in which when a program has a section that requires modification, only the section that requires modification in the existing program is replaced with correction data (patch) until the next program revision is performed. It is normal that they are compatible. This is because requests to modify the program may occur quite frequently even after the start of operation, and if you try to modify the program by revising the program each time, it will be difficult to respond in terms of prompt response and cost. For this reason, for small corrections, the correction data and correction position are input as patch data and the program is corrected.

However, even with the patch method, as the number of patches increases, errors are likely to occur due to management errors.

The present invention provides an efficient patching scheme that is easy to manage and highly flexible.

[Conventional technology] ・Figure 4 shows an overview of the conventional patch method.

In FIG. 4, l is a console, 2 is an information processing device,
3 is a memory, 4 is a file device in which programs are stored, 5-1 to 5-n are programs, and 6 is a file device in which patch data is stored.

For example, patch data for a system program such as O8 or firmware is supplied on a floppy disk or the like by the manufacturer of the information processing device.

An example of the format of patch data is shown below.

Offset ○LD N1 entry "Offset °" indicates the position of the correction point in the relative position on the program. 5 "OLD" indicates the old data to be corrected, and NEW indicates the corrected data.

Areas that should be modified using patch data during the program (
(indicated by a diagonal block) exists.

The modification process is executed on the program loaded into the memory 3 as shown in 2■, or on the program stored in the file device 4 as shown in 2).

When modifying a program using patch data, depending on the content, it may be necessary to modify the program unconditionally or to impose restrictions on the start time of the modification, the modification implementation period, or the 70 devices to be controlled. be.

Further, the modification content of each patch data depends on the specific version of the program, and it is assumed that even in the same version of the program, all the modification processing using the preceding patch data has been completed and the modification has been completed.

Operators such as CEs had to be aware of these various constraints and give appropriate instructions for patch processing from the console 1.

Furthermore, application of patch data is managed for the configuration of standard information processing devices, and devices owned by individual users are excluded from common management and must be applied separately.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Conventional patching methods are based on managing the comprehensive version number of a program, and a new patch cannot be applied unless the previous punch has been completely applied. If you want to apply Punch to equipment owned by Punch, there are constraints such as having to do it outside of Punch's control.
It lacked flexibility.

The present invention specifies the timing and range of application of the punch.

The purpose is to enable management of individual patches and realize flexible patches.

[Means to solve the problem] The present invention provides a punch processing function of an information processing device.

This makes it possible to automatically execute appropriate patch processing based on prespecified patch application conditions.

Therefore, regarding the application of each patch data, constraints such as the application time dual-use program and applicable devices are set as patch control information, and as a patch processing function,
Provides a punch information creation function that allows an operator to create a file of patch data and patch control information, and a patch application function that performs patch processing based on patch control information at the time of operator instructions or IMPL (Initial Microprogram Loading). .

FIG. 1 is a diagram explaining the principle of the present invention.

In FIG.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a console, which is used by the operator to monitor and control the operation of the information processing equipment, but here it is used to create files of patch data and patch control information (hereinafter both referred to as patch information) and to instruct patch processing. .

12 is an information processing device.

13 is a memory.

14 is a patch processing function.

15 is the patch information work s, m function, and the console 11
A file of punch information consisting of patch data and patch control information is created in response to operator intervention from.

Reference numeral 16 denotes a patch application function, which applies patch data to a program according to the contents of patch control information and makes corrections according to instructions from an operator or during IMPL.

17 is a file device such as a disk.

18-1 to 18-n are program files to be patched.

19 is a patch information file.

Patch data 20 includes a patch application position on the program, old data, and new data.

Reference numeral 21 indicates patch control information, which indicates the application period and application program for each piece of patch data 20.

Specify the constraint conditions when applying the punch to applicable devices, etc.

[Effect]

According to the present invention, since the user can arbitrarily set constraints such as the time to start application of each individual patch data and the applicable devices in the patch control information, it is possible to perform flexible punch application. Therefore, it is possible to easily implement two different programs for a large number of patch data or any complicated or special constraint conditions for the controlled device without any errors.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

Figure 2 shows the patch information file 1 shown in Figure 1.
This figure shows the configuration of a ninth embodiment.

Patch data 20 is authoritatively divided into three parts: patch address, old data, and new data. The patch address is
Indicates the location of old data to be corrected on the program. The new data is modified data that replaces the old data.

The punch control information 21 is authoritatively composed of seven pieces of information: a patch number, a patch application program file name, an application time flag, a classification code, a sequence number within the same code, and an application condition 2 state flag.

The patch number is a number that serves as an ID for managing patch data.

The patch application program file name is information specifying the program to which punch is applied.

The application time flag is information specifying the type of time to apply the patch, and an example is shown below.

Validity period flag 0: Applied when a patch is specified (in the file and memory if there is one) 1: Patch applied to the file before the next IMPL process 2: Applicable only to the memory when a patch is specified The patch general classification code is applied to the file before the first TMPL process is information that identifies a set of multiple patches that must be implemented at the same time (for example, ABC), and patches within the same set have the same code (for example, A).
is set.

Sequence numbers within the same code indicate the order in which punches within the same set are performed. For example, the patch group with classification code A indicates that patches should be implemented in the order of patch numbers 2, 4.1.

The application condition is information that specifies the dual-use target device or its range by machine number, and an example is shown below.

Applicable condition LL : Patch all devices in the field. Apply X: Applicable only to equipment of unit X <X: Applicable to equipment of units less than X >x: Applicable to devices with machine numbers exceeding X<Y.

>Z: The status flag that is valid for devices whose number is less than Y and more than Z is information that indicates whether patch application has been completed or not, or whether it has been applied in memory but not in the file. An example of this is shown below. show.

Status flag P: Patch applied R: Punch not applied (for next IMPL pre-processing) M: Punch applied only in memory (file for next IMPL pre-processing) Figure 3 shows
The operation of the sixth embodiment of the patch processing function 14 shown in FIG. 1 will be briefly described below.

The operator creates a patch information file as shown in FIG. 2 and issues patch instructions. Also, if a patch information file has already been created, start up the information processing device and install it.
Patch processing based on the patch information file is performed immediately before starting MPL.

First, the punch information file is sorted by the same classification code according to the sequence number within the same code, and the applicable conditions are checked starting from the one with the lowest sequence number.If the applicable conditions are met, the status flag is checked, and the status flag is If it is R (not applied), that punch is used and the status flag is set to P or M depending on whether the punch was applied to the file or to the memory.

On the other hand, if the applicable conditions are not met, that is, if there is no device with a machine number that satisfies the applicable conditions, the status flag is set to R, and all status flags of subsequent sequence numbers within the same classification code are set to R.

The above processing is executed sequentially for each classification code.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, patch application can be performed independently of program version management, and patch application timing and application conditions can be arbitrarily set for each patch, independently or in relation to other patches. This can significantly reduce the burden on the operator, and also make program corrections more flexible, faster, and more reliable.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram explaining the principle of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of a punch information file, FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an embodiment of punch processing, and FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a conventional patch method. 11 in Figure 1: Console 12: Information processing device 13: Memory 14: Patch processing function 15: Patch information creation function 16: Patch application function 17: File device 18-1 to 18-n Niprogram file 19: Patch information File 20; Patch data 21: Punch control information

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an information processing device that is controlled by a plurality of programs stored in a storage device and has a patch processing function that modifies the program using patch data, application timing and application of patch data are provided. Patch control information that specifies constraints on programs, applicable devices, etc. is provided, and in addition to the patch processing function described above, there is a first function that creates patch data and patch control information data through operator intervention, and a first function that creates patch data and patch control information data when specified by the operator. Or IMPL
A patch method characterized in that a second function is provided to apply patch data based on the patch control information before the start of patch processing, and patch processing is executed according to specified constraint conditions.