Abstract: A “Compatibility Tester” extracts observable behaviors from different system implementations (e.g., software, operating systems, device drivers, hardware interfaces, etc.), then performs compatibility testing via comparisons of the extracted behaviors. Traces (e.g., bus level signals between controllers and hardware devices or commands between software components) representing observable behaviors of different implementations of a system are captured. Temporal and structural rules are then mined from these traces. The mined rules (or a model constructed from those rules) are used by a “Rule Checking” process that determines whether reference rules (mined from a known compatible system) are compatible with rules mined from test traces of a second system. Invalid rules are flagged as behavioral compatibility bugs.

Abstract: A system and method for updating an offline virtual machine are disclosed. The method comprises mounting an image of an offline virtual machine on a host operating system. The method further comprises generating drive-mapping information for the mounted virtual machine image and loading registry information of the mounted virtual machine image onto the host operating system using the drive-mapping information. An update to be applied to the offline virtual machine is determined based on the registry information and a patch bundle is retrieved based on the determination, wherein the patch bundle comprises registry update instructions, file system update instructions, and a patch file. The patch bundle is executed on the host operating system to update the offline virtual machine.

Abstract: A “Compatibility Tester” extracts observable behaviors from different system implementations (e.g., software, operating systems, device drivers, hardware interfaces, etc.), then performs compatibility testing via comparisons of the extracted behaviors. Traces (e.g., bus level signals between controllers and hardware devices or commands between software components) representing observable behaviors of different implementations of a system are captured. Temporal and structural rules are then mined from these traces. The mined rules (or a model constructed from those rules) are used by a “Rule Checking” process that determines whether reference rules (mined from a known compatible system) are compatible with rules mined from test traces of a second system. Invalid rules are flagged as behavioral compatibility bugs.

Abstract: A system and method for updating an offline virtual machine are disclosed. The method comprises mounting an image of an offline virtual machine on a host operating system. The method further comprises generating drive-mapping information for the mounted virtual machine image and loading registry information of the mounted virtual machine image onto the host operating system using the drive-mapping information. An update to be applied to the offline virtual machine is determined based on the registry information and a patch bundle is retrieved based on the determination, wherein the patch bundle comprises registry update instructions, file system update instructions, and a patch file. The patch bundle is executed on the host operating system to update the offline virtual machine.