Abstract: Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for using historical trends from prior tests to prioritize how failures are reported in later tests. After a user changes a software development project, one or more tests are run to detect failures during execution of the tests. Any detected failures are analyzed in comparison with historical failures for the software development project across tests run for multiple users. Any detected failures are categorized as new or old. New failures are reported with a different emphasis than old failures, such as with new failures being reported as a higher priority than old failures.

Abstract: A system and method for patching an installed application program and making an installer program aware that an application has been patched is disclosed. The system and method recognizes that a patch has been launched to update the application, the patch including an identifier for the application and information related to a desired change to the application. In response, the installer program accesses a first information store containing information related to a series of functions for installing the application. The installer program also accesses a second information store containing information related to the installed state of the application. Then, the installer program modifies the first information store in accordance with the desired change to the application such that the modified first information store includes additional functions for applying the patch to the application.

Abstract: A method and computer-readable-medium for installing a patch to a computer application program based on the criticality of the patch and the execution format of the computer application are disclosed. An installer program installs application programs. The installer program also-stores related information, including an execution format, in a configuration database. The execution format is either Run-Locally or Run-From-Source. If the execution format is Run-From-Source, the application or features that are designated as Run-From-Source are read-only and are executed from a source, such as from a CD-ROM. Since Run-From-Source executions run from a read-only source, patches cannot be directly applied. When a patch is authored, information as to the criticality of the patch is stored with the patch. Preferably, the criticality is specified based on a feature. When an installer program applies a patch, the installer program queries the execution format. Any features that are Run-Locally can be patched.