Abstract: A computing system provided according to an aspect of the present invention includes a developer system which sends a set of patches along with metadata in a package. The metadata may include hierarchical paths, with each path indicating a corresponding target (file or archive) which is to be replaced to apply the corresponding patch. A patch tool receives the package and applies the patches using the metadata. According to another aspect of the present invention, a patch tool forms a tree structure based on the hierarchical paths in the metadata. In an embodiment, the tree structure is traversed each time to perform a corresponding patching operation (e.g., backup, and replace). According to yet another aspect of the present invention, only the required archives are unarchived while applying the patches. In an embodiment, the patch tool determines the required archives based on the information in the received metadata.

Abstract: Techniques for performing a multi-level patching operation are described. According to one such technique, before a particular patch is applied, the data containers that are targeted by the particular patch are identified. A determination is made as to whether any of these target data containers already has been targeted by any previously applied patch. A determination also is made as to whether any other data container that contains (immediately or otherwise) any of the target data containers already has been targeted by any previously applied patch. If any target data container or any other data container that contains a target data container already has been targeted by a previously applied patch, then the particular patch is not applied to the target data containers.

Abstract: Techniques that promote a fault-tolerant patching system are described. According to one such technique, a patching operation is performed in two phases. During the first phase, before the updates specified in the patching operation are actually applied, an attempt is made to backup files, or portions thereof, which are going to be updated by the patching operation. If a failure is detected during the first phase, then the patching operation aborts without proceeding to the second phase. During the second phase, an attempt is made to perform the updates that the patching operation specifies. If a failure is detected during the second phase, then all of the updated files, or portions thereof, are restored; those files or file portions are replaced with their corresponding backed-up copies, which were made during the first phase. The foregoing technique is extensible to a system in which prospectively affected files are distributed among nodes.

Abstract: A computing system provided according to an aspect of the present invention includes a developer system which sends a set of patches along with metadata in a package. The metadata may include hierarchical paths, with each path indicating a corresponding target (file or archive) which is to be replaced to apply the corresponding patch. A patch tool receives the package and applies the patches using the metadata. According to another aspect of the present invention, a patch tool forms a tree structure based on the hierarchical paths in the metadata. In an embodiment, the tree structure is traversed each time to perform a corresponding patching operation (e.g., backup, and replace). According to yet another aspect of the present invention, only the required archives are unarchived while applying the patches. In an embodiment, the patch tool determines the required archives based on the information in the received metadata.