Patent ID: 8677348
Filing Date: 2014-03-18
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method executing on a software patch installer builder for determining an order for installing software patches on a system, comprising: between upgrades to a software program, determining whether at least two of multiple software patches include files in common by comparing information in the multiple software patches, including: (i) files created or modified to fix software errors in the software program and (ii) metadata referring to the files, each of the software patches representing a correction to a problem with a computer program and posing a level of risk that changes made by one software patch will overwrite changes made by another software patch, the changes made by each software patch not including changes made by other software patches; in response to at least two of the multiple software patches including files in common, automatically determining an order in which changes made by each of the at least two of the multiple software patches with files in common are to be performed on the software program that minimizes a level of risk that changes made by one software patch will overwrite changes made by another software patch, wherein the level of risk is determined based at least in part upon: (i) number or percent of overlapping files between the at least two software patches, and (ii) metadata pertaining to creation date and filename of the overlapping files between the at least two software patches; and automatically generating a master software patch for installation on the system, including the files in the determined order for installing the software patches.