Patent ID: 6971093
Filing Date: 2005-11-29
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method of maintaining version compatibility between a first computer program module and one or more interacting computer program modules that interact with the first module through a interface with capabilities shared by all the interacting modules, wherein the modules are stored in computer storage, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of: creating first information describing the computer program module interface capabilities at one or more times; storing the first information in a corresponding plurality of instances of a data structure wherein each instance of the data structure corresponds to the interface capabilities at one or more plurality of times; creating and storing a mapping that associates the plurality of instances with a corresponding plurality of version numbers for the first computer program module; automatically assigning a second version number for a second computer program module of the one or more interacting modules based on a corresponding instance from the plurality of instances of the data structure contained in the mapping and based on second information describing interface capabilities of the second computer program module; determining compatibility of the modules based on a first version number for the first module and the second version number for the second module; wherein the step of automatically assigning comprises: describing a subset of the interface capabilities, which subset is employed by the second computer program module; determining from the plurality of instances at least one instance including data describing the subset of the interface capabilities; and assigning the second version number for the second module based on the corresponding version number in the mapping and the at least one instance.