Patent ID: 7000229

Claim:
A machine-implemented method for updating an operating system environment, comprising: creating a copy of an existing operating system environment currently being executed by a machine; applying a set of updates to software code implementing the existing operating system environment to derive a new operating system environment; creating a copy of an altered operating system environment which includes changes made to the existing operating system environment after the copy of the existing operating system environment was created; creating a copy of the new operating system environment after the set of updates were applied; rebooting the machine to cause the machine to execute the new operating system environment; determining a set of changes that were made to the existing operating system environment, by a user application, to give rise to the altered operating system environment; comparing the copy of the altered operating system environment with the copy of the new operating system environment; and upon determining that the copy of the altered operating system environment comprises a set of intervening changes not reflected by the copy of the new operating system environment, changing the new operating system environment to reflect the set of intervening changes comprised in the copy of the altered operating system environment.