Patent ID: 8141099

Claim:
A data processing system having a processor for autonomically patching computer program code, the data processing system comprising: checking means for checking a flag in a machine status register to determine whether code patching functionality is enabled; enabling means, responsive to determining that code patching functionality is enabled, for enabling the code patching functionality; executing means for executing a computer program instruction, wherein the computer program instruction is located at a start of a block of code of an execution sequence of original code instructions and the original code instructions are unmodified by executing the patch instructions; determining means for determining whether metadata is associated with the computer program instruction; redirecting means, responsive to determining that metadata is associated with the computer program instruction, for redirecting execution to patch instructions at an address indicated by the metadata; executing means for executing the patch instructions; returning means for returning to an instruction of the execution sequence of original code instructions in the computer program; and storing means for storing a result of executing the execution sequence.