Patent ID: 7685589

Claim:
A method comprising: sequentially ordering executable file loading operations into partial loading levels, the partial loading levels being incremental and sequential with respect to one another, each of the partial loading levels comprising a respective set of partial loading operations independent and distinct of sets of partial loading operations of all other partial loading levels, the sets of partial loading operations being sufficient to load an executable file, wherein each of the partial loading levels comprises arbitrary operations as a function of desired file loading architecture; identifying one of the partial loading levels as an allowed partial loading level; partially loading, into a computing device, the executable file to the allowed partial loading level before performing a complete load of the executable file, the sets of partial loading operations completed comprising the sets of partial loading operations associated with the allowed partial loading level and all lower partial loading levels, wherein the partial loading further comprises limiting recursive loads to a lesser partial loading level which is lesser than the allowed partial loading level to prevent deadlock conditions, wherein the executable file is partially loaded only to the allowed partial loading level independent of whether the allowed partial loading level is a final partial loading level; and halting the partial loading at the allowed partial loading level, the allowed partial loading level corresponding to sets of partial loading operations associated with one or more of the partial loading levels, wherein the executable file is not fully loaded, wherein after halting the partial loading at the allowed partial loading level, the executable file is in a well-defined state at the allowed partial loading level and is partially initialized, wherein partially initialized is a coherent state, and wherein after halting the partial loading at the allowed partial loading level, the executable file has been passed through operations associated with respective levels of previous partial loading levels implemented by a loader on assembly.