Patent ID: 8126859

Claim:
A method comprising: for each of a plurality of local versions of files and a plurality of associated respective rules, periodically finding a respective remote version of the respective file and determining whether the respective remote version meets the respective rule that is associated with the respective file; if the respective remote version meets the respective rule that is associated with the respective file, updating the respective local version with the respective remote version; if the respective remote version does not meet the respective rule that is associated with the respective file, presenting a respective reason why the respective local version was not updated, wherein the respective reason comprises the respective rule of the plurality of rules that was not met, wherein the plurality of rules comprise conditional criteria for updating the plurality of local versions, wherein a first rule of the plurality of rules that is associated with a first file specifies to only update a first local version if a first remote version has a first level of function that is more advanced than a threshold level specified in the first rule, wherein a second rule of the plurality of rules that is associated with a second file specifies to only update a second local version if a second remote version has a second level that is greater than a local level of the second local version, wherein a third rule of the plurality of rules that is associated with a third file specifies to only update a third local version if a third remote version is stored at a remote source location that matches a source location specified in the third rule; and customizing the plurality of rules for the plurality of associated respective files, wherein the customizing the plurality of rules comprises storing the respective rule that was received via a user interface, wherein at least some of the plurality of respective rules associated with different respective files are different from each other.