Virtualised Application Libraries

A system for virtualizing a code library, the system comprising:

• means for receiving a description of at least one function in the library, said description including properties of any parameter and of any data structure required by said function;
• a code generator for generating a stub library for a client computer from which a library function may be called remotely, said stub library being operable to construct, in accordance with said description, a transportable data message for calling a function of said code library, the construction including determining properties of any parameter required by said called function and obtaining the argument value referred to by any pass-by-reference parameter, and for generating a skeleton library, for a host computer on which said code library is hosted, said skeleton library being operable to invoke execution of said called function in response to receipt of said transportable data message.

A method of calling a function in a remote library from a client computer, the method comprising:

• installing a stub library on said client computer, said stub library including a schema describing a data format for a transportable data message;
• issuing a local library function call to the stub library;
• and transforming the local library function call into a remote procedure call for a corresponding function of said remote library, including determining properties of any parameter required by said corresponding function and obtaining the argument value referred to by any pass-by-reference parameter included in said local function call and constructing a transportable data message therefrom in accordance with said schema.

A system for calling a function in a library on a remote host computer, the system comprising:

• a stub library including a schema describing a data format for a transportable data message, and being operable to receive a local function call to the stub library, and to transform the local library function call into a remote procedure call for a corresponding function of said remote library, including determining properties of any parameter required by said corresponding function and obtaining the argument value referred to by any pass-by-reference parameter included in said local function call and constructing a transportable data message therefrom in accordance with said schema.