Transparent linker profiler tool with profile database
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsShao-Chun Chen, James P. Gustafson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A linker profiler tool facilitates maintenance and management of object ordering between releases of firmware. By maintaining object ordering, code differences between firmware builds are reduced, which reduces the size of a package of update information used to update an electronic device from one version of firmware to another. Information used by an object code linker in a firmware build activity is processed to minimize changes in code object ordering between builds. The impact on the size of the update information caused by updates to firmware/software component in the build is thereby reduced to a minimum.
Claims18
A computer readable medium having encoded thereon instructions for a linker profiler tool which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to execute the steps of a method of ordering code objects, the computer readable medium comprising:
- a reference profile associated with a first version of firmware for an electronic device, the reference profile comprising information representative of ordering of code objects in the first version of firmware;
- a plurality of code objects to be incorporated into a second version of firmware for the electronic device;
- and
- wherein the linker profiler tool uses the reference profile to cause ordering of the plurality of code objects in the second version of firmware.
A method of generating an update package for a mobile device comprising a first firmware, the method employing a plurality of code objects associated with a second firmware for the mobile device, the method comprising:
- retrieving a reference profile associated with the first firmware;
- and
- linking the plurality of code objects into a second firmware using the reference profile, such that the order in which the plurality of code objects occur in the second firmware is substantially the same as the order in which the plurality of code objects occur in the first firmware.
A machine-readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections for a method of generating an update package for a mobile device comprising a first firmware, the method employing a plurality of code objects associated with a second firmware for the mobile device, the code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the operations comprising:
- retrieving a reference profile associated with the first firmware;
- and
- linking the plurality of code objects into a second firmware using the reference profile, such that the order in which the plurality of code objects occur in the second firmware is substantially the same as the order in which the plurality of code objects occur in the first firmware.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.