US 7,321,897 B2
Binary dependency database
Bohus Ondrusek, Redmond, Wash. (US); Kevin Ward Burrows, North Bend, Wash. (US); and Patrick Joseph Dinio Santos, Alexandria, Va. (US)
Assigned to Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Wash. (US)
Filed on Jan. 22, 2004, as Appl. No. 10/763,505.
Prior Publication US 2005/0165823 A1, Jul. 28, 2005
Int. Cl. G06F 7/00 (2006.01); G06F 17/00 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 707—102  [707/104.1] 25 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for linking binary dependency relationships, comprising:
obtaining dependency relationships relating to binaries; using a vector to represent dependency information for one of the binaries; wherein the dependency information relates to the dependency relationships for the one of the binaries; creating a dependency matrix comprising at least two of the vectors; obtaining a full dependency matrix and identifying binary circular dependency clusters; wherein obtaining the full dependency matrix comprises calculating a next order dependency matrix until the next order dependency matrix is the same a previous order dependency matrix;
storing the dependency relationships within a binary dependency database; and
providing dependency information relating to the binaries that links dependencies wherein some of the dependency information spans across the binaries and functions.