Timothy J Carver

US Patent:

58505547, Dec 15, 1998

Filed:

Dec 29, 1995

Appl. No.:

8/578176

Inventors:

Timothy M. Carver - Hillsboro OR

Assignee:

Intel Corporation - Santa Clara CA

International Classification:

G06F 945

US Classification:

395710

Abstract:

A compiler tool set manages the complexity of efficiently maintaining multiple versions of a program. This tool set generates various version types of a program in a manner that is easy to use, that is compatible with existing program generation build scripts and makefiles, and that minimizes recompilation. When the compiler of the present invention is invoked by a programmer command, a build script, or a makefile, it produces an augmented object file that contains sufficient information to subsequently generate different versions of the program. Subsequently, the linker of the present invention is invoked specifying the augmented object files to be linked and the version type to be produced as an executable file. The linker maintains a program and object module database that can hold substitution object modules corresponding to each (augmented object file, version type) pair. If any substitution object modules required to satisfy the user's request are missing or are not current in the database, then the linker invokes the compiler to generate them from the augmented object file.