JP2002259124A - Operating system, and device and method for supporting program development - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically download an object from a development hose computer when restarting an OS. SOLUTION: The OS is started, and after ending the basic initialization of the OS 104 itself and the initialization of a download function, the OS 104 checks whether an object to be initialized exists or not, and when the object to be initialized exists, checks object storing position information 107 for determining whether the object is to be downloaded from a development host PC 101 or not. When an effective object storing position is written, the OS 104 downloads the object 106 from the development host PC 101 indicated by the information 107 to a volatile storage device 108 by the download function of the OS 104. The OS 104 initializes the downloaded object so as to update the object to an executable state.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an operating system, and more particularly, to an improvement in software development efficiency.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional operating system (hereinafter also referred to as an OS), a download function provided by a development environment tool is used in order to increase the development efficiency of each object (also referred to as a program component). . By the way, at the time of debugging, the operation of the object may become unstable, and as a result, the OS may not operate normally. At that time, the object developer had to restart the OS, and every time the OS was restarted, it was necessary to explicitly download the object of the developer. In general, a developer is assigned a predetermined object in advance, so that the download accompanying the OS restart is often performed on the same object. Previously, an object developer had to download the same object every time, which had a problem of deteriorating development efficiency.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and improves the development efficiency of an object by eliminating the need for a developer to manually download the object when the OS is restarted. It is intended to be.

[0004]

According to one aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a control device having a nonvolatile storage device connected to a network is connected to the network. A program development environment is composed of one or more development host computers. An operating system having a download function, which is stored in the non-volatile storage device and executed on the control device, is stored in the non-volatile storage device in advance when the operating system main unit is started. One or more program components are automatically downloaded, initialized, and executed based on information representing one or more program component (object) storage locations on the host computer.

In this configuration, the operating system
Developers do not need to download individual objects when the system is restarted, which improves work efficiency.

According to another aspect of the present invention, as described above, a control device having a nonvolatile storage device connected to a network and one or more development hosts connected to the network are provided. The computer and the computer constitute a program development environment. An operating system having a download function, which is stored in the non-volatile storage device and executed on the control device, is stored in the non-volatile storage device in advance when the operating system main unit is started. When a program component exists in one or more program component storage locations on the host computer for development, the program component is automatically downloaded from the development host computer, and the non-volatile storage together with the operating system body is performed. Instead of the corresponding program components stored in the device, the program components are replaced by being initialized and executed.

In this configuration, when a program component to be replaced with a program component stored in the non-volatile storage device is remotely located, the program component can be replaced without any trouble of the developer. You can make substitutions.

The present invention can be realized not only in the form of an apparatus or a system but also in the form of a method, and at least a part thereof can be realized as a computer program.

[0009] The above aspect of the present invention and other aspects of the present invention are as described in the claims, and will be described in detail below with reference to embodiments.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of a development environment to which the present invention is applied will be described.

FIG. 1 shows the development environment of this embodiment as a whole. Although FIG. 1 shows only one control device 100 and one development host personal computer (hereinafter, also referred to as a PC), a plurality of development host PCs 101 are provided as shown in FIG. The control device 100 complies with, for example, hardware incorporated in the target device. The control device 100 uses the development host PC 101 to develop an object for the device, and performs debugging of the object on the control device 100 conforming to the device. Do. There may be a plurality of control devices 100.

In FIG. 1, a control device 100 and a development host personal computer 101 are connected to a network 102. The control device 100 includes a nonvolatile storage device 103 and a volatile storage device 108, and the nonvolatile storage device 103 stores an operating system (OS) 104 and an object 105. Also, the object 106 automatically downloaded to the development host PC 101 when the OS 104 is started
Is stored in the OS 104.
There are storage position information 107 of 5 and 106.

Next, in this embodiment, FIG. 3 shows a flow in which the OS 104 downloads the object 106 when the OS is initialized.

In FIG. 3, the OS 104 is activated and
When the basic initialization of the S104 itself and the initialization of the download function are completed (200, 201), the OS 104
Initialize an object group operating on 104. O
S104 checks whether there is an object to be initialized (202), and if there is an object to be initialized, checks the storage location information 107 of the object to determine whether to download the object from the development host PC 101 (203). If the storage location of a valid object is described, the OS 104 executes the development host PC 10 indicated by the object storage location information 107.
1 to download the object 106 to the volatile storage device 108 by the download function of the OS 104 (204). If the valid storage location of the object is not specified, the object is loaded from the non-volatile storage device 103 to the volatile storage device 108 (20).
5). Next, the OS 104 initializes the object loaded in the volatile storage device 108 to make it executable (206). Information indicating the local address of the control device 100 may be written in the storage location information 107 of the object. In this case, whether or not to download the object is determined based on whether the object is a simple object or not. .

As described above, the object 106 compiled and placed at the position indicated by the storage position information 107 is automatically downloaded by the activation of the OS 104 and stored in the non-volatile storage device 103.
It is initialized without distinguishing it from 06. Therefore, the developer can test the object in charge of development after the OS is started, regardless of the storage location of the object.

The object can be downloaded at any timing after the initialization of the download function (step 201) and before the initialization of the object (step 204). The object storage location is a URL and the development host P on the network 102.
Anything can be used as long as the position of the object 106 stored in C101 can be uniquely specified.

FIG. 4 shows a conventional workflow when an object person develops an object.

At the start of development, first, the configuration and configuration of the whole system to be developed are set (301).

Each person in charge of development creates an execution image including an object other than the person in charge of development and the OS (302), and stores it in a nonvolatile storage device (303). Next, the person in charge of object development performs programming (304) and compilation (305), respectively, of the objects allocated to each person in charge.

After compiling, the developer is responsible for the OS
Is started (306), the responsible object is downloaded (307), and the object is tested (308). If the operation in the test is not correct, debugging is performed (309 to 310). If the operation is correct, the programming of the object is continued if the development of the object is not completed (311 and 304). When the object is completed, perform an integration test (31
2).

FIG. 5 shows an object development flow by the person in charge of object development in the case of using this embodiment.

At the start of development, first, the configuration and configuration of the whole system to be developed are set (401).
As part of the configuration of the OS 104, the development object 106 is set, and the storage location of the object is described as object storage location information 107 (402). Then, the OS 104, the object 1
Then, an execution image including the image No. 05 is created (403), and this is stored in the nonvolatile storage device 103 (404). Thus, the OS 104 stores the storage location of the object 106 on the development host PC 101 in the object storage location information 107.
As hold.

The developer performs programming (405) and compilation (406) of the object 106 in the development host PC 101. If the location specified by the storage location information 107 of the object 106 is different from the location generated by compiling, the object is copied to the location specified by the storage location information 107. The location where the object is created by compilation is makefi
Since it can be easily set to the position specified by the storage position information 107 of the object by setting “le” or the like, explicit copying is not required in that case. Thereafter, the OS 104 is started (407), and the object is tested (4).
08).

If the object does not operate correctly, the program is modified (409, 410), and if the object operates correctly and the functions to be developed remain, programming is continued (411, 405). When all the functions are completed, the object is integrated (412).

As described above, in this embodiment, the person in charge of object development simply activates the OS without distinguishing between objects stored in the non-volatile storage device on the control device and objects to be developed by each person in charge. Can test the object of the responsible object. At this time, the download from the network can be performed in a short time because only the development charge object is used. Further, a part of manual download by a developer can be skipped from a development loop repeatedly performed in object development, so that development efficiency can be improved.

When the activation of the OS 104 starts, the OS 104
Refers to the storage location information 107 of the object 106,
The object 106 is downloaded from the development PC 101 to the volatile storage device 108 and initialized. At this time,
There may be more than one object to download, not just object 106. Also, a plurality of development PCs 101 to be downloaded may exist as long as the PCs 101 are connected to the network 102.

Therefore, the present invention can be applied to a case where a plurality of developers develop different objects and download the objects from each other. In this case, the object storage position information 10 in the OS 104
It suffices to specify an object developed by another developer on a plurality of development PCs 7. As a result, different objects assigned by a plurality of developers can be updated without rewriting the nonvolatile storage device 103 during development.

When one developer is referred to by a plurality of developers, it can be downloaded from a predetermined object storage location (generally, on the development PC of the developer in charge of the object). Objects can be shared among multiple developers over a network.
As a result, it is possible to easily maintain consistency between versions of an object that is likely to cause a problem during development.

Further, if the download mechanism has a version management mechanism, the object storage location information 107 indicates not only the storage location of the object to be downloaded, but also
By adding the version information, it is possible to guarantee version consistency between objects in the system to be developed. This version information can be described as a part of the storage location information of the object.

On the other hand, a script language 109 is described in a location specified by the object storage location information 107, and the OS
By executing this, the object 104 can describe not only the download of the object 106 but also the operation accompanying the object. That is, a script file having a file name and an extension that can be recognized by the OS 104 is created together with the object 106 to be downloaded at the location indicated by the object storage location information 107.
RPC (Remote Procedure Procedure) by the development host PC 101 for the file having the file name and extension.
Call) can be easily realized. Thus, the OS 104 can automatically execute not only downloading but also accompanying operations at the time of startup on the host PC 101.
The routine work involved in object development above can be simplified.

The OS 104 can hold information for specifying the downloaded object 106.
The file and version of the downloaded object can be specified when a problem occurs during execution of the object. As a result, even if a plurality of objects are downloaded, consistency between the downloaded object and the object which has not been downloaded can be maintained, and when a problem is found in the object, the object combination can be easily reproduced. become able to.

An object can be specified by using a time stamp or a file size, or by using an object version management mechanism provided by the OS 104.

Next, a system for replacing an object by downloading will be described as another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows the configuration of another embodiment, in which a control device 500 and a development host PC are shown.
501 is connected to the network 502. The control device 500 includes a nonvolatile storage device 503 and a volatile storage device 508.
S504 and objects 505 and 509 are stored. Also, the object 509 is automatically downloaded to the development host PC 501 when the OS 504 is started.
The object 506 to be replaced is stored. That is, the initial version of the object is the object 509, and the version at a certain point in the development of the object 509 is the object 506. The OS 504 includes an object 505,
There is storage position information 507 of 506.

Next, FIG. 7 shows a flow in this embodiment in which the OS 504 downloads the object 106 and replaces it with the object 509 at the time of OS initialization.

In FIG. 7, the OS 504 is activated and
When the basic initialization of the S504 itself and the initialization of the download function are completed (700, 701), the OS 504
Initialize an object group operating on 104. O
In step S504, it is checked whether an object to be initialized exists (702). If there is an object to be initialized, the storage location information 107 of the object is checked to determine whether to download the object from the development host PC 501 (703). If a valid object storage location is described, the OS 504 checks whether the object exists at the storage location (70).
4). If there is, the OS 504 downloads the object 506 from the development host PC 501 indicated by the object storage location information 507 to the volatile storage device 508 by the download function of the OS 504 and replaces it (706). If a valid storage location of the object is not specified or if no object exists at the storage location, the object is stored in the non-volatile storage device 503.
The data is loaded into the more volatile storage device 508 (705). Next, the OS 504 performs initialization to make the object loaded in the volatile storage device 508 executable.
07). Information indicating the local address of the control device 500 may be written in the storage location information 507 of the object. In this case, whether or not to download the object is determined based on whether the object is a simple object or not. .

As described above, the object 506 that has been compiled and placed at the position indicated by the storage position information 507 is automatically downloaded by the activation of the OS 504, and is stored in the non-volatile storage device 503.
It is initialized and executed instead of 09. Therefore, the developer can test the object in charge of development after the OS is started, regardless of the storage location and version of the object.

FIG. 8 shows a development flow by the person in charge of object development when using the above-mentioned another embodiment.

At the start of development, first, the configuration and configuration of the whole system to be developed are set (601).
As a part of the configuration of the OS 504, the development object 506 is set, and the storage location of the object is described in 507 (602).
An execution image including the objects 505 and 509 is created (603) and stored in the nonvolatile storage device 503 (604). Accordingly, the OS 504 downloads the object 506 that replaces the object 509.
507 is stored in the development host PC 501.

The developer performs programming (605) and compilation (606) of the object 506 in the development host PC 501. If the location specified by the storage location information 507 of the object 506 is different from the location generated by compiling, the object is copied to the location specified by the storage location information 507. The place where the object is created by compiling is makefile
The object storage position information 5 can be easily set by setting e.
Since the setting can be made at the location designated by 07, no explicit copy is necessary in that case. Thereafter, the OS 504 is started (607), and the object is tested (60).
8).

If the object does not operate correctly, the program is modified (609, 610), and if the object operates correctly and the functions to be developed remain, the program is continued (611, 605). When all functions are completed, the object is integrated (6.
12).

The OS 504 stores the storage position of the object 506 on the development host PC 501 which is replaced with the object 509 by downloading, as storage position information 507.
And if the object exists at the location indicated by the storage location information 507, the non-volatile storage device 5
03 instead of the object 509 on the host PC 50
1 on the volatile storage device 508
To download.

Therefore, the object developer can create the first executable image at the stage when the interface of the object is determined. At this time, an object 509 having a dummy implementation is created in advance, and the minimum object inquiry message passing can be performed, so that an environment in which the required minimum test can be performed in the initial stage can be prepared.

In the early stage of development, the object 506
Does not exist in the object storage location, the object 509 is used for the test. As the development progresses and the object 506 is placed at the location designated by the object storage position information 507, the latest version of the object 506 is automatically downloaded by the OS 504. This allows developers to test with the latest version of the object without having to explicitly download it.

The above embodiment is applicable to a case where a plurality of developers develop a plurality of objects simultaneously.

In this case, when creating the first execution image,
The object storage location information 507 may be set so that not only the object 509 but also a plurality of objects are downloaded from storage locations on one or more development PCs on the network 502.

As described above, an object developed by a plurality of developers can be updated when the OS 504 is started without rewriting the nonvolatile storage device 503. If the object of another developer is not completed, the development of the object in charge can be advanced using the object included in the execution image on the nonvolatile storage device 504 created in 603. As soon as is completed, the object can be automatically updated simply by copying the corresponding object to the object storage location.

Further, when one developer downloads one object by a plurality of developers, it is possible to easily maintain the consistency of the object between a plurality of developers by making the storage location of the object common.

Since the object being developed or being tested by the object developer is not baselined, the object in this state is generally not disclosed to other object developers, and is not stable until the test is completed and the object is stabilized to some extent. Will be open to developers.

Therefore, when proceeding with development using the above-described embodiment, the object storage position of the object in charge of the developer (for object development) and the reference and use by another developer for testing or integration of another object. Use a different object storage location (for a baselined version for disclosure to other object developers). If it is desired to release a new version of an object in charge of the object to another object developer at the time of step 611 in FIG. 8, the object is updated after the other developer approves the update of the object. Copies the object at the location to an object storage location for other developers. At this point, other object developers can automatically download and reference the updated object.

When the download mechanism has a version management mechanism, by adding not only the storage location of the object to be downloaded to the object storage location information 507 but also the version information, the consistency between the objects can be guaranteed. Become. This version information can be described as a part of the storage location information of the object.

The script language 510 is described in the location specified by the object storage location information 507, and the OS
By executing this, the object 504 can describe not only the download of the object 506 but also the operation accompanying the object 506. This is because the developer creates a file having a file name and extension that can be recognized by the OS 504 together with the object 506 to be downloaded at the position specified by the object storage location information 507 by the OS 504. Can be easily realized by performing RPC on a development PC 501 for a file having a. As a result, the OS 50
4 can automatically execute not only the download but also the accompanying operation on the host PC 501 at the time of startup, and can simplify the routine work accompanying the development of the object on the development host PC.

The OS 504 holds information for specifying the downloaded object 506, and can specify the downloaded file or the like when a problem occurs during execution of the object. This allows
Even if a plurality of objects are downloaded, consistency between the objects can be obtained. To identify objects, use time stamps or file sizes, or use OS
This can be realized by using the object version management mechanism provided in 504.

According to this embodiment, the person in charge of object development can automatically download the object in charge when the OS is started up, so that a part of the development process that is repeatedly performed can be skipped, and the development work can be simplified. In addition, the latest objects can be updated at a lower cost as development proceeds, and efficient software development can be promoted.

The present embodiment can also be applied to large-scale software development in which a plurality of developers simultaneously develop a plurality of objects. At this time, a plurality of developers can download the object from a common storage location of the development PC on the network, so that the object can be shared by a plurality of developers. In addition, this is effective in maintaining the consistency of the re-observation work.

Further, when a problem occurs during execution, the OS retains information for specifying the downloaded object, so that the reproduction of the problem can be guaranteed, and the cost for specifying the problem can be reduced. Efficiency can be increased.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various changes can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the storage location information 807 contains the nonvolatile storage device 803 or the development host P
Information indicating from which of C801 the object is downloaded may be included. That is,
Objects 811 and 813 are stored in the non-volatile storage device 803.
(The external address is N / A), and the object 812 is described so as to be downloaded from the development host PC 801 (URL is described). As a result, the local object 811 and the remote object 8
12. The local object 813 is stored in the volatile storage device 8 as objects 814, 815, and 816, respectively.
04, initialized and executed.

[0058]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the object is automatically downloaded or replaced when the OS is restarted, it is necessary for the developer to perform a complicated download operation. Disappears.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention as a whole.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a network environment according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of downloading an object according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a conventional development operation.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a development operation using the above embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention as a whole.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of downloading an object according to another embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a development operation using the other embodiment described above.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a modification of the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 control device 101 development host PC 102 network 103 nonvolatile storage device 105 object 106 object 107 object storage location information 107 object storage location information 108 volatile storage device 109 script language 500 control device 501 development host PC 502 network 503 nonvolatile storage device 504 Non-volatile storage device 505 Object 506 Object 507 Object storage position information 508 Volatile storage device 509 Object 510 Script language 800 Control device 801 Development host PC 802 Network 803 Non-volatile storage device 804 Volatile storage device 807 Storage position information 811 Object 812 Object 813 object 814 object

Claims (14)

[Claims] In a program development environment including a control device having a non-volatile storage device connected to a network and one or more development host computers connected to the network, An operating system having a download function stored in a non-volatile storage device and executed on the control device, wherein the development host stored in the non-volatile storage device in advance when the operating system main unit is started up An operating system for automatically downloading, initializing, and executing one or more program components based on information representing one or more program component storage locations on a computer. 2. A script to be executed on a host computer is stored in a storage location of a program component on the development host computer, and an operation described in the script is executed on the host computer in association with download. Item 2. The operating system according to item 1. 3. The operating system according to claim 1, wherein the version of the interface of the program component to be downloaded is managed to ensure the consistency of the interface between the program components.
system. 4. The operating system according to claim 1, wherein information for identifying one or more downloaded program components is retained and output on demand. 5. The operating system according to claim 1, wherein the information indicating the storage location of the program component is changeably stored. 6. In a program development environment including a control device having a non-volatile storage device connected to a network and one or more development host computers connected to the network, An operating system having a download function stored in a non-volatile storage device and executed on the control device, wherein the development host stored in the non-volatile storage device in advance when the operating system main unit is started up If a program component exists in one or more program component storage locations on a computer,
The program component is automatically downloaded from the development host computer, and is initialized and executed instead of the corresponding program component stored in the nonvolatile storage device together with the operating system main body. An operating system characterized by performing replacement of program components. 7. A script executed on the host computer is stored in a storage location of the program component on the development host computer, and an operation described in the script is executed on the host computer in association with the download. Item 7. The operating system according to Item 6. 8. The operating system according to claim 6, wherein the interface version of the program component to be downloaded is managed to ensure the consistency of the interface between the program components.
system. 9. The operating system according to claim 6, wherein information for identifying one or more downloaded program components is retained and output on demand. 10. The operating system according to claim 6, wherein the information indicating the storage location of the program component is held so as to be changeable. 11. A non-volatile storage device comprising: a network, a control device having a non-volatile storage device connected to the network, and one or more development host computers connected to the network. An operating system having a download function stored in a device and executed on the control device;
When the system starts up the operating system itself, one or more programs are stored based on information indicating one or more program component storage locations on the development host computer stored in the nonvolatile storage device in advance. A program development support device characterized in that components are automatically downloaded, initialized, and executed. 12. A non-volatile storage device comprising: a network, a control device having a non-volatile storage device connected to the network, and one or more development host computers connected to the network. An operating system having a download function stored in a device and executed on the control device;
When the operating system boots, if the program component exists in one or more program component storage locations on the development host computer stored in the non-volatile storage device in advance, The program component is automatically downloaded from the host computer, and is initialized and executed instead of the corresponding program component stored in the non-volatile storage device together with the operating system main body. A program development support device for replacing components. 13. In a program development environment including a control device having a nonvolatile storage device connected to a network and one or more development host computers connected to the network, An operating system having a download function, which is stored in the non-volatile storage device and executed on the control device, is stored in the non-volatile storage device on the development host computer in advance when the operating system itself is started. Automatically downloads and initializes one or more program components, respectively, based on the information indicating the storage location of one or more program components.
A program development support method characterized by being executed. 14. In a program development environment including a control device having a non-volatile storage device connected to a network and one or more development host computers connected to the network, An operating system having a download function, which is stored in the non-volatile storage device and executed on the control device, is stored in the non-volatile storage device on the development host computer in advance when the operating system itself is started. If there is a program component in one or more program component storage locations, the program component is automatically downloaded from the development host computer, and the operating
Instead of corresponding program components stored in the non-volatile storage together with the system body,
A program development support method characterized by replacing a program component by initializing and executing the program component.