Scott Allen Kramer
Engineers in Fort Collins, CO

6216140, Apr 10, 2001

Sep 17, 1997

8/931980

Scott Kramer - Fort Collins CO

Hewlett-Packard Company - Palo Alto CA

G06F 1500, G06F 1700, G06F 1721, G06F 1724

707511

A methodology ensures the efficient management of large amounts of hierarchically organized information. The methodology encompasses the efficient copying and sharing of large amounts of hierarchically organized information through an unsharing operation. The efficient comparison of two or more hierarchies of items of files and directories is provided as well by adding the root directories of hierarchies to be compared to a difference list, merging and then eliminating appropriate items in the difference list, and finally expansively recursing upon items left in the difference list. The efficiency of virtually copied, hierarchically organized information is maintained by resharing appropriate items of the hierarchy when appropriate. Finally, the methodology allows a target version of a hierarchy to be automatically updated by default action with changes made in a source version of the hierarchy as a function of identifying the common ancestor revision of a particular item change.