Patch
From The IT Law Wiki
A patch is a "[s]egment of program code (individual statements or routines) added to the body of a completed computer program to enhance or amend the program.”[1] Often “[p]atches are developed and released by software vendors when vulnerabilities are discovered.”[2] Patches may be made to a program over time, usually with little consideration given to documentation, readability of the code and logic, or meeting programming standards, if any, established for the program/system as a whole when it was first developed.
A patch is not necessarily the best solution for the problem, and the developer often finds a better solution to provide when they package the product for its next release. A patch is usually developed and distributed as a replacement for or an insertion in compiled code (that is, in a binary file or object module). In many operating systems, a special program is provided to manage and track the installation of patches.
[edit] References
- ↑ U.S. Copyright Office, Compendium of Copyright Office Practices II, § 326 (1984).
- ↑ U.S. General Accounting Office, Information Security: Agencies Face Challenges in Implementing Effective Software Patch Management Processes 1 (Report No. GAO-04-816T June 2004).
