Method and system for reporting failures of a program module in a corporate environment

Abstract

A computer-implemented method and system for reporting failures in an application program module to a corporate file server. The failure may be a crash or a set-up failure. Once detected, the program failures are categorized, i.e. bucketed, and reported directly to a local file server operated by a corporation. The corporate file server may be used to store the failures encountered by users in a corporate environment until these failures are reported to a server operated by the manufacturer of the program module (a destination server). Once the failures are reported to the destination server, developers or programmers may examine the data and determine what is causing the failures in the program module. A failure reporting executable on the user's computer provides communications between the failed application program module and the local file server. An administrative reporting executable (typically operated at the corporate file server) provides communications between the failure reporting executable and the corporate file server and between the corporate file server and the destination server. A cab tree, a counts tree and a status tree stores bucket information for a failure at the corporate file server. The bucket information for a crash may comprise an AppName, an AppVer, a ModuleName, a ModuleVer, and an offset into that module. The bucket information in the corporate file server may be uploaded to a destination server by a corporate system administrator thus preventing sensitive information from being disclosed by the corporation's users.