System and method of using extensions in a data structure without interfering with applications unaware of the extensions

摘要

A data structure extension system for dynamically adding extensions to existing data structures without interfering with underlying code. The data structure extension system includes logic that allows a programmer to "privately" extend fields of existing entries in data structures in the operating system's kernel without interfering with the functionality of the overall data structure for other applications. An extension pointer disposed in the data structure associates each entry of the data structures extended with a respective extension table. The extension table allows for the dynamic addition of non-intefering interfering fields to the data structures. Each extension table entry has corresponding data stored in an external storage unit.