US Patent 11119754 Upgrading system components with forward and backward compatibility

An update process for updating components of one or more host devices includes selecting an update path for updating a system component of the one or more host devices and generating an update manifest including a plurality of update payloads for the system component that are included in the update path. The update path may be selected and/or derived based on a multi-stage combination of a hash of an update payload corresponding to a current version of the system component and respective hashes of the one or more update payloads using a reversible function to maintain backward and forward trackability and compatibility for the updates. A plurality of possible update paths may be represented in a directed graph that is managed by a control system. The update payloads may be uploaded to the host devices to cause the host devices to update the system component based on the update manifest.