Software installation and operation

• US 20030145318A1
• Filed: 01/03/2003
• Published: 07/31/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Valtrus Innovations Limited (f/k/a Dolya Holdco 9 Limited) (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Harrison, Keith Alexander, Sadler, Martin, Shiu, Simon, Mont, Marco Casassa
• Granted Patent: US 7,086,052 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/178
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation

Abstract

A software system for installation on computing apparatus (and a method of installing such a software system on computing apparatus), wherein the software system is provided in the form of a software package (10) including a plurality of software components (12), one or more of the software components (12) being provided as a plurality of different implementations (14), the apparatus including an installation engine (20) for installing the software system only a selected one implementation of the or each of the software components having multiple implementations, and a random selector module (22) for selecting one of the plurality of implementations of a software component for installation. Thus, a software package would still be distributed to its consumers as a single version but each installation of the package on a user'"'"'s computing apparatus is potentially different, which reduces the risk of faults in and attacks against software components having one or more “bugs” therein because not all consumers will have the same implementation of any one software component.

Claims

1. A software package for installation on a computer, wherein the software package comprises a plurality of software components, one or more of said software components being provided as a plurality of different implementations, the software package including an installation engine for installing the software system on said computer, the installation engine being arranged to install on said computer only a selected one implementation of the or each of the software components having a plurality of implementations.

2. A software package according to claim 1, wherein said installation engine is arranged to install on said computer a randomly selected one implementation of the or each of said software components having a plurality of implementations.

3. A software package according to claim 1, wherein said installation engine is arranged to determine which implementation(s) of the or each of said software components having a plurality of implementations have been previously installed on another computer and to install a randomly selected one of the remaining implementations of said software components on said computer.

4. A software package according to claim 1, being arranged to permit the implementation of the or each software component having a plurality of implementations to be installed on said computer to be fixed or predetermined, as required.

5. A software package according to claim 1, wherein the implementations not installed on said computer are deleted from or otherwise archived within said computer.

6. A software package according to claim 1, wherein said installation engine comprises an installation module and a selector module, the selector module being arranged to receive a list of available implementations of a software component provided on said software package, select one of said implementations from said list, and return data representative of the selected implementation to said installation module for installation of the selected implementation on said computer.

7. A software package according to claim 6, wherein said selector module is arranged to randomly select one of said implementations from said list provided by said installation module.

8. A software package according to claim 7, wherein said selector module is a random number generator.

9. A software package according to claim 1, including an installation script comprising a list of the software components to be installed on said computer and a sub-list associated with each software component having multiple implementations provided on said software package, each sub-list comprising data identifying all available implementations of the respective software component.

17. A data carrier having stored thereon a software system for installation on computing apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1 to 9.

10. A method of installing a computer program on a computer, said computer program consisting of a plurality of software components, the method comprising the steps of providing a software package including said plurality of software components, one or more of said software components being provided as a plurality of different implementations, the method further comprising the steps of installing on said computer any software component provided as a single implementation and installing on said computer only a selected one implementation of the software components having a plurality of implementations.

11. A method according to claim 10, comprising the step of installing on said computing apparatus a randomly selected one implementation of the or each of said software components having a plurality of implementations.

12. A method according to claim 10, comprising the step of deleting from, or otherwise archiving within, said computer the implementations included in said software package and not installed on said computer apparatus.

13. A method according to claim 10, comprising the step of providing an installation module and a selector module, the selector module being arranged to receive a list of available implementations of a software component provided on said software package, select one of said implementations from said list, and return data representative of the selected implementation to said installation module for installation of the selected implementation on said computer.

14. A method according to claim 13, wherein said selector module is arranged to randomly select one of said implementations from said list provided by said installation module.

15. A method according to claim 14, wherein said selector module is a random number generator.

16. A method according to claim 10, comprising the steps of providing an installation script comprising a list of the software components to be installed on said computer and a sub-list associated with each software component having multiple implementations provided on said software package, each sub-list comprising data identifying all available implementations of the respective software component.

18. A data carrier having stored thereon at least one software component provided as a plurality of different implementations and adapted for use in a method of installing a software system on computing apparatus as claimed in any of claims 10 to 16.

19. A computer program for installation on a computer, said computer program comprising a plurality of software components and being provided as a software package on a data carrier, said software package including said plurality of software components in respect of at least one of which is provided within said software package a plurality of different implementations, and an installation engine arranged to install on said computer a randomly selected one implementation of the or each of said software components having a plurality of implementations.

20. A computer program for installation on a computer, said computer program comprising a plurality of software components and being provided as a software package on a data carrier, said software package including said plurality of software components, in respect of at least one of which is provided within said software package a plurality of different implementations, and an installation engine arranged to determine which implementation(s) of the or each of said software components having a plurality of implementations have been previously installed on another computer, and to install a selected one of the remaining implementations of said software components on said computer.