Software componentization

• US 20040093593A1
• Filed: 09/02/2003
• Published: 05/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Day, Michael James, Jhanwar, Raj, McNeill, Brian, Jayaseelan, Vijayachandran, Grier, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 7,562,346 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/169
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management

Abstract

A componentization schema representing files from which an operating system or other software product is built. According to the schema, a component object represents one or more of the files. The component object has a manifest that identifies the component and specifies any dependencies between the component and other objects. Grouping objects according to the dependencies specified in manifests permits building the software product. A feature object defined by at least one component object represents a feature of the software product and a product object defined by at least one feature object represents the software product.

Claims

1. A method of building a software product from a plurality of files, said method comprising:

organizing the files into objects, a plurality of said objects being representative of components, said components each including at least one of the files;

identifying each of the components with a manifest associated therewith;

specifying, with the manifests, one or more dependencies between the components and other objects; and

grouping the objects according to the dependencies specified in the manifests to build the software product.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of said objects is representative of a feature of the software product and further comprising grouping selected objects to define the feature of the software product to be implemented by the files of the selected objects.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the selected objects grouped to define the feature include one or more of the components grouped according to the dependencies specified in the manifests.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the feature is independent of other objects.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the selected objects grouped to define the feature include at least one object representative of another feature.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising installing the selected components as an operating system image on a computer.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said files comprise binary files.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of said objects is representative of a category of files in the software product and further comprising declaring, by one or more other objects, membership in the category.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the category comprises an open group.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein each of the objects declaring membership in the category is representative of at least one of the following:

a component, a feature, and a package.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the objects is representative of at least one of the following:

a component, a category, a feature, a product, a stock keeping unit, and a package.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the package comprises a closed group.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the components includes the manifest associated therewith.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein said components are dependent on objects representative of one or more of the following:

another component;

a category; and

a feature.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the components includes identifying information.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating metadata associated with the components to describe different software products as a function of different sets of selected components.

17. One or more computer-readable media have computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.

18. One or more computer-readable media having objects stored thereon for use in building a software product from a plurality of files, said computer-readable media comprising:

a plurality of component objects, said component objects each including one or more of the files and a manifest associated therewith, said manifest containing metadata identifying the component objects and specifying dependencies between the component objects and one or more other objects; and

at least one feature object corresponding to a feature of the software product, said feature object including one or more selected objects grouped according to the dependencies specified in the manifests.

19. The computer-readable media of claim 18 wherein the selected objects in the feature object are grouped according to dependencies between the objects and include one or more of the following:

a component object and a feature object.

20. The computer-readable media of claim 18 wherein the feature objects are independent of other objects.

21. The computer-readable media of claim 18 wherein the software product comprises an operating system.

22. The computer-readable media of claim 18 wherein said files comprise binary files.

23. The computer-readable media of claim 18 further comprising a category object for grouping related objects.

24. The computer-readable media of claim 23 wherein the objects in the category object declare membership in the category object and include one or more of the following:

a component object, a feature object, and a package object.

25. The computer-readable media of claim 23 wherein the category object comprises an open group.

26. The computer-readable media of claim 18 wherein each of the objects is representative of at least one of the following:

a component, a category, a feature, a product, a stock keeping unit, and a package.

27. The computer-readable media of claim 26 wherein the package object comprises a closed group.

28. The computer-readable media of claim 18 wherein said components are dependent on one or more of the following:

another component object;

a category object; and

a feature object.

29. The computer-readable media of claim 18 wherein each of the objects includes identifying information.

30. A componentization schema comprising:

a component object for representing one or more files from which a software product is built, said component object having a manifest associated therewith, said manifest identifying the component object and specifying one or more dependencies between the component object and at least one other object;

a feature object for representing a feature of the software product, said feature object being defined by at least one component object; and

a product object for representing the software product, said product object being defined by at least feature object.

31. The schema of claim 30 wherein the feature object is independent of other objects.

32. The schema of claim 30 wherein the feature object includes selected component objects grouped according to the dependencies specified in the manifests associated therewith.

33. The schema of claim 30 further comprising a category object for representing a common set of component objects, said category being an open group permitting one or more component objects to declare membership in the open group.

34. The schema of claim 33 wherein the category object includes members representative of one or more of the following:

a component object, a feature object, and a package object.

35. The schema of claim 30 further comprising a package object representing a closed group having one or members representative of at least one of the following:

a component object, a category object, a feature object, and a package object.

36. The schema of claim 35 wherein the package object is only dependent on another package object.

37. The schema of claim 30 further comprising a stock keeping unit object representing one or more computer-readable media containing the software product, said stock keeping unit object being defined by at least one product object.

38. The schema of claim 30 wherein the component object has a dependent relationship with one or more of the following:

another component object;

a category object; and

a feature object.

39. The schema of claim 30 wherein the feature object is defined by at least one other feature object.