Installing software using programmatic component dependency analysis

• US 20040255291A1
• Filed: 06/13/2003
• Published: 12/16/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Sierer, Brian H., Klemett, Kristofer J., Salem, Narendrakumar U., Sommerville, Jason D., Wendland, Wesley N.
• Granted Patent: US 7,478,385 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation

Abstract

System and method for installing software using component dependency analysis. A list indicating an initial set of sub-installers is received, each sub-installer including respective software components and installation software for deploying the components onto a target system. The initial set of sub-installers includes one or more user-files sub-installers and one or more supporting sub-installers. The initial set of sub-installers is programmatically analyzed (e.g., re dependencies) to determine additional sub-installers. An application system dependency file is generated based on the analysis, and an application system installer generated based on the sub-installers and the application system dependency file. The installer is executed to programmatically deploy the application system onto the target system, where executing includes programmatically analyzing the target system, application system dependency file, and user-specified deployment options (entered via a user-interface) to determine an installation set of sub-installers, each of which is executed to deploy respective components onto the target system.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for deploying an application system onto a target system, the method comprising:

receiving a list indicating an initial set of sub-installers, wherein each sub-installer comprises one or more software components and installation software operable to deploy the one or more software components onto the target system, and wherein the initial set of sub-installers comprises one or more user-files sub-installers and one or more supporting sub-installers;

programmatically analyzing at least one of the initial set of sub-installers to determine one or more additional sub-installers, wherein said initial set of sub-installers and said one or more additional sub-installers comprise a plurality of sub-installers;

generating an application system dependency file based on said analyzing; and

generating an application system installer based on said plurality of sub-installers and said application system dependency file, wherein the application system installer is operable to programmatically deploy the application system onto the target system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving a list indicating an initial set of sub-installers comprises receiving a manifest of the application system, wherein the manifest comprises the list of the initial set of sub-installers.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said programmatically analyzing at least one of the initial set of sub-installers to determine one or more additional sub-installers comprises:

programmatically analyzing dependency information for said at least one of the initial set of sub-installers to determine the one or more additional sub-installers.

4. The method of claim 3,

wherein the dependency information for said at least one of the initial set of sub-installers is comprised in the respective sub-installer.

5. The method of claim 3,

wherein the dependency information for said at least one of the initial set of sub-installers is comprised in a dependency database.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein said programmatically analyzing dependency information for said at least one of the initial set of sub-installers to determine the one or more additional sub-installers comprises:

walking a dependency hierarchy for said at least one of the initial set of sub-installers to determine said one or more additional sub-installers.

7. The method of claim 3,

wherein, the one or more software components for at least a subset of the plurality of sub-installers comprises one or more features;

and

wherein said dependency information comprises one or more of;

sub-installer dependencies; and

feature dependencies.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said dependency information further comprises one or more of:

version information for each sub-installer; and

compatibility information for each sub-installer.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein said generating an application system dependency file based on said analyzing comprises:

determining said sub-installer dependencies and said feature dependencies for each of said at least a subset of the plurality of sub-installers; and

storing the determined sub-installer dependencies and feature dependencies in the application system dependency file.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said generating an application system installer based on said plurality of sub-installers and said application system dependency file comprises:

combining an installer manager program with the plurality of sub-installers and the application system dependency file to generate the application system installer.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

configuring the installer manager, wherein said configuring comprises generating an installer manager configuration file;

wherein the installer manager program includes the installer manager configuration file.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

executing the application system installer to programmatically deploy the application system onto the target system.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said executing the application system installer to programmatically deploy the application system onto the target system comprises:

programmatically analyzing the target system and the application system dependency file to determine an installation set of sub-installers, wherein the installation set of sub-installers comprises at least a subset of the plurality of sub-installers; and

executing each of the sub-installers of the installation set of sub-installers to deploy the respective software components onto the target system.

14. The method of claim 13,

wherein said programmatically analyzing the target system and the application system dependency file to determine an installation set of sub-installers further comprises:

programmatically analyzing the target system and the application system dependency file to determine an execution order of the installation set of sub-installers; and

wherein said executing each of the sub-installers of the installation set of sub-installers comprises;

executing each of the sub-installers of the installation set of sub-installers in accordance with the determined execution order.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein said executing the application system installer to programmatically deploy the application system onto the target system further comprises:

presenting a plurality of deployment options to a user; and

receiving user input specifying one or more deployment options of the plurality of deployment options;

wherein said programmatically analyzing the target system and the application system dependency file to determine an installation set of sub-installers comprises programmatically analyzing the target system, the application system dependency file, and the specified one or more deployment options to determine the installation set of sub-installers.

16. The method of claim 15,

wherein said presenting a plurality of deployment options to the user comprises displaying a user interface (UI) to the user;

and

wherein said receiving user input specifying one or more deployment options comprises the UI receiving the user input.

17. The method of claim 15,

wherein said presenting a plurality of deployment options to the user comprises:

displaying a feature list to the user, wherein the feature list comprises a plurality of selectable features for the application system; and

wherein said receiving user input specifying one or more deployment options comprises;

receiving user input specifying one or more of the plurality of selectable features for the application system.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein said programmatically analyzing the target system comprises analyzing a plurality of characteristics of the target computer system.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said plurality of characteristics of the target computer system comprises two or more of:

operating system version, language, machine type, installed computer boards, standard folder locations, disk space usage, information related to currently installed hardware, information related to currently installed software.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein said executing the application system installer to programmatically deploy the application system onto the target system comprises:

executing the application system installer to programmatically update a prior installation of the application system on the target system.

21. The method of claim 12,

wherein the application system implements a function;

wherein the target system includes a target computer and at least one device coupled to or comprised in the target computer; and

wherein said executing the application system installer to programmatically deploy the application system onto the target system comprises one or more of;

programmatically deploying one or more programs onto the target computer, wherein the target computer is operable to execute the one or more programs to perform at least a portion of the function;

programmatically deploying at least one program onto the at least one device, wherein the at least one device is operable to execute the at least one program to perform at least another portion of the function;

programmatically configuring target computer hardware and/or the at least one device'"'"'s hardware in accordance with one or more hardware configuration files; and

programmatically configuring a program on the target computer and/or a program on the at least one device in accordance with one or more program configuration files.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

executing the application system installer to programmatically remove all, or a portion of, a prior installation of the application system on the target system.

23. A system for deploying an application system onto a target system, the system comprising:

a computer, comprising;

a processor; and

a memory medium coupled to the processor;

wherein the memory medium stores program instructions which are executable by the processor to;

receive a list indicating an initial set of sub-installers, wherein each sub-installer comprises one or more software components and installation software operable to deploy the one or more software components onto the target system, and wherein the initial set of sub-installers comprises one or more user-files sub-installers and one or more supporting sub-installers;

programmatically analyze at least one of the initial set of sub-installers to determine one or more additional sub-installers, wherein said initial set of sub-installers and said one or more additional sub-installers comprise a plurality of sub-installers;

generate an application system dependency file based on said analyzing; and

generate an application system installer based on said plurality of sub-installers and said application system dependency file, wherein the application system installer is operable to programmatically deploy the application system onto the target system.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein said programmatically analyzing at least one of the initial set of sub-installers to determine one or more additional sub-installers comprises:

programmatically analyzing dependency information for said at least one of the initial set of sub-installers to determine the one or more additional sub-installers.

25. The system of claim 24,

wherein, the one or more software components for at least a subset of the plurality of sub-installers comprises one or more features;

and

wherein said dependency information comprises one or more of;

sub-installer dependencies; and

feature dependencies.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein the application system installer is executable by a processor of the target system to programmatically deploy the application system onto the target system.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein, in programmatically deploying the application system onto the target system, the application system installer is executable to:

programmatically analyze the target system and the application system dependency file to determine an installation set of sub-installers, wherein the installation set of sub-installers comprises at least a subset of the plurality of sub-installers; and

invoke execution of each of the sub-installers of the installation set of sub-installers to deploy the respective software components onto the target system.

28. The system of claim 27,

wherein in programmatically deploying the application system onto the target system, the application system installer is further executable to:

present a plurality of deployment options to a user; and

receive user input specifying one or more deployment options of the plurality of deployment options;

wherein, in programmatically analyzing the target system and the application system dependency file to determine an installation set of sub-installers, the application system installer is further executable to;

programmatically analyzing the target system, the application system dependency file, and the specified one or more deployment options to determine the installation set of sub-installers.

29. A system for deploying an application system onto a target system, the system comprising:

means for receiving a list indicating an initial set of sub-installers, wherein each sub-installer comprises one or more software components and installation software operable to deploy the one or more software components onto the target system, and wherein the initial set of sub-installers comprises one or more user-files sub-installers and one or more supporting sub-installers;

means for programmatically analyzing at least one of the initial set of sub-installers to determine one or more additional sub-installers, wherein said initial set of sub-installers and said one or more additional sub-installers comprise a plurality of sub-installers;

means for generating an application system dependency file based on said analyzing; and

means for generating an application system installer based on said plurality of sub-installers and said application system dependency file, wherein the application system installer is operable to programmatically deploy the application system onto the target system.

30. A carrier medium which stores program instructions for deploying an application system onto a target system, wherein the program instructions are executable by a processor to perform:

receiving a list indicating an initial set of sub-installers, wherein each sub-installer comprises one or more software components and installation software operable to deploy the one or more software components onto the target system, and wherein the initial set of sub-installers comprises one or more user-files sub-installers and one or more supporting sub-installers;

programmatically analyzing at least one of the initial set of sub-installers to determine one or more additional sub-installers, wherein said initial set of sub-installers and said one or more additional sub-installers comprise a plurality of sub-installers;

generating an application system dependency file based on said analyzing; and

generating an application system installer based on said plurality of sub-installers and said application system dependency file, wherein the application system installer is operable to programmatically deploy the application system onto the target system.