SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR BUILDING VIRTUAL APPLIANCES USING A REPOSITORY METADATA SERVER AND A DEPENDENCY RESOLUTION SERVICE

• US 20090300604A1
• Filed: 02/11/2009
• Published: 12/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: BARRINGER, Matthew William
• Granted Patent: US 8,543,998 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/178
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3664 Environments for testing or debugging software

Abstract

A system and method for building virtual appliances using a repository metadata server and a dependency resolution service is provided. In particular, a hosted web service may provide a collaborative environment for managing origin repositories and software dependencies, whereby remote clients may follow a simple and repeatable process for creating virtual appliances. For example, the repository metadata server may cache and parse metadata associated with an origin repository, download software from the origin repository, and generate resolution data that can be used by the dependency resolution service. The dependency resolution service may then use the resolution data to resolve dependencies for a package selected for an appliance, wherein the dependencies may include packages that are required, recommended, suggested, banned, or otherwise a dependency for the selected package.

Claims

1. A method for building virtual appliances using a repository metadata server and a dependency resolution service, comprising:

retrieving metadata from one or more origin repositories, wherein the metadata includes metadata describing the origin repositories and further includes metadata describing software contained in the origin repositories;

downloading the software contained in the origin repositories to one or more cached repositories, wherein the repository metadata server is configured to enable a user to select the software contained in the origin repositories in relation to a virtual appliance; and

building one or more resolution graphs from the metadata describing the software contained in the origin repositories, wherein the dependency resolution service is configured to use the resolution graphs to resolve dependencies for the software selected by the user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the metadata retrieved from the one or more origin repositories in a repository database, wherein the user can query the repository database to select the software contained in the origin repositories in relation to the virtual appliance.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata further includes one or more current digests for the origin repositories, wherein each of the current digests provide a unique metadata signature for a current version of a respective one of the origin repositories.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising comparing the current digests for at least one of the origin repositories to a previously retrieved digest for the at least one origin repository.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the software is downloaded to the cached repositories if the current digest does not match the previously retrieved digest, and wherein the resolution graphs are built if the current digest does not match the previously retrieved digest.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata is retrieved from the origin repositories in response to a request, according to a predetermined schedule, or according to a user-defined schedule.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the software is downloaded to the cached repositories according to a download queue, wherein the repository metadata server is further configured to reorder the download queue to prioritize the software selected by the user.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the resolution graphs define one or more dependencies for the software contained in the origin repositories, the dependencies including related software that is one or more of required, recommended, suggested, or conflicting with the software contained in the origin repositories.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein one or more of the required, recommended, or suggested dependencies are automatically added to the virtual appliance, and wherein the conflicting dependencies are automatically removed from the virtual appliance if the conflicting dependencies are installed for virtual appliance.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the dependency resolution service is further configured to resolve the dependencies for the selected software using one or more of a pre-installation script, a post-installation script, or content associated with the selected software.

11. A system for building virtual appliances, comprising:

a repository metadata server configured to;

retrieve metadata from one or more origin repositories, wherein the metadata includes metadata describing the origin repositories and further includes metadata describing software contained in the origin repositories;

download the software contained in the origin repositories to one or more cached repositories;

enable a user to select the software contained in the origin repositories in relation to a virtual appliance; and

build one or more resolution graphs from the metadata describing the software contained in the origin repositories; and

a dependency resolution service configured to resolve dependencies for the selected software using the resolution graphs.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the repository metadata server is further configured to store the metadata retrieved from the one or more origin repositories in a repository database, wherein the user can query the repository database to select the software contained in the origin repositories in relation to the virtual appliance.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the metadata further includes one or more current digests for the origin repositories, wherein each of the current digests provide a unique metadata signature for a current version of a respective one of the origin repositories.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the repository metadata server is further configured to compare the current digests for at least one of the origin repositories to a previously retrieved digest for the at least one origin repository, wherein the repository metadata server downloads the software to the cached repositories and builds the resolution graphs if the current digest does not match the previously retrieved digest.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the repository metadata server is configured to retrieve the metadata from the origin repositories in response to a request, according to a predetermined schedule, or according to a user-defined schedule.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the repository metadata server is configured to download the software to the cached repositories according to a download queue, wherein the repository metadata server is further configured to reorder the download queue to prioritize the software selected by the user.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the resolution graphs define one or more dependencies for the software contained in the origin repositories, the dependencies including related software that is one or more of required, recommended, suggested, or conflicting with the software contained in the origin repositories.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the dependency resolution service is further configured to:

automatically add one or more of the required, recommended, or suggested dependencies to the virtual appliance; and

automatically remove the conflicting dependencies from the virtual appliance if the conflicting dependencies are installed for virtual appliance.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the dependency resolution service is further configured to resolve the dependencies for the selected software using one or more of a pre-installation script, a post-installation script, or content associated with the selected software.

20. A system for building virtual appliances, comprising:

a repository metadata server configured to;

retrieve metadata from one or more origin repositories, wherein the metadata includes metadata describing the origin repositories and further includes metadata describing software contained in the origin repositories; and

build one or more resolution graphs from the metadata describing the software contained in the origin repositories;

one or more cached repositories configured to store the software contained in the origin repositories, wherein the repository metadata is configured to download the software contained in the origin repositories and provide the downloaded software to the cached repositories;

a repository database configured to;

store the metadata describing the origin repositories and the metadata describing the software contained in the origin repositories; and

enable a user to select the software contained in the origin repositories in relation to a virtual appliance; and

a dependency resolution service configured to resolve dependencies for the selected software using the resolution graphs.