PROCESSING, MODIFICATION, DISTRIBUTION OF CUSTOM SOFTWARE INSTALLATION PACKAGES

• US 20160291952A1
• Filed: 03/30/2015
• Published: 10/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apperian, Inc (Digital.ai Software, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Apperian, Inc (Digital.ai Software, Inc.)
• Inventors: Velasco, Daniel Hompanera
• Granted Patent: US 10,698,671 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54

Abstract

According to example configurations, an application wrapper resource receives an original installation package. The original installation package can be a factory-generated installation package that supports installation of a respective unwrapped application onto a computing device. The factory-generated installation package as described herein may be different than a typical installation package available from an application store. The application wrapper resource transforms the received original installation package into a (customized) wrapped application installation package for subsequent installation of the wrapped application on a respective computer device. The wrapped application installation package includes executable wrapper code supporting supplemental functionality with respect to the original unwrapped application. To wrap the original application using the executable wrapper code, the customization engine extracts one or more portions of application code from the original installation package and inserts the one or more portions of the application code into the wrapped application installation package.

Claims

1. A method of producing a customized installation package, the method comprising:

via computer processor hardware, performing operations of;

receiving an original installation package, the original installation package configured to install an application onto a computing device;

extracting application code associated with the application from the original installation package; and

including the application code extracted from the original installation package in the a-customized installation package.

2. The method as in claim 1, wherein the customized installation package includes executable wrapper code for execution upon instantiation of the application;

and

wherein the executable wrapper code facilitates retrieval of policy information subsequently used to control attributes of executing the application code.

3. The method as in claim 1, wherein the executable wrapper code is configured to be executed prior to execution of the executable application code upon execution of the application subsequent to installation on the computing device.

4. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

analyzing the original installation package to identify an original execution entry point into the application code; and

modifying the executable wrapper code to specify execution of the application code at the original execution entry point subsequent to execution of the executable wrapper code.

5. The method as in claim 4, wherein analyzing the original installation package includes:

analyzing a manifest file in the original installation package, the manifest file enumerating digital resources associated with the application, the manifest file indicating the original execution entry point into the application code.

6. The method as in claim 5, wherein modifying the executable wrapper code further comprises:

generating the executable wrapper code to specify a DLL (Dynamic Library Link) file and a corresponding type to be called from the executable wrapper code to start execution of the application.

7. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

producing a manifest file for inclusion in the customized installation package, the manifest file of the customized installation package derived based at least in part from a manifest file of the original installation package, the manifest file of the customized installation package enumerating digital resources associated with the application and the executable wrapper code, the manifest file of the customized installation package indicating an entry point into the executable wrapper code instead of an original execution entry point into the application code as specified by the manifest file of the original installation package.

8. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

producing the executable wrapper code to create an environment for execution of the application prior to execution of the application at an original execution entry point into the application code as specified by a manifest file of the original installation package.

9. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

accessing a wrapper installation package including a corresponding wrapper manifest file and the executable wrapper code;

inserting the executable wrapper code into the customized installation package; and

deriving a manifest file for customized installation package based at least in part on the corresponding wrapper manifest file of the wrapper installation package and a manifest file of the original installation package.

10. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

producing the executable wrapper code to execute the application code associated with the application subsequent to establishing a policy controlling attributes of the application.

11. A customization engine comprising:

computer processor hardware;

storage hardware that stores instructions associated with an application executed by the computer processor hardware; and

an interconnect coupling the processor and the hardware repository, the interconnect causing the at least one application to execute the application and perform operations of;

receiving an original installation package, the original installation package configured to install an application onto a computing device;

extracting application code associated with the application from the original installation package; and

inserting the application code extracted from the original installation package into a customized installation package configured to include executable wrapper code for execution upon instantiation of the application.

12. The customization engine as in claim 11, wherein the executable wrapper code facilitates retrieval of policy information subsequently used to manage execution of the application code.

13. The customization engine as in claim 11, wherein the executable wrapper code is configured to be executed prior to execution of the executable application code upon execution of the application subsequent to installation on the computing device.

14. The customization engine as in claim 11, wherein the computer processor hardware further supports operations of:

analyzing the original installation package to identify an original execution entry point into the application code; and

modifying the executable wrapper code to specify execution of the application code at the original execution entry point subsequent to execution of the executable wrapper code.

15. The customization engine as in claim 11, wherein analyzing the original installation package includes:

analyzing a manifest file in the original installation package, the manifest file enumerating digital resources associated with the application, the manifest file indicating the original execution entry point into the application code.

16. The customization engine as in claim 15, wherein modifying the executable wrapper code further comprises:

generating the executable wrapper code to specify a DLL (Dynamic Library Link) file and a corresponding type to be called from the executable wrapper code to start execution of the application.

17. The customization engine as in claim 11, wherein the computer processor hardware further supports operations of:

producing a manifest file for inclusion in the customized installation package, the manifest file of the customized installation package derived based at least in part from a manifest file of the original installation package, the manifest file of the customized installation package enumerating digital resources associated with the application and the executable wrapper code, the manifest file of the customized installation package indicating an entry point into the executable wrapper code instead of an original execution entry point into the application code as specified by the manifest file of the original installation package.

18. The customization engine as in claim 11, wherein the computer processor hardware further supports operations of:

producing the executable wrapper code to create an environment for execution of the application prior to execution of the application at an original execution entry point into the application code as specified by a manifest file of the original installation package.

19. The customization engine as in claim 11, wherein the computer processor hardware further supports operations of:

accessing a wrapper installation package including a corresponding wrapper manifest file and the executable wrapper code;

inserting the executable wrapper code into the customized installation package; and

deriving a manifest file for customized installation package based at least in part on the corresponding wrapper manifest file of the wrapper installation package and a manifest file of the original installation package.

20. The customization engine as in claim 11, wherein the computer processor hardware further supports operations of:

producing the executable wrapper code to execute the application code associated with the application subsequent to establishing a policy controlling attributes of the application.

21. A computer-readable hardware storage medium having instructions stored thereon for processing data information, such that the instructions, when carried out by computer processor hardware, causes the computer processor hardware to perform operations of:

receiving an original installation package, the original installation package configured to install an application onto a computing device;

extracting application code associated with the application from the original installation package; and

inserting the application code extracted from the original installation package into a customized installation package including executable wrapper code for execution upon instantiation of the application.

22. A method comprising:

receiving an original installation package, the original installation package configured to install an application onto a computing device;

modifying wrapper code to specify an entry point of executing application code in the original installation package;

modifying a manifest in the original installation package to specify an entry point of executing the wrapper code; and

producing a customized installation package to include the modified wrapper code and the modified manifest, the customized installation package configured to install the application as a wrapped application onto the computing device.