Software installation verification

• US 7,624,394 B1
• Filed: 11/18/2003
• Issued: 11/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Christopher, Greg Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chen; Qing
• Application Number:
  US10/716,916
• Time in Patent Office: 2,198 Days
• Field of Search: 717/126, 717168-178
• US Class Current: 717/177
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files

Abstract

Systems and techniques to verify software installation. In general, in one implementation, the technique includes: creating data that represents a new expectation for an installation result, for one or more resources associated with a software installer, the new expectation being a transition from an expectation of volatility to an expectation of stability for future software installs. A comparison of a current software installation with a previous software installation can be generated, and based on the comparison, resources that change in their installation result from the previous software installation to the current software installation, despite an expectation of stability for the resources, can be identified, and resources that have not changed in their installation result from the previous software installation to the current software installation, despite an expectation that the unchanged resources should change from the previous software installation to the current software installation, can also be identified.

Claims

1. A machine-implemented method comprising:

obtaining an install comparison of a current software installation to a target computer and an install comparison of a previous software installation to the same target computer in a series of two or more software installations during a software product development;

generating a software trend comparison of the current software installation install comparison with the previous software installation install comparison;

obtaining expected installation results for a resource including attributes including a dynamic attribute and a static attribute, the dynamic attribute is an attribute that should have changed between the previous software installation and the current software installation, the static attribute is an attribute that should remain unchanged between the previous software installation and the current software installation;

comparing the expected installation results with the software trend comparison to identify whether the dynamic attribute was not changed in the current software installation and whether the static attribute was changed in the current software installation; and

presenting potential problems with the current software installation, based on results of the comparing the expected installation results with the software trend comparison, to facilitate verification of an installer for the software product development.

2. The machine-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising tracking expectations for the resource in a primary installation baseline and a secondary installation baseline, and wherein presenting the potential problems comprises presenting a baseline-update interface by transmitting markup language data.

3. The machine-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising excluding a set of resources from the generated comparison for the software product development.

4. The machine-implemented method of claim 2, wherein expectations of resource changes, including the installation data, are stored in a relational database indexed by date, platform, language, and product configuration.

5. The machine-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the attributes comprising modification date stamp information, file size information, security permissions information, and checksum information.

6. The machine-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the resource comprises a file and a system registry, and the installation data comprises deletion, addition, and modification of the resource.

7. A software product tangibly embodied in a machine-readable storage device, the software product comprising instructions operable to cause one or more data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

obtaining an install comparison of a current software installation to a target computer and an install comparison of a previous software installation to the same target computer in a series of two or more software installations during a software product development;

generating a software trend comparison target of the current software installation install comparison with the previous software installation install comparison;

obtaining expected installation results for a resource including attributes including a dynamic attribute and a static attribute, the dynamic attribute is an attribute that should have changed between the previous software installation and the current software installation, the static attribute is an attribute that should remain unchanged between the previous software installation and the current software installation;

comparing the expected installation results with the software trend comparison to identify whether the dynamic attribute was not changed in the current software installation and whether the static attribute was changed in the current software installation; and

presenting potential problems with the current software installation, based on results of the comparing the expected installation results with the software trend comparison, to facilitate verification of an installer for the software product development.

8. The software product of claim 7, wherein the operations further comprise tracking expectations of resource changes in a primary installation baseline and a secondary installation baseline, and wherein presenting the potential problems comprises presenting a baseline-update interface by transmitting markup language data.

9. The software product of claim 7, wherein the operations further comprise excluding a set of resources from the generated comparison for the software product development.

10. The software product of claim 7, wherein expectations of resource changes are stored in a relational database indexed by date, platform, language, and product configuration.

11. The software product of claim 7, wherein the attributes comprising modification date stamp information, file size information, security permissions information, and checksum information.

12. The software product of claim 7, wherein the resource comprises a file and a system registry, and the installation data comprises deletion, addition, and modification of the resource.

13. A system comprising:

a build controller;

an install controller comprising a database including a baseline recording expectations of a dynamic attribute and a static attribute for one or more resources associated with a software installer, the dynamic attribute is an attribute that should have changed between a previous software installation and a current software installation, the static attribute is an attribute that should remain unchanged between the previous software installation and the current software installation; and

one or more install slave machines;

wherein the build controller automatically triggers the install controller to initiate installer tests as part of a software build process, and the install controller automatically dispatches installation to the one or more install slave machines and collects test results to be presented in a report comprising a baseline-update interface;

wherein the test results comprise a potential problem with the current software installation identified based on a comparison of the expectations with a software trend comparison that compares an install comparison of the current software installation with an install comparison of the previous software installation in a series of two or more software installations during a software product development to identify whether the dynamic attribute was not changed in the current software installation and whether the static attribute was changed in the current software installation.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more install slave machines comprise multiple computers.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the install controller communicates with the one or more install slave machines using Simple Object Access Protocol.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the baseline-update interface comprises a web-based user interface allowing baseline updates across SKU, language, operating system, and custom/non-custom installs, in combination or all at once.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the attributes comprising modification date stamp information, file size information, security permissions information, and checksum information.

18. A system comprising:

a user interface device; and

one or more computers operable to interact with the user interface device and to perform operations comprising;

obtaining an install comparison of a current software installation to a target computer and an install comparison of a previous software installation to the same target computer in a series of two or more software installations during a software product development;

generating a software trend comparison of the current software installation install comparison with the previous software installation install comparison;

obtaining expected installation results for a resource including attributes including a dynamic attribute and a static attribute, the dynamic attribute is an attribute that should have changed between the previous software installation and the current software installation, the static attribute is an attribute that should remain unchanged between the previous software installation and the current software installation;

comparing the expected installation results with the software trend comparison to identify whether the dynamic attribute was not changed in the current software installation and whether the static attribute was changed in the current software installation; and

presenting potential problems with the current software installation, based on results of the comparing the expected installation results with the software trend comparison to facilitate verification of an installer for the software product development.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise tracking expectations for the resource in a primary installation baseline and a secondary installation baseline, and wherein presenting the potential problems comprises presenting a baseline-update interface by transmitting markup language data.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise excluding a set of resources from the generated comparison for the software product development.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein expectations of resource changes, including the installation data, are stored in a relational database indexed by date, platform, language, and product configuration.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein the attributes comprise modification date stamp information, file size information, security permissions information, and checksum information.

23. The system of claim 18, wherein the resource comprises a file and a system registry, and the installation data comprises deletion, addition, and modification of the resource.