Performing unattended software installation

• US 9,588,752 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2013
• Issued: 03/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bhattiprolu, Sukadev, Jujjuri, Venkateswararao, Myneni, Haren, Naineni, Malahal R, Pulavarty, Badari, Seetharaman, Chandra, Sharoff, Narasimha N
• Primary Examiner(s): Aponte, Francisco
• Application Number:
  US14/068,009
• Publication Number:
  US 20140259009A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,223 Days
• Field of Search: 717/174
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation

Abstract

Methods may perform unattended software installation. The method may include receiving a user'"'"'s selection of one or more software installation files, and reading at least a portion of the one or more user-selected software installation files. The method may additionally include extracting, from the read one or more software installation files, questions that a user will be asked to answer during execution of the one or more user-selected software installation files, and compiling the extracted questions. The method may further include prompting a user to provide answers to the compiled questions, and receiving answers to one or more questions of the compiled questions prior to execution of the one or more user-selected software installation files. The method may additionally include storing the received answers, and providing the stored answers when requested during execution of the one or more user-selected software installation files.

Claims

1. A method performed by an electronic apparatus, the electronic apparatus comprising a file server, at least one computer, a set of installation tools, and a database, the method comprising:

the database having at least one previously answered question;

the file server receiving a selection of one or more software installation files via the set of installation tools, including receiving the selection of a first software installation file for installing first software;

prior to execution of the first software installation file, the set of installation tools initializing unattended installation of the first software, including;

extracting, from the first software installation file, one or more questions to answer during execution of the first software installation file;

compiling the one or more extracted questions;

comparing the compiled questions to the previously answered question, wherein the comparison excludes any redundant question from the compiled questions;

storing the compiled questions in the database;

issuing a first prompt to the computer in order to answer the one or more compiled questions;

receiving one or more answers corresponding to the first prompt; and

storing the received answers in the database; and

during execution of the first software installation file, the set of installation tools performing the unattended installation of the first software, including;

providing the stored answers when requested, including querying the database to obtain the stored answers;

reading first dependency data of the first software installation file, wherein the first dependency data relates to a dependency requirement for installing the first software; and

completing installation of the first software based on the read first dependency data and the stored answers.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the computer downloading the first software installation file from the file server, wherein the download allows for local installation of the file on the computer.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the set of installation tools reading an unread portion of the first software installation file subsequent to storing the received answers.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein compiling the extracted questions includes identifying a first set of questions of the extracted questions that are dependent on answers to a second set of questions of the extracted questions, and further comprising the set of installation tools issuing, a second prompt to provide answers to the second set of questions prior to being prompted for the answers to the first set of questions.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein compiling the extracted questions includes selecting at least one question from the first set of questions based on the answers to the second set of questions.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the set of installation tools issuing a third prompt to provide at least one answer to the at least one question.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the third prompt comprises a prompt to provide answers to questions other than the at least one question from the first set of questions based on the at least one answer.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the stored answers when requested includes providing the stored answers for the excluded redundant questions when requested.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first dependency data comprises a list of zero or more dependencies of software installed from the first software installation file.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the set of installation tools determining an absence of a dependency on the computer during execution of the first software installation file, and addressing the absent dependency prior to completion of the first software installation.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein each dependency of the dependency data corresponds to a respective package installation, and wherein determining the absence of a dependency comprises determining an absence of an installed package.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the questions are selected from the group consisting of:

unconditional questions, conditional questions, and a combination thereof.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the conditional questions are selected from a group consisting of:

dependency-conditional questions, answer-conditional questions, and a combination thereof.