DYNAMICALLY GENERATING INSTALLABLE SOFTWARE ARTIFACTS IN A CANONICAL FORM

• US 20080109801A1
• Filed: 11/06/2006
• Published: 05/08/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Calow, Jeffrey T., Riand, Philippe, Levine, Brian J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,938,732 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/171
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to application deployment and provide a novel and non-obvious method, system and computer program product for deploying installable software artifacts in canonical form. In one embodiment of the invention, a method for deploying installable software artifacts in canonical form can include storing artifacts in platform independent canonical form. Thereafter, the method can include receiving a request from a client for first time provisioning or update to a specified application for a specific platform, locating the stored artifacts according to the specified application, dynamically generating a feature from the stored artifacts for the specific platform, and first time provisioning or updating the specified application in the client with the dynamically generated feature.

Claims

1. A method for deploying installable software artifacts in canonical form, the method comprising:

storing artifacts in platform independent canonical form;

receiving a request from a client for one of a first time provisioning and an update to a specified application for a specific target platform;

locating the stored artifacts according to the specified application;

dynamically generating a feature from the stored artifacts for the specific target platform; and

,

performing one of first time provisioning and updating the specified application in the client with the dynamically generated feature.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein storing artifacts in platform independent canonical form, comprises:

packaging the artifacts in canonical form in an archive;

uploading the archive to a storage location in a dynamic update site server; and

,

associating the storage location in the dynamic update site server with an identifier for a specified application.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein receiving a request from a client for one of first time provisioning and update to a specified application for a specific target platform, comprises receiving a request from a client for first time provisioning or update to a specified application for a specific target platform, the request comprising an identifier for the specified application

4. The method of claim 1, wherein locating the stored artifacts according to the specified application comprises locating the stored artifacts by cross-referencing a table of application identifiers to storage locations.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein dynamically generating a feature from the stored artifacts for the specific target platform, comprises dynamically generating each of at least one plug-in from the stored artifacts for the specific target platform, a feature referencing the plug-in and a descriptor referencing the feature.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising caching each of the plug-ins, feature and descriptor for subsequent use in servicing a request for one of first time provisioning and an update to the specific platform.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the performing one of first time provisioning and updating the specified application in the client with the dynamically generated feature, comprises returning the descriptor to the client for use in determining which artifacts to retrieve to the client.

8. An application provisioning data processing system comprising:

a dynamic update site server configured for coupling to a plurality of clients in a collaborative environment, the dynamic update site server comprising an application deployment service, a dynamic update site servlet and a deployment artifact storage system;

the application deployment service comprising program code enabled to upload the artifacts in canonical form to a deployment storage location in the dynamic update site server,

the dynamic update site servlet comprising program code enabled to locate the artifacts according to an application identifier for a specified application, and to dynamically generate at least one plug-in, a feature for the plug-in and a descriptor for one of first time provisioning and updating to the specified application as requested by at least one of the clients.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising a cache of a feature, the corresponding plug-in and a corresponding descriptor utilized for servicing subsequent requests for one of first time provisioning and updates to the specified application.

10. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer usable program code for deploying installable software artifacts in canonical form, the computer program product including:

computer usable program code for storing artifacts in platform independent canonical form;

computer usable program code for receiving a request from a client for one of first time provisioning and updating to a specified application for a specific platform;

computer usable program code for locating the stored artifacts according to the specified application;

computer usable program code for dynamically generating a feature from the stored artifacts for the specific platform; and

,

computer usable program code for performing first time provisioning and updating the specified application in the client with the dynamically generated feature.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the computer usable program code for storing artifacts in platform independent canonical form, comprises:

computer usable program code for packaging the artifacts in an archive;

computer usable program code for uploading the archive to a deployment storage location in a dynamic update site server; and

,

computer usable program code for associating the deployment storage location in the dynamic update site server with an identifier for a specified application.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer usable program code for receiving a request from a client for one of first time provisioning and updating to a specified application for a specific platform, comprises computer usable program code for receiving a request from a client for one of first time provisioning and updating to a specified application for a specific platform, the request comprising an identifier for the specified application.

13. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the computer usable program code for locating the stored artifacts according to the specified application comprises computer usable program code for locating the stored artifacts by cross-referencing a table of application identifiers to deployment storage locations.

14. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the computer usable program code for dynamically generating a feature from the stored artifacts for the specific platform, comprises computer usable program code for dynamically generating each of at least one plug-in from the stored artifacts for the specific platform, a feature referencing the plug-in and a descriptor referencing the feature.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising computer usable program code for caching each of the plug-ins, feature and descriptor for subsequent use in servicing a request for one of first time provisioning and updating to the specified application.

16. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer usable program code for performing one of first time provisioning and updating the specified application in the client with the dynamically generated feature, comprises computer usable program code for returning the descriptor to the client for use in determining which artifacts to retrieve to the client.