Apparatus and method for simulating software installation using software dependency map

• US 8,640,123 B2
• Filed: 06/09/2011
• Issued: 01/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Wookey, Michael J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lee, Marina
• Application Number:
  US13/157,091
• Publication Number:
  US 20120151468A1
• Time in Patent Office: 964 Days
• Field of Search: 717168-178, 717120-121, 714 25- 473
• US Class Current: 717/175
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/658 Incremental updates; Differential updates

Abstract

A virtual installation map, and method involving installing a software functionality using the same, the virtual installation map including a first software installation map including a plurality of software elements representative of a related software file, the software elements also including at least one dependency to another software element. The virtual installation map further including a second software installation map also including a second plurality of software elements representative of related software file along with related dependencies. The first and second software installation maps may be hosted in separate databases and may relate to software products provided by different vendors. One or both software installation maps may include a pointer or other reference to the other installation map thereby providing a virtual installation map, in one example.

Claims

1. A method for providing information to assess a contemplated software installation comprising:

receiving a request for assessing a contemplated installation of a first software functionality on a client device;

receiving a software manifest comprising a plurality of software files residing on the client device;

accessing an existing software installation map to determine a plurality of installation files for assessing the installation and to identify a plurality of dependencies between the plurality of installation files, the existing software installation map comprising a plurality of software elements representing the plurality of installation files set forth in the software manifest, the plurality of dependencies between the plurality of installation files and a confidence factor associated with the plurality of dependencies indicating at least a number of a plurality of successful prior installations involving the plurality of dependencies;

generating at least one new software installation route from the software installation map describing the plurality of installation files and their dependencies for assessing the installation of the first software functionality; and

comparing the at least one new software installation route against at least one existing software installation route residing in the software installation map to provide a new confidence factor associated with the at least one new software installation route based on an existing confidence factor of the at least one existing software installation routes;

generating a virtual software installation map comprising a plurality of software elements representing the plurality of files described in the software manifest, and dependencies between the plurality of files;

simulating an installation of the first software functionality by provisioning the new software installation route on the virtual software installation map;

providing a simulated confidence factor of the virtually provisioned new software installation route, wherein the simulated confidence factor represents a percentile estimate of whether the new preferred software installation route provides for a successful installation of the first software functionality.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing the at least one new software installation route and its associated confidence factor to the client device, the confidence factor of the at least one new software installation route permitting the client device to determine the likelihood of whether the new software installation route will provide for a stable installation of the first software functionality.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the generating the virtual software installation map further comprises:

analyzing the existing software installation map;

based on the analysis, generating an operating system dependency route describing all software elements and their dependencies to provision an operating system as configured on the client device; and

based on the analysis, generating at least one application dependency route describing all the software elements and their dependencies to provision at least one existing application on the client device.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

determining the simulated confidence factor by assessing a confidence factor of each dependency relationship in the new installation route, the operating system dependency route, and the at least one application dependency route.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising identifying any dangling references in the virtually provisioned new software installation route.

6. A method for obtaining information to assess a contemplated software installation comprising:

requesting a simulation of an installation of a first software functionality;

providing a software manifest comprising a plurality of software files residing on a client device requesting the simulation;

receiving at least one software installation route for simulating the installation of the first software functionality from a software installation map of a service provider, the at least one software installation route describing the plurality of installation files and their dependencies for simulating the installation, the software installation map comprising a plurality of software elements representing the plurality of software files, a plurality of dependencies between the plurality of software files and a confidence factor associated with the plurality of dependencies indicating at least a number of a plurality of successful prior installations involving the plurality of dependencies;

providing a preferred software installation route, the preferred software installation being a subset of the at least one software installation route; and

receiving a simulated confidence factor of the preferred software installation route, the simulated confidence factor representing a percentile estimate that the preferred software installation route provides for a successful installation of the first software functionality,

wherein the simulated confidence factor being a function of a result of the simulated installation of the preferred software installation route on a virtual software installation map; and

wherein the virtual software installation map represents a listing of the plurality of software files from the software manifest.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

determining a new preferred software installation route from the at least one software installation routes, the new preferred software installation route being used for simulating the installation of the first software functionality.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the at least one software installation route comprises:

a confidence factor representing a percentile estimate that the at least one software installation route provides for a successful installation of the first software functionality.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein determining the new preferred software installation route is a function of the confidence factor of each of the at least one software installation routes.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein requesting the simulation further comprises:

requesting at least one installation criteria for the simulation, the at least one installation criteria representing one of the following types of requirements for installing the first software functionality;

a) a fastest version;

b) a most stable version;

c) a newest version; and

d) a most compatible with an existing software configuration.

11. The method of claim 6 wherein requesting the simulation is performed by a software agent installed on the client device.

12. The method of claim 6 wherein determining the new preferred software installation route is performed by a software agent installed on the client device, the software agent using an algorithm to automatically determine the new preferred software installation route.

13. The method of claim 6 wherein determining the new preferred software installation route is performed by a system administrator.