Methods and apparatus for safe and smart distribution of software patches

A non-transitory processor-readable medium storing code representing instructions to be executed by a processor, the instructions comprising code to cause the processor to:

• receive information related to a first software patch that is configured for deployment on a subset of software applications installed on at a plurality of compute devices, the first software patch being untested and uninstalled in the plurality of compute devices;
• generate first dependency maps for each of the plurality of compute devices relative to the first software patch, the first dependency maps indicating one or more relationships between the first software patch and system components of each of the plurality of compute devices as well as known effects on the system components due to installation of the first software patch;
• build a prospective effects map based on the information and the first dependency maps;
• predict, based on the prospective effects map, a group of the system components and of the software applications likely incompatible with deployment of the first software patch;
• calculate a risk of deployment of the first software patch on each of the plurality of compute devices;
• based on the risk, select test compute devices of the plurality of compute devices for safe software patch deployment;
• send a first signal to deploy the first software patch at the test compute devices;
• receive additional information from the test compute devices related to deployment of the first software patch;
• based on the additional information, build additional dependency maps between the first software patch and one or more system components altered by the first software patch at the test compute devices;
• build additional prospective effects maps based on the additional dependency maps to predict effects to be encountered when the first software patch is deployed in untested compute devices of the plurality of compute devices;
• preemptively resolve an issue that arises from deployment of the first software patch at the untested compute devices, wherein the issue includes one of the predicted effects;
• and
• send a second signal to deploy the first software patch at the untested compute devices.