Method,system, and program for providing patch expressions used in determining whether to install a patch

6 The method of claim 1, wherein the conditional statements provided with the attribute statements are members of the set of conditional statements comprising:

• a first conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that a specified vendor operating system is installed on the computer;
• a second conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that a specified version of the operating system is installed on the computer;
• a third conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that the computer includes a specified hardware platform;
• a fourth conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that a specified software package having a specified version number is installed on the computer;
• a fifth conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that a specified software package having a specified version number or higher is installed on the computer;
• a sixth conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that a specified patch having a specified version number is installed on the computer;
• a seventh conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that a specified patch package having a specified version number or higher is installed on the computer;
• and
• an eighth conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that the computer includes a specified architecture.

A system for determining whether to apply a patch including content onto a computer, comprising:

• a processor;
• a computer readable medium including a computer object including information on installed software and hardware components determined in the computer
• an interpreter program capable of interpreting:
• (i) a set of conditional statements that return a boolean response based on a presence of a software or hardware component indicated in the computer object for the computer on which the patch will be applied;
• (ii) a patch attribute statement called with at least one conditional statement that returns a list of one or more patches if the at least one conditional statement evaluates as true, wherein a attribute defined for the attribute statement is associated with the installation of the patch to the computer if the computer includes the returned list of patches;
• and
• (iii) a script program including at least one patch attribute statement, wherein the script program statements and computer object are processed to determine whether the at least one conditional statement associated with each patch attribute statement is true and, if so, whether the patches in the returned list are included in the computer.

14 The system of claim 9, wherein the conditional statements provided with the attribute statements are members of the set of conditional statements comprising:

• a first conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that a specified vendor operating system is installed on the computer;
• a second conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that a specified version of the operating system is installed on the computer;
• a third conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that the computer includes a specified hardware platform;
• a fourth conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that a specified software package having a specified version number is installed on the computer;
• a fifth conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that a specified software package having a specified version number or higher is installed on the computer;
• a sixth conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that a specified patch having a specified version number is installed on the computer;
• a seventh conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that a specified patch package having a specified version number or higher is installed on the computer;
• and
• an eighth conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that the computer includes a specified architecture.

An article of manufacture including program code for determining whether to apply a patch including content to a computer by:

• providing a computer object including information on software and hardware components in the computer;
• interpreting a script program including at least one patch attribute statement, wherein each patch attribute statement is called with at least one conditional statement that returns a list of one or more patches if the at least one conditional statement evaluates as true based on a presence of a software or hardware component indicated in the computer object for the computer on which the patch will be applied, and wherein an attribute defined for the attribute statement is associated with the installation of the patch to the computer if the computer includes the returned list of patches;
• and
• processing the computer object including information on installed software and hardware components when executing the script program to determine whether to install the patch on the computer based on attributes of the installation determined by the script program.

22 The article of manufacture of claim 17, wherein the conditional statements provided with the attribute statements are members of the set of conditional statements comprising:

• a first conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that a specified vendor operating system is installed on the computer;
• a second conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that a specified version of the operating system is installed on the computer;
• a third conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that the computer includes a specified hardware platform;
• a fourth conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that a specified software package having a specified version number is installed on the computer;
• a fifth conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that a specified software package having a specified version number or higher is installed on the computer;
• a sixth conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that a specified patch having a specified version number is installed on the computer;
• a seventh conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that a specified patch package having a specified version number or higher is installed on the computer;
• and
• an eighth conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that the computer includes a specified architecture.

30 The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the conditional statements provided with the attribute statements are members of the set of conditional statements comprising:

• a first conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that a specified vendor operating system is installed on the computer;
• a second conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that a specified version of the operating system is installed on the computer;
• a third conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that the computer includes a specified hardware platform;
• a fourth conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that a specified software package having a specified version number is installed on the computer;
• a fifth conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that a specified software package having a specified version number or higher is installed on the computer;
• a sixth conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that a specified patch having a specified version number is installed on the computer;
• a seventh conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that a specified patch package having a specified version number or higher is installed on the computer;
• and
• an eighth conditional statement that determines whether the computer object indicates that the computer includes a specified architecture.