Package management system

A computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processing system, cause the processing system to perform a method comprising:

• receiving, with a computer client, a list of components to be installed on the client computer, wherein the list of components includes dependency information among the components;
• generating a directed graph of component dependencies from the list of components;
• determining one or more strongly coupled components to collect form the directed graph, wherein each strongly coupled component includes a set of dependent components;
• collecting, for each strongly coupled component, the set of dependent components;
• and
• installing the one or more strongly coupled components on the computer client.

A client computer comprising:

• memory;
• and
• a package manager processing device , coupled to the memory, including,
• an input module to receive a list of components to be installed on the client computer, wherein the list of components includes dependency information among the components,
• a strongly connected component detection module, coupled to the input module, to generate a directed graph of installation dependencies from the list of components and to determine strongly coupled components to collect from the directed graph, wherein each strongly coupled component includes a set of dependent components, and
• a component collection module, coupled to the strongly connected component detection module, to collect, for each strongly coupled component, the set of dependent components and to install the strongly coupled components on the computer client.