Installation of application software through a network from a source computer system on to a target computer system

The computer system for generating an application installation package to install an application software package on one or more target workstations, said computer system comprising:

• means for creating a pre-installation system snapshot of the software on said computer system;
• means for installing said application software package on said computer system;
• means for creating a post-installation system snapshot of the software on said computer system;
• means for generating a personality file for said one or more target workstations, said personality file describing installation parameters for said application software package and said one or more target workstations, said installation parameters representing requirements of users of said one or more target workstations;
• and
• means for generating an application installation package from said pre-installation system snapshot, said post-installation system snapshot, and said application software package, said application installation package comprising a plurality of commands for installing said application software package on said one or more workstations.

A computer system for generating an application installation package to install an application software package on one or more target workstations, said computer system comprising:

• a program for creating a pre-installation system of snapshot software on said computer system prior to installation of said application software package;
• said program also for creating a post-installation system snapshot of said software on said computer system after said installation of said application software package;
• means for generating a personality file for said one or more target workstations, said personality file describing installation parameters for said application software package and said one or more target workstations, said installation parameters representing requirements of users of said one more target workstations;
• and
• said program for generating an application installation package from said pre-installation system snapshot, said post-installation system snapshot, and said application software package, said application installation package comprising a plurality of commands for installing said application software package on said one or more target workstations.

A machine readable medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions, which when executed by a computer system, cause said computer system to perform operations comprising:

• creating a pre-installation system snapshot of software on said computer system prior to installation of an application software package;
• creating a post-installation system snapshot of said software on said computer system after said installation of said application software package;
• generating a personality file for said one or more target workstations, said personality file describing installation parameters for said application software package and said one or more target workstations, said installation parameters representing requirements of users of said one or more target workstation;
• and
• generating an application installation package from said pre-installation system snapshot, said post-installation system snapshot, and said application software package, said application installation package comprising a plurality of command for installing said application software package on one or more target workstations.

A machine readable medium that provides instructions, which when executed on a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

• creating a pre-installation system snapshot of software on a source workstation;
• installing the application software package on the source workstation;
• creating a post-installation system snapshot of the software on the source workstation;
• generating an application installation package for the application software package on the source workstation based on differences between the pre-installation system snapshot and the post-installation system snapshot;
• and
• target workstation receiving the application installation package and a default personality file from the source workstation, the default personality file describing default installation parameters for the application software package and the target workstation, the target workstation installing the application software package based on the application installation package and the default personality file.

A method of generating an application installation package to install an application software package on one or more target workstations, the method comprising:

• creating a pre-installation system snapshot of the software on a source workstation;
• installing said application software package on the source workstation;
• creating a post-installation system snapshot of the software on the source workstation;
• generating a personality file for said one or more target workstations, said personality file describing installation parameters for said application software package and said one or more target workstations, said installation parameters representing requirements of users of said one or more target workstation;
• and
• generating an application installation package from the pre-installation system snapshot, the post-installation system snapshot, and the application software package, the application installation package comprising a plurality of commands for installing the application software package on the one or more target workstations.