Manufacture of software distribution media packages from components resident on a remote server source

A method for generating custom distribution media packages for a suite of software components, said method comprising the steps of:

• providing a suite installation process which separates control of the installation process from installation tasks associated with each of the software components whereby each software component has associated therewith a component-specific data file represented as a persistent object, and the suite has associated therewith a process control file, represented as a collection of state objects, which controls the ordered accessing of the component-specific data files;
• providing an installation processing engine, which includes a state machine, said processing engine serving to execute said process control file;
• selecting the components of the suite which are to be included in a new distribution package;
• identifying a medium on which the new distribution package will be created;
• copying required files to the new distribution medium;
• and
• updating installation data files, including setup data files, to reference files now resident on the new distribution package medium.

A method for generating a custom distribution package for the installation of a suite of individual software components, said method comprising the steps of:

• providing a component-specific data file for each software component, each data file containing install information and install logic that is unique to its associated component;
• providing a process control file that is independent of the data files, said process control file containing information related to the ordered accessing of the various component-specific data files;
• providing a processing engine which executes the process control file;
• providing a remote server site where new or updated component-specific data files and an updated process control file may be stored;
• providing original distribution media having a download option from the remote server site;
• identifying a new medium on which the custom distribution package will be created;
• accessing the remote server site;
• copying selected component-specific data files from both the original distribution media and from the remote server site to the new medium;
• and
• copying a process control file from either the original distribution media or from the remote server site to the new medium.

An original distribution media package from which a suite of software components is installable on a computer system, said media package including thereon:

• a state machine;
• a component-specific data file for each software component, each component-specific data file being a collection of component persistent objects, each of which defines either a particular characteristic of the associated software component or a command required for the installation of the associated software component;
• and
• a process control file, represented as a collection of state objects, each of which is responsible for executing a specific task required for installation of a software component, said process control file controlling the ordered accessing of the component-specific data files by the installation processing engine during software suite installation.