US 7,185,335 B2Granted

Programmatic application installation diagnosis and cleaning

AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation

InventorsJohn R. Hind, Youngcheng Li, Chunshan A. Zhang

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A plugable framework for use in the installation and uninstallation of a suite of applications. An application installer configured according to the plugable framework can include installation logic configured to copy application files to a target computing system. The installation logic also can configure the target for operation with the application. Installation diagnostic and cleanup logic can be coupled to the installation logic. The installation diagnostic logic can detect an installation failure, while the cleanup logic can remove the copied files and can reverse the configuration in response to the installation diagnostic logic detecting an installation failure. Uninstallation logic can be configured both to remove copied files from the target, and also to reverse the configuration of the target according to the terms of a specified uninstallation configuration file. In response to the detection of an uninstallation failure, cleanup logic can remove the copied files and can reverse the configuration without regard to the uninstallation configuration file.

Claims11

Dependent claims

An application suite installer configured to install an application suite to a target computing system, the application suite comprising a plurality of application components, the installer comprising:

installation logic configured to copy the application files to specified locations in the target computing system, and to configure the target computing system for operation with the application;
a pre-requisite check coupled to said installation logic to identify application components required for a proper installation of the application suite;
installation and functionality diagnostic logic coupled to said installation logic;
first cleanup logic coupled to said installation logic, wherein said installation logic invokes installation procedures for each one the application components identified by said pre-requisite check;
uninstallation logic configured to remove copied application files from specified locations in the target computing system, and to revert a current configuration of the target computing system to a prior configuration according to the terms of a specified uninstallation configuration file;
uninstallation diagnostic logic coupled to said uninstallation logic;
and,
second cleanup logic coupled to said uninstallation logic, wherein
said installation and functionality diagnostic logic configured to detect an installation failure of the application components;
said first cleanup logic removing said copied application files and reverting said current configuration of the target computing system to the prior configuration in response to said installation diagnostic logic detecting an installation failure,
said uninstallation diagnostic logic configured to detect an uninstallation failure, and
in response to said uninstallation diagnostic logic detecting an uninstallation failure, said second cleanup logic removing said copied application files and reverting said current configuration of the target computing system to the prior configuration without regard to said uninstallation configuration file.

9 more elements

A method of installing an application program to a target computing system, the method comprising the steps of:

in a first installation process:
copying applications files of the application program to specified locations in the target computing system;
configuring the target computing system as required for the operation of the application program;
in a second installation process which is separate from said first installation process:
diagnosing said copying and configuring steps to determine whether the application program has been installed successfully, and
if in said diagnosing step it is determined that the application program has not been installed successfully, performing a first cleanup process to remove said copied application files and to reverse a current configuration to a prior configuration in a first uninstallation process:
uninstalling the application program, said uninstallation comprising the steps of removing said copied application files, and reversing said current configuration to said prior configuration according to a specified installation configuration file;
and, in a second uninstallation process:
diagnosing said removing and reversing steps to determine whether the application program has been uninstalled successfully;
and,
if said diagnosing step of said second uninstallation process determining that the application program has not been uninstalled successfully, performing a second cleanup process to remove remaining application files and to reverse said current configuration to said prior configuration without regard to said specified installation configuration file.

8 more elements

A machine readable storage having stored thereon a computer program for installing an application program to a target computing system, the computer program comprising a routine set of instructions which when executed cause the machine to perform the steps of:

in a first installation process:
copying applications files of the application program to specified locations in the target computing system;
configuring the target computing system as required for the operation of the application program;
in a second installation process which is separate from said first installation process:
diagnosing said copying and configuring steps to determine whether the application program has been installed successfully, and
if in said diagnosing step it is determined that the application program has not been installed successfully, performing a first cleanup process to remove said copied application files and to reverse a current configuration to a prior configuration;
in a first uninstallation process:
uninstalling the application program, said uninstallation comprising the steps of removing said copied application files, and reversing said current configuration to said prior configuration according to a specified installation configuration file;
and, in a second uninstallation process:
diagnosing said removing and reversing steps to determine whether the application program has been uninstalled successfully;
and,
if said diagnosing step of said second uninstallation process determining that the application program has not been uninstalled successfully, performing a second cleanup process to remove remaining application files and to reverse said current configuration to said prior configuration without regard to said specified installation configuration file.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.