A packaging system for deploying computer software, said computer software having program instructions comprising: (a) an archive file containing a plurality of software programs each of which has an associated software program version data; (b) said archive file containing a metadata document with metadata software program version data identifying each of said software programs together with said associated software program version data for all of said software programs; (c) an extraction process that examines said archive file based upon said metadata document to determine that said plurality of said software programs each of which having said associated software program version data are available within (i) said archive file based upon said metadata software program version data, (ii) a network based delivery service based upon said metadata software program version data, and (iii) at a destination computing environment based upon said metadata software program version data where said archive file is extractable by said packaging system; (d) said extraction process determines whether said destination computing environment is suitable for extraction of said archive file; (e) said metadata document defines installation dependencies between a plurality of said software programs; (f) wherein a first one of said software programs include a hardware driver; (g) wherein said extraction process determines whether said destination computing environment includes a set of storage locations defined by said metadata document for said archive file; (h) wherein said metadata document defines the order of installation of a plurality of said software programs at said destination computing environment. (a) an archive file containing a plurality of software programs each of which has an associated software program version data; (b) said archive file containing a metadata document with metadata software program version data identifying each of said software programs together with said associated software program version data for all of said software programs; (c) an extraction process that examines said archive file based upon said metadata document to determine that said plurality of said software programs each of which having said associated software program version data are available within (i) said archive file based upon said metadata software program version data, (ii) a network based delivery service based upon said metadata software program version data, and (iii) at a destination computing environment based upon said metadata software program version data where said archive file is extractable by said packaging system; (d) said extraction process determines whether said destination computing environment is suitable for extraction of said archive file; (e) said metadata document defines installation dependencies between a plurality of said software programs; (f) wherein a first one of said software programs include a hardware driver; (g) wherein said extraction process determines whether said destination computing environment includes a set of storage locations defined by said metadata document for said archive file; (h) wherein said metadata document defines the order of installation of a plurality of said software programs at said destination computing environment. <EOS>