Patent ID: 8219985

Claim:
A system for assembling an update for a software release, comprising: a processor and a memory having computer readable instructions stored thereon for execution by the processor, causing the processor to: define classes of software components, each class comprising a plurality of instances, each instance having a unique identifier (UID), said each instance of said each class representing a software component, which has a plurality of versions; for each version of the software component, assign one or more time stamps, and an indicator identifying a release status of the version of the software component; introduce a flexible coupling between versions of the software components and instances of classes, including introducing a pointer between a version of the software component and a UID of an instance of a class associated with the version; select versions of software components from which pointers originate; for each instance of the class, to which the pointer points at, select one version of the software component based on the assigned indicator, and assemble the selected versions of software components into the update of the software release.