Patent ID: 8001083

Claim:
A system comprising: a repository configured to store a plurality of resources and repository metadata, the repository metadata being configured to characterize more than one version of a resource; and a provisioning server configured to: determine version information associated with the more than one version of a resource, the version information characterizing differences in the more than one version of the resource; determine repository metadata associated with an executable application or an operating system to be provisioned on a computing device; compare the version information and the repository metadata to calculate a value representative of a desirability for each of the more than one version of the resource, the calculation based on an algorithm including one or more criteria that are applied to the version information and the repository metadata; compare the value for each of the more than one version of the resource to select a value representing a highest desirability for being included in an application specific runtime environment for the executable application or the operating system; select a preferred version of the resource from among the more than one version of the resource, the preferred version corresponding to the selected value representing the highest desirability; and provision the application specific runtime environment for the executable application or the operating system on the computing device by providing the preferred version to the computing device.