Patent ID: 7343584

Claim:
A method of generating a configuration comprising a plurality of components each having an associated context, said associated context equal to one or more of a plurality of values, said method comprising: storing a current first context state in response to a requirement for the installation of a first component, wherein the first component is one of the plurality of components and the first context state represents state of a context to which the first component belongs and the context represents a limitation of choices for components; changing the current state of the context to a context state corresponding to the context associated with the first component if the current first context state and the context associated with the first component are not equal; installing the first component as part of the configuration; upon installing the first component as part of the configuration, changing a first state of the configuration to a second configuration state that includes the first component; and restoring the stored first context state upon completing installation of the first component without changing the second configuration state.