Patent ID: 8887149

Claim:
A method for providing configuration management of updates to a software product, comprising: with a computing processor, accessing a data store containing a chronological sequence of updates to at least a portion of the software product; identifying an initial configuration state of the software product as existing on a computing device, including analyzing at least a portion of previously installed updates to the software product on the computing device; identifying a target configuration state of the software product on the computing device, the target configuration state including a portion of the previously installed updates to the software product on the computing device; determining, based on the chronological sequence of updates in the accessed data store, (1) a sequence of removal and/or re-installation of at least some of the previously installed updates, and (2) whether at least one of the previously installed updates needs to be re-acquired; and in response to determining that none of the previously installed updates needs to be re-acquired, modifying the initial configuration state of the software product to the target configuration state of the software product in accordance with the determined sequence of removal and/or re-installation; in response to determining that at least one of the previously installed updates needs to be re-acquired, acquiring the at least one of the previously installed updates; and with the acquired at least one of the previously installed updates, modifying the initial configuration state of the software product to the target configuration state of the software product in accordance with the determined sequence of removal and/or installation.