Patent ID: 8776047

Claim:
A software management system for managing multiple software installation maps, comprising: a processing device storing and executing: a first module stored and executed on the processing device, the first module configured for hosting a first software installation map, the first software installation map comprising: a first plurality of software elements representing a first plurality of software files; a first plurality of dependency pointers representing a plurality of dependencies between the first plurality of software files; a first confidence factor associated with the first plurality of dependency pointers indicating at least a number of a plurality of successful prior installations involving the first plurality of dependency pointers; and a second module configured for hosting a second software installation map, the second software installation map configured to communicate with the first software installation map to collectively define a virtual software installation map to generate a software installation route, wherein the software installation route includes the first plurality of software files from the first software installation map and a second plurality of software files from the second software installation map, the second software installation map comprising: a second plurality of software elements representing the second plurality of software files; and a second plurality of dependency pointers representing a plurality of dependencies between the second plurality of software files.