Patent ID: 8578371

Claim:
A method of distributing software products from a source computer to a plurality of target computers, the method including the steps of: providing a main package for installing a main product, the main product requiring a set of prerequisite products, and a set of prerequisite packages each one for installing a corresponding prerequisite product; selecting at least one of the prerequisite packages, the selecting including determining a set of potentially non-available prerequisite products, a potentially non-available prerequisite product being a prerequisite product not available on at least one of the target computers, and selecting a prerequisite package from the set of prerequisite packages corresponding to each potentially non-available prerequisite product in the set of potentially non-available prerequisite products; building a distribution structure for the main package and the at least one prerequisite package; determining the number of target computers on which at least one prerequisite product is not available, the distribution structure being built and transmitted only if said number of target computers reaches a threshold value; transmitting the distribution structure from the source computer to the target computers, and for each target computer in the plurality of target computers: verifying the availability of the at least one prerequisite product on the target computer; installing each non-available prerequisite product on the target computer by using a prerequisite package from the set of prerequisite packages, the prerequisite package corresponding to the non-available prerequisite product; and installing the main product on the target computer by using the main package.