Patent ID: 7870539

Claim:
A method in a data processing system for resolving cross-channel dependencies in a dependency model, the method comprising the steps of: with a knowledge generation machine provided by a processor, validating a dependency model in a first channel, wherein the dependency model includes dependency information about a software component, and the dependency information is segmented into channels; detecting an unresolved dependency in the first channel with the knowledge generation machine including determining that a declared dependency is outside of the first channel, the first channel defining a first segmentation of software products by one of version, operating system, hardware version, and hardware architecture; realizing the unresolved dependency in a second channel with the knowledge generation machine, the second channel defining a second segmentation of software products by one of version, operating system, hardware version, and hardware architecture and the first segmentation differing from the second segmentation; and resolving the unresolved dependency with the knowledge generation machine, wherein realizing the unresolved dependency includes: performing a search in a knowledge model for at least the second channel; and finding an element that resolves the unresolved dependency in the second channel.