Computer system and method for resolving dependencies in a computer system

Abstract

A computer system and a method are disclosed for use in automatically deploying an application program to execute with one or more library resources. The computer system includes a deployment unit which deploys the application program into a runtime execution environment. When a predetermined trigger condition is detected, the deployment unit clones a first library resource to create a clone, transforms the application to depend upon the clone and resolves the dependencies of the application using the clone. In one embodiment, the trigger condition relates to a pinning situation, whereby a library upon which the application program depends cannot be wired to the application program to resolve the dependency. Here, the clone now satisfies that dependency. In another embodiment, the trigger condition is a mandatory cloning property that requires the library to be cloned. The mandatory cloning property may also be user-specified through a user interface.

1 . A computer system, comprising:
 a runtime environment arranged to execute a plurality of application programs with respect to a plurality of resources; and   a deployment unit arranged to deploy the plurality of application programs into the runtime environment, wherein each of the application programs has a set of dependencies upon one or more of the plurality of resources and the deployment unit deploys each of the application programs according to the set of dependencies;   wherein the deployment unit comprises:   a detecting unit which detects a trigger condition in relation to a first resource of the plurality of resources when deploying one of the application programs with respect to the first resource;   a cloning unit which clones the first resource to create a first cloned resource, in response to the trigger condition being detected by the detecting unit;   a transforming unit which transforms the dependencies of the application program to replace the dependencies on the first resource and instead with dependencies on the first cloned resource; and   a resolving unit which creates a set of wirings between the application program and the plurality of resources upon which the application program depends, including creating wirings with the cloned first resource according to the transformed dependencies of the application program.   
     
     
         2 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the detecting unit detects the trigger condition where the first resource upon which the application program depends is pinned by the wiring of another of the application programs. 
     
     
         3 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the resolving unit determines that one or more of the dependencies cannot be resolved successfully and returns to the detecting unit in a recursive loop until all of the dependencies of the application program have been successfully resolved. 
     
     
         4 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the detecting unit further detects the trigger condition where the cloning of the first resource has caused another of the resources to become pinned. 
     
     
         5 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the deployment unit identifies one or more of the plurality of resources as being excluded resources which should not be cloned, and the detecting unit detects an exception condition when the first resource is one of the excluded resources. 
     
     
         6 . The computer system of  claim 5 , wherein the detecting unit detects the exception condition when the first resource has a singleton property indicating that the first resource should not be cloned. 
     
     
         7 . The computer system of  claim 5 , further comprising a management tool which reports the exception condition via a management interface. 
     
     
         8 . The computer system of  claim 5 , further comprising a management tool that marks the first resource as one of the excluded resources in response to user commands received via a user interface. 
     
     
         9 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the detecting unit detects the trigger condition when the first resource is associated with a mandatory cloning property indicating that cloning of the resource is mandatory. 
     
     
         10 . The computer system of  claim 9 , further comprising a management tool that associates the first resource with the mandatory cloning property in response to user commands received via a user interface. 
     
     
         11 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of resources comprise a plurality of libraries. 
     
     
         12 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the application program comprises a plurality of bundles and the plurality of resources comprises a plurality of bundles, and the deployment unit resolves the dependencies of the application program by creating a network of wiring between the bundles. 
     
     
         13 . A method of resolving dependencies in a computer system, the method comprising:
 detecting a trigger condition in relation to a first resource provided on the computer system;   creating a clone of the first resource;   transforming a dependency of an application program on the first resource to instead depend on the clone; and   resolving the dependency of the application program using the clone.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 installing the application program onto the computer system;   resolving one or more bundles of the application program to satisfy a set of dependencies of the bundles with respect to a plurality of resources of the computer system, wherein the plurality of resources include the first resource;   configuring the application program with respect to the plurality of resources according to configuration in each of the bundles;   starting the bundles in a runtime execution environment of the computer system; and   executing the application program in the runtime execution environment of the computer system in combination with the plurality of resources.   
     
     
         15 . A computer readable media having programming instructions for resolving dependencies in a computer system, the computer readable media comprising:
 programming instructions for detecting a trigger condition in relation to a first resource provided on the computer system;   programming instructions for creating a clone of the first resource;   programming instructions for transforming a dependency of an application program on the first resource to instead depend on the clone; and   programming instructions for resolving the dependency of the application program using the clone.   
     
     
         16 . The computer readable media of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 programming instructions for installing the application program onto the computer system;   programming instructions for resolving one or more bundles of the application program to satisfy a set of dependencies of the bundles with respect to a plurality of resources of the computer system, wherein the plurality of resources include the first resource;   programming instructions for configuring the application program with respect to the plurality of resources according to configuration in each of the bundles;   programming instructions for starting the bundles in a runtime execution environment of the computer system; and   programming instructions for executing the application program in the runtime execution environment of the computer system in combination with the plurality of resources.