JP2001356912A - Install/update/uninstall system of software - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an install/update/uninstall system of software in which prior confirmation of a user and an operation are unnecessary, to avoid generation of various problems due to a man-made error. SOLUTION: Software structure information such as a file name to constitute business software, evaluating conditions to evaluate install states of each file, a processing order, a necessary corresponding action is acquired from a resource distribution machine 10, a structure comparing device 202 compares the software structure information with the storage contents of a storage device 205, evaluates the install state of the file based on a comparison result and the evaluating condition and a resource fetching device 203 or a resource deleting device 204 installs/updates/uninstalls the necessary file in the set processing order based on this evaluation result.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of transferring software such as business software (human resources management software, financial management software, etc.) comprising a plurality of files such as application program files and data files to a user terminal device. When installing, updating, or uninstalling, files to be targeted are automatically installed / updated / uninstalled according to a predetermined processing procedure ("/" in the text includes "and / or" ) Software install / update / uninstall system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when installing, updating, or uninstalling the above-mentioned business software on a user machine in accordance with the release of a new version, failure correction, and the like, the user usually refers to the operation manual while referring to an operation manual. According to the procedure, a plurality of files such as an application program file and a data file constituting the software are installed / updated on the user machine and uninstalled from the user machine.

Further, in a network environment where a plurality of user machines are connected to a server machine for distributing resources on a network (hereinafter, referred to as a resource distributing machine), an administrator has an initiative in installing software. In this case, the software is automatically installed on the user machine from the resource distribution machine at the initiative of the administrator.

[0004]

As described above, when installing / updating / uninstalling software under the initiative of a user, there are many operations that depend on user operations. Furthermore, in the case of the user's initiative, the software installation status on the user machine is determined in advance, such as whether the software to be installed / updated is not already installed on the user machine or the version of the installed application program file is the latest. The confirmation work is complicated and takes a long time.

[0005] In addition, the above-mentioned prior confirmation is a difficult task for a user with little computer knowledge, and software does not operate due to a lack of installation of necessary files, or a memory capacity is wasted by installing multiple files. Or overwriting data files and losing data, or uninstalling necessary files and causing the software to stop operating.

On the other hand, in a network environment where software is installed / updated under the initiative of an administrator,
The software is automatically installed on the user machine from the resource distribution machine, and the user cannot confirm the software installation state on his own machine.

Further, when the user uninstalls the software, even if the user uninstalls the software according to the procedure of the operation manual, the user forgets to uninstall the user program file and the data file created at the time of executing the software. Often these files remain in the machine's memory.

[0008] The existence of installed software
If it is not clearly indicated in the program start menu of the OS (operating system) of the user machine, it is difficult to know the existence of this software. Inhibit.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and has been made in consideration of the above circumstances. An application program file constituting software to be installed / updated / uninstalled, and a data file used at the time of execution thereof are provided. File name of file, evaluation condition for evaluating file installation state (whether file is installed, version of application program file, time stamp of data file, etc.), order of file installation / update / uninstallation , Obtain the information of the processing procedure including the necessary action, etc., and install / update /
By automatically installing / updating / uninstalling files that need to be uninstalled according to the above-mentioned processing procedure, the user's prior confirmation before installation / updating / uninstalling, and the user's operation accompanying the installation / updating / uninstalling can be performed. An object of the present invention is to provide a software installation / update / uninstallation system which is unnecessary, shortens the working time, and avoids various problems caused by human error.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a software installation / update / uninstallation system for installing software comprising an application program file and a data file used when executing the application program file. Software to be installed / updated / uninstalled in a system that installs / updates and uninstalls an application program file, software used when executing the application program file and including the created data file Information of the files constituting the file, evaluation conditions for evaluating the installation state of the file, and installation / update / uninstallation of the file Acquisition means for acquiring information on the installation procedure, comparison means for comparing the identification information of the file with the identification information of the installed file, and installation / update based on the comparison result of the comparison means and the evaluation condition. / Evaluating means for evaluating the installation state of the file to be uninstalled, and files which need to be installed / updated / uninstalled are specified based on the evaluation result of the evaluating means, and the files are installed / updated / And a fetch / delete means for uninstalling.

In the first invention, an application program file constituting software to be installed / updated / uninstalled, identification information such as a file name of a data file used for the execution, presence / absence of file installation, Evaluation conditions for evaluating the installation state of the file, such as the version of the application program file and the time stamp of the data file, and information on the processing procedure including the order of installation / update / uninstallation of the file and the necessary corresponding operation. The software configuration information is acquired, the software configuration information is compared with the stored contents, and the files to be installed / updated / uninstalled are installed based on the comparison result and the evaluation conditions. Evaluate the conditions, based on this evaluation result, to identify the files necessary to install / update / uninstall install / update / uninstall this file in the above procedure.

This eliminates the need for prior confirmation of the user prior to the installation / update / uninstallation and user operation associated with the installation / update / uninstallation, shortening the work time,
Various problems such as multiple installation and data loss due to human error can be avoided.

Installation of software of second invention /
The update / uninstall system includes an application / installation target and an installed application / program which are included in the evaluation condition of the first invention.
A file version or a timestamp of a data file to be installed / updated and an installed data file is included as an evaluation target, and the import / delete unit performs an application / installation that has not been installed based on the evaluation result of the version or timestamp. Means for installing a program file or data file in the above procedure, and replacing an old version of an application program file or an old timestamp data file with a new version of an application program file or a new timestamp data file And means for updating in the processing procedure.

In the second invention, an application program file or a data file that has not been installed is installed in each processing procedure,
Also, based on the evaluation result of the time stamp of the installation / update target and the installed application program file or the time stamp of the installation / update target and the installed data file, the old version of the application program file or the old time stamp data·
Copy the file to a new version of the application program file or a new timestamp
Update to the file with each processing procedure.

[0015] This eliminates the need for prior confirmation of the user prior to installation / update and user operation associated with the installation / update, and always updates the software to the latest state according to the convenience of the user.

Installation of the software of the third invention /
The update / uninstall system includes, in the evaluation condition of the first or second invention, whether or not a file constituting software to be uninstalled is installed as an evaluation target. Based on the evaluation result, it is characterized in that it has means for uninstalling the installed file included in the file configuration of the software to be uninstalled in the processing procedure.

In the third invention, the presence / absence of installation of a file constituting the software to be uninstalled is evaluated, and the installed file included in the file configuration of the software to be uninstalled is uninstalled according to the above-described processing procedure. install. At this time, depending on the necessary corresponding action included in the processing procedure,
The user program created when the application program file to be uninstalled was executed
Uninstall files and data files.

This eliminates the need for prior confirmation of the user prior to uninstallation and user operation associated with the uninstallation, shortens the work time,
Various problems such as uninstallation of files that should not be uninstalled and forgetting to uninstall user program files and data files created when executing application program files due to human error Is avoided.

Installation of software of the fourth invention /
The update / uninstall system according to any one of the first to third aspects,
Each time each file to be installed / updated / uninstalled is installed / updated / uninstalled, a means for evaluating the installation state of each file based on the evaluation condition, and a result of the evaluation indicating that the installation / update / uninstallation failed. In the case shown, means for stopping the subsequent processing and notifying the cause of the failure is further provided.

In the fourth invention, according to the above-described processing procedure,
Each time each file to be installed / updated / uninstalled is installed / updated / uninstalled, each file is set based on the above-mentioned evaluation conditions such as the presence / absence of file installation, version of application program file, time stamp of data file, etc. Evaluate the installation status of the file. If the evaluation result indicates that installation / update / uninstallation has failed, for example, not installed, old version, incomplete installation, etc., stop the subsequent processing and inform the user of the cause of the failure. Notice.

Thus, unnecessary processing is not performed on the memory of the user machine.

Installation of the software of the fifth invention /
The update / uninstall system according to any one of the first to fourth inventions, further includes means for presenting information on an installation state of a file constituting software to be installed / updated / uninstalled, which is evaluated based on the evaluation conditions. Is further provided.

In the fifth invention, the latest, installed, uninstalled, and old files are evaluated based on the above-described evaluation conditions such as the presence / absence of installation, version, and time stamp of files constituting software to be installed / updated / uninstalled. version,
Information on the installation status such as incomplete installation is presented to the user by a display device or the like of the user machine.

Thus, the user can check the installation state of the software on his own machine.

[0025]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a resource distribution system incorporating a software installation / update / uninstallation system (hereinafter, referred to as a system of the present invention) according to the present invention. The resource distribution machine 10 is a name, a version, a release date and time, a necessary capacity (memory capacity) of a storage device, a name and a contact person in charge of a responsible person, an available user name, and an identical storage device. The information on the file configuration of the business software, which is indicated by the name of the business software that cannot be stored in the application software (see FIG. 4), the names of the application program files and data files that make up the business software, Installation status and installation of each file /
Processing order when updating / uninstalling
The evaluation conditions and necessary corresponding operations (program execution command, file copy command, etc.) (see FIG. 5) are stored in the storage device 101 as “software configuration information”.

The software configuration information is data set in advance by a manager of the resource distribution machine 10 by a registration unit (not shown) in accordance with a data format as shown in FIGS.

The storage device 10 of the resource distribution machine 10
2 stores application program files, data files, and the like that can be distributed to the user machine 20, and software configuration information of business software composed of these application program files and data files. Is, as mentioned above,
It is stored in the storage device 101.

The means for storing the above-mentioned software configuration information and application program files and data files to be installed / updated / uninstalled is not limited to the storage device of the resource distribution machine 10, but may be an external storage medium. It may be.

User machine 2 for realizing the system of the present invention
0 is a LAN (Local Area Network)
k), or connected to the resource distribution machine 10 by a cable. The display device 201 has a display screen such as a liquid crystal display, and is provided by a user using operation buttons on the display screen.
In response to a request to acquire software configuration information of business software available to the user machine 10, the user machine 2
0 obtains the software configuration information of the business software that can be used by itself obtained from the resource distribution machine 10.

The configuration comparison device 202 is activated by a user's software configuration information acquisition request, and evaluates the storage contents of the storage device 205 of the user machine 20 based on the software configuration information acquired from the resource distribution machine 10.
Information on the evaluation result (including information on the installation state) is presented to the user by the display device 201.

The configuration comparing device 202 is provided with the display device 20.
1 is also activated when installing / updating / uninstalling one or a plurality of business software selected by the user from the contents presented by 1;
Each file constituting the business software to be updated / uninstalled is compared with the contents stored in the storage device 205 and evaluated under the evaluation conditions shown in FIG. 5, and the evaluation result (including the processing order and necessary corresponding operations) is In the case of installation / update, the data is passed to the resource acquisition device 203, and in the case of uninstallation, the data is passed to the resource deletion device 204 and presented to the user by the display device 201.

Based on the necessary corresponding operation included in the evaluation result, the resource fetching device 203 starts the installer, the user program, and the file copy program stored in the storage device 205 and the storage device 102, and executes the process shown in FIG.
Each file is installed / updated in the processing order preset by the administrator according to the format as described above.

The resource deletion device 204 activates an uninstaller, a user program, and a file deletion program stored in the storage device 205 and the storage device 102 based on the necessary corresponding operation included in the evaluation result. Each file is uninstalled in accordance with a processing sequence set in advance by the administrator according to the format described above.

The OS (operating system) installed in the machine monitors the tasks of these programs, and each file of the business software is continuously installed / updated in the storage device 205,
Also, uninstallation is continuously performed from the storage device 205.

As a method for automating the procedure of sequentially installing / updating / uninstalling each software file in the resource fetching device 203 and the resource deleting device 204, the user selects and determines installation / update / uninstallation. What is necessary is to provide a program for automatically operating the operation buttons for causing the installer or the uninstaller to start. Also, a program that monitors the operation of the installer and uninstaller, inquires of the user in a conversational manner whether to continue or interrupt the operation, and operates continuously may be provided.

When the installation / update of any file is completed without clearing the evaluation condition, the resource acquisition device 203 stops processing without continuing the subsequent installation / update, and causes the installation / update to fail. To the user.

Similarly, when the uninstallation of one of the files is completed without clearing the evaluation condition, the resource deletion device 204 stops the process without continuing the subsequent uninstallation, and causes the uninstallation failure. To the user.

Next, the procedure for presenting software information of the system of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 2 and the example of a screen display of the evaluation result shown in FIG. When a user requests presentation of software configuration information by the graphical user interface provided by the display device 201 of the user machine 20, the user machine 20 receives, from the resource distribution machine 10, software configuration information of business software that can be used by itself. (Step S
21).

The configuration comparison device 202 is a resource distribution machine 1
0 to the storage device 205.
(Step S22), and evaluates the storage contents based on the evaluation conditions included in the software configuration information (Step S23). Installation of the business software usable by the user machine 20 into the storage device 205 is performed. Status (Example: "Installed latest" = Complete installation status, "Incomplete installation" = Missing configuration files, "Old version" = Update available, "Not installed" = Not installed The evaluation result (including the processing order and the necessary corresponding operation) including the status) is displayed on the display device 201 for each business software (step S24).

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a screen display of the evaluation result. FIG. 6 (a) shows an evaluation in the case of installation, FIG. 6 (b) shows an evaluation in the case of update, and FIG. 6 (c) shows an evaluation in the case of uninstallation. It is a screen display example of a result.

By setting the future release date of the business software scheduled for simultaneous release to the user in the software configuration information, this business software is stored in the storage device 102 of the resource distribution machine 10 before the distribution date. It will be possible to keep. In this case, among the business software available to the user machine 20, the software configuration information of the business software whose current date determined based on its own date function has not reached the distribution date is the user machine 20
A function is provided to restrict the display from being displayed on the display device 201.

If the user selects business software that cannot be stored in the same storage device as the business software installed in the storage device 205, a function to display a rejection message is provided.

Next, the procedure of taking in / deleting software of the system of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. The configuration comparison device 202 is activated when the user selects one or a plurality of business software to install / update / uninstall from among the business software available to the user machine 20 and presented by the display device 201. Each file configuring the business software to be updated / uninstalled is compared with the contents stored in the storage device 205 (step S31), and evaluated under evaluation conditions as shown in FIG. 5 (step S32).

The evaluation result is determined (step S33). If the evaluation result indicates that the evaluation condition is not cleared (for example, the file does not exist, the file time stamp is old, the file version is the old version, etc.), the installation is performed. / Updating, resource acquisition device 203
Resource deletion device 204 for uninstallation
To install / update or uninstall necessary files by passing the evaluation result to
34). If the result of determination in step S33 is that the evaluation result indicates that the evaluation condition has been cleared, the software is already applied, and the process ends.

In step S34, every time the installation / update / uninstallation of each file is completed, the storage device 20 is evaluated under the evaluation conditions shown in FIG.
5 is evaluated (step S35), and the evaluation result is determined (step S36).

If the evaluation result indicates that the evaluation condition is not cleared (for example, the file does not exist, the file time stamp is old, the file version is the old version, etc.), installation / update / uninstallation has failed. So, without applying the software,
Subsequent processing stops, and the cause of the installation / update / uninstallation failure is notified to the user. If the result of the determination in step S36 shows that the evaluation result indicates that the evaluation condition has been cleared, since the software has been applied, the following procedure is executed.

The above-described computer program for installing / updating / uninstalling software can be provided by being preinstalled on a computer, or can be provided on a portable recording medium such as a CD-ROM or MO. It is. Further, it can be provided via a line.

[0048]

As described above, according to the present invention, an application program file constituting software to be installed / updated / uninstalled, a file name of a data file used at the time of execution, and a file installation state Processing including evaluation conditions (e.g., file installation, application program file version, data file timestamp, etc.) for file evaluation, file installation / update / uninstallation order, and necessary actions The procedure information is acquired, and the files that need to be installed / updated / uninstalled are automatically installed / updated / uninstalled by the above processing procedure. Prior confirmation of the user prior to Lumpur,
It does not require user operation for installation / update / uninstallation, shortens the work time, and configures software to be installed / updated / uninstalled to avoid various problems caused by human error. It has an excellent effect.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a resource distribution system incorporating the system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a software information presentation procedure.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a software import / deletion procedure.

FIG. 4 is a format diagram (part 1) of software configuration information.

FIG. 5 is a format diagram (part 2) of software configuration information.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a screen display example of an evaluation result.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 resource distribution machine 101, 102 storage device 20 user machine (system of the present invention) 201 display device 202 configuration comparison device 203 resource acquisition device 204 resource deletion device 205 storage device

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An application program file and software comprising a data file used when executing the application program file are installed / updated, while the application program file and the application program file In a system for uninstalling software including a data file used at the time of execution and created, identification information of a file constituting software to be installed / updated / uninstalled, evaluation conditions for evaluating an installation state of the file, Acquiring means for acquiring information on a processing procedure of installing / updating / uninstalling the file; and identifying information of the file by the installed file. Comparing means for comparing with the identification information, evaluation means for evaluating the installation state of the file to be installed / updated / uninstalled based on the comparison result of the comparing means and the evaluation condition; , Identify files that need to be installed / updated / uninstalled,
A software installation / update / uninstallation system comprising: a take-in / deletion means for installing / updating / uninstalling the file in the processing procedure. 2. The evaluation conditions include an installation / update target and an installed application.
The version of the program file or the timestamp of the installed / updated object and the installed data file is included as the evaluation object, and the loading / deleting means is not yet installed based on the evaluation result of the version or timestamp. Means for installing an application program file or data file in the processing procedure,
And older versions of application programs
2. The software installation / installation method according to claim 1, further comprising means for updating the file or the old time stamp data file to a new version of the application program file or the new time stamp data file in the processing procedure.
Update / Uninstall system. 3. The evaluation condition includes, as an evaluation target, the presence or absence of installation of a file constituting software to be uninstalled, and the resource fetching / deleting means determines whether or not to install the software to be uninstalled based on an evaluation result of the installation. 3. The software installation / update / uninstallation system according to claim 1, further comprising means for uninstalling an installed file included in the software file configuration in the processing procedure. 4. Installation / installation according to the processing procedure
Means for evaluating the installation state of each file based on the evaluation conditions each time each file to be updated / uninstalled is installed / updated / uninstalled, and when the evaluation result indicates that the installation / update / uninstallation has failed The software installation / update / uninstallation system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising means for stopping the subsequent processing and notifying of the cause of the failure. 5. The system according to claim 1, further comprising means for presenting information on an installation state of files constituting software to be installed / updated / uninstalled and evaluated based on the evaluation conditions.
5. The software installation / update / uninstallation system according to any one of claims 1 to 4.