System and method for installing, updating and uninstalling applications
One example system includes an export engine to generate an environment agnostic configuration file and an environment properties data structure based on a server program executing in the environment. The environment-agnostic configuration file includes representations of a set of environment dependent attributes from the set of configuration information, each representation for an environment dependent attribute including at least one token that replaces a value of the attribute in the representation, and representations of members of a set of environment independent attributes from the set of configuration information that are equivalent between two different environments. The environment properties data structure has, for each environment, a value that corresponds to the at least one token. An example system may compare previously generated files with current files to identify differences. Differences that represent malicious changes can trigger restoration of the configuration using the previously generated files.
1. A method comprising:
querying a program operating in a first environment for a set of configuration information;
generating an environment-agnostic configuration file that includes:
representations of a set of environment-dependent attributes from the set of configuration information, each representation for an environment-dependent attribute including at least one token that replaces a value of the attribute in the representation, and
representations of members of a set of environment-independent attributes from the set of configuration information that are equivalent between the first environment and a second environment;
generating an environment properties data structure having, for the first environment, a first-environment-specific value that corresponds to the at least one token;
comparing the environment-agnostic configuration file with a previously generated environment-agnostic configuration file and comparing the environment properties data structure and a previously generated environment properties data structure to identify differences;
reporting the differences identified; and
responsive to identifying differences, using the previously generated environment-agnostic configuration file and the previously generated environment properties data structure to restore configuration settings in the first environment.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the environment-agnostic configuration file includes:
identifying the environment-dependent attributes and the environment-independent attributes in a property file that maps server configuration items to respective objects in an environment-independent representation,
wherein the environment-dependent attributes and the environment-independent attributes in the environment-agnostic configuration file are those identified in the property file.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the previously generated environment-agnostic configuration file represents a last known good state.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the previously generated environment-agnostic configuration file is a file generated by a previous operation performed by a runtime engine in the first environment.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the previous operation is one of installing the program, uninstalling the program, status reporting, or reporting differences.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the previously generated environment-agnostic configuration file and the previously generated environment properties data structure are part of an installation atomic that includes compiled binary artifacts.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the differences represent malicious changes.
8. A system comprising:
at least one processor;
memory storing at least a first environment-agnostic configuration file and a first environment properties data structure generated for an install of a program in a first environment,
wherein the first environment-agnostic configuration file includes:
representations of a set of environment-dependent attributes from a first set of configuration information, each representation for an environment-dependent attribute including at least one token that replaces a value of the environment-dependent attribute in the representation, and
representations of members of a set of environment-independent attributes from the first set of configuration information that are equivalent between the first environment and a second environment, and
wherein the first environment properties data structure includes a first-environment-specific value that corresponds to the at least one token; and
memory storing instructions executed by the at least one processor to cause the system to:
query the first environment for a second set of configuration information for the program;
generate a second environment-agnostic configuration file that includes:
representations of a set of environment-dependent attributes from the second set of configuration information, and
representations of members of a set of environment-independent attributes from the second set of configuration information;
generate a second environment properties data structure;
compare the first environment-agnostic configuration file with the second environment-agnostic configuration file and compare the first environment properties data structure and the second environment properties data structure to identify differences;
report the differences identified; and
responsive to identifying differences, use the first environment-agnostic configuration file and the first environment properties data structure to restore configuration settings in the first environment.
9. The system of claim 8 , wherein generating the second environment-agnostic configuration file includes:
identifying environment-dependent attributes and environment-independent attributes in a property file that maps server configuration items to respective objects in an environment-independent representation,
wherein the environment-dependent attributes and the environment-independent attributes in the second environment-agnostic configuration file are those identified in the property file.
10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the first environment-agnostic configuration file was used to install the program.
11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the differences represent malicious changes.
12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the first environment-agnostic configuration file and the first environment properties data structure are part of an installation atomic that includes compiled binary artifacts.
13. A method comprising:
querying a program operating in a first environment for a first set of configuration information;
generating a first environment-agnostic configuration file that includes:
representations of a set of environment-dependent attributes from the first set of configuration information, each representation for an environment-dependent attribute including at least a first token that replaces a value of the attribute in the representation, and
representations of members of a set of environment-independent attributes from the first set of configuration information that are equivalent between the first environment and a second environment;
generating a first environment properties data structure having, for the first environment, a first environment-specific value that corresponds to the first token;
making a change to the program in the first environment;
querying the program subsequent to the change for a second set of configuration information;
generating a second environment-agnostic configuration file that includes:
representations of a set of environment-dependent attributes from the second set of configuration information, each representation for an environment-dependent attribute including at least a second token that replaces a value of the attribute in the representation, and
representations of members of a set of environment-independent attributes from the second set of configuration information that are equivalent between the first environment and a second environment;
generating a second environment properties data structure having, for the first environment, a second environment-specific value that corresponds to the second token;
comparing the first environment-agnostic configuration file with the second environment-agnostic configuration file and comparing the first environment properties data structure and the second environment properties data structure to identify differences;
committing the differences to a third environment where the program is operating, the third environment being an environment similar to the first environment.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the change is a delete of the program.
15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the change is an update to the program.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the update uses a third environment-agnostic configuration file generated at the second environment.
17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the update represents version skipping.