Risk of inadvertent introduction of software bugs to a large number of users during a software update is minimized using an automatic mechanism controlling update release. A value-generating module generates a value for a computer, the value falling within a population range of values. A specification module receives update information in an update deployment specification. The information specifies an eligibility window during which a specified portion of the population range is eligible to retrieve an update. The specification can include fields, such as a code selector, a value offset, a start time, etc. An eligibility determination module applies rules to automatically determine eligibility of the computer to retrieve the software update. The computer is determined eligible when the value for the computer falls within the specified portion of the population range for the eligibility window. An update module permits the computer to retrieve the software update based on the eligibility determination.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/106,194, filed on Apr. 13, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,334,005 entitled "Controllable Deployment of Software Updates," the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety for all purposes.
