Patent attributes
A mechanism is provided for managing pre-requisite software components of a software product distributed on a virtual machine. A list of pre-requisite software components for the software product provided in the software product virtual image distribution package of the software product virtual image is read. A test is performed as to whether each pre-requisite software component in the list of prerequisite software components is not installed in the virtual machine. If the prerequisite software component is not installed, the pre-requisite software component is retrieved. License text of the retrieved pre-requisite software component is read and displayed to a user. Upon approval of the license text by the user, the retrieved pre-requisite software component is installed. The process is repeated until all the pre-requisite software components are installed.