Method and apparatus for determining least risk install order of software patches

A method or apparatus determines an order for installing software patches by comparing information in the software patches. The information may include files created or modified to fix software errors in a software program and metadata referring to the files. By comparing the information, the method or apparatus may determine whether at least two of the software patches include files in common. Based on the results of comparing the information, the method or apparatus may automatically determine an order for installing the software patches into the software program. The files in a given software patch may be used to fix unrelated software errors. The metadata may refer to a time at which the files in the software patches were created or modified, and the order of installation may occur in a chronological manner based on creation or modification dates.