A development and build environment creates information used by the master node and nodes in a network of nodes to perform software loading and evaluation during boot and normal runtime. The invention creates metadata and dependency data for packages and modules. Module metadata are created and inserted into the package that includes information such as the module's: binary signature, name, directory path, characteristics, and API dependency information. Packages are formed based on features/characteristics or purpose. A package contains one or more modules. Metadata are created for each package and inserted into the package that includes information such as the package's: name, build date, and characteristics.