A componentization schema representing files from which an operating system or other software product is built. According to the schema, a component object represents one or more of the files. The component object has a manifest that identifies the component and specifies any dependencies between the component and other objects. Grouping objects according to the dependencies specified in manifests permits building the software product. A feature object defined by at least one component object represents a feature of the software product and a product object defined by at least one feature object represents the software product.