Methods, systems, and computer program products for improving installation of software packages by performing dynamic, remote validation of various installation data before building an installation image. The remote validation occurs in the target environment, such that the values for various installation parameters can be analyzed in the context of that target environment. Creation and distribution of the installation package can then be suppressed until the configuration parameters have acceptable values. This immediate feedback approach allows for a more efficient installation process. In preferred embodiments, structured markup language syntax is used to specify which configuration values are subject to remote validation. Structured markup language documents are preferably used to describe the data that is to be transmitted from a staging server to the remote environment, where an installation agent is adapted for processing the document and determining the corresponding validation routine(s) to be invoked on the remote system. Similarly, structured markup language documents are preferably used for describing results of the validation to the staging server.