Configurable Boot Archive Updates [2009/312 05/26/2009]

[James Carlson]

Nicolas Williams writes:
> There could be times where updating the archive won't be feasible
> because, say, a driver needed for mounting / needs to be updated to
> match a firmware update, and a panic occurs before the archive update --
> if the driver and firmware have to be updated together then you have a
> brick.  To fix this should require using a recovery CD or net boot.
> 
> More complex cases might involve heavy hacking on /etc/system vis-a-vis
> the root filesystem.  You'd be on your own then though.

If so, then that argues for having either a flag that keeps the system
from going into a potentially 'bad' rebuild / reboot / panic loop.
(Whether the system sticks in the completely unusable maintenance mode
or skips the update and runs crippled for this one corner seems like a
coin toss to me.)

I've rebuilt more archives than I care to count, and I can't say I've
ever encountered such a problem, but I guess anything's possible.

-- 
James Carlson, Solaris Networking              <james.d.carlson at sun.com>
Sun Microsystems / 35 Network Drive        71.232W   Vox +1 781 442 2084
MS UBUR02-212 / Burlington MA 01803-2757   42.496N   Fax +1 781 442 1677