[Cryptography] Transactional software updates

[Raymond Burkholder]

> -----Original Message-----
> Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2017 10:38
> To: cryptography at metzdowd.com
> Subject: [Cryptography] Transactional software updates
> 
> What I would like is to download the software update and then tell the O/S
> to simply overlay the update on top of the file system as an atomic
> operation. So installing a software update takes a millisecond, no more.

In the linux world, there is something called OverlayFS, which is an overaly file system.  Some organizations use that to build a basic boot image, and then provide an overlay.  So if an update to an overlay is corrupted, a reversion can take place by replacing or turning off the overlay.

There is also something known as CRIU is used to checkpoint/update/restore the kernel, also known in the lInux world.

These two tools don't necessarily provide all your feature requests, but they may help you get closer to your destination.

> 
> Rolling back a software update is just a matter of telling the O/S to stop
> applying the overlay.
> 

.....  more stuff removed


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