#5422 NORM Never A: Pending signed firmware update kills DRM'd machine til AC power is applied

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#5422: Pending signed firmware update kills DRM'd machine til AC power is applied
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  Reporter:  gnu                  |       Owner:  wmb at firmworks.com
      Type:  defect               |      Status:  new              
  Priority:  normal               |   Milestone:  Never Assigned   
 Component:  ofw - open firmware  |     Version:                   
Resolution:                       |    Keywords:                   
  Verified:  0                    |  
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Changes (by jg):

 * cc: cscott (added)
  * keywords:  security DRM =>


Comment:

 Here's the problem, John....

 The one thing that can "brick" a machine is interrupting a firmware
 update.

 So we require the presence of a battery *and* a power supply before
 proceeding to reflash the firmware.  This is to prevent a failure that
 literally causes the machine to be permanently unusable (short of
 replacing the SPI flash).

 Now, that the system would not boot anyway, deferring the firmware update
 until the next opportunity, one might argue is a bug...

 For safety's sake, it may need to reboot into the "old" version of the
 system, as running new code against old firmware may cause major
 headaches under some circumstances.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/5422#comment:1>
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