[OLPC-devel] Secure BIOS on the OLPC

[Ronald G Minnich]

Ivan Krstić wrote:
> Ronald G Minnich wrote:
> 
>>I am pretty uncomfortable with the idea of putting a magic file in place
>>and then having a flash occur on reboot automatically. 
> 
> 
> Why, specifically?

Because, you are assuming that a reboot is always intended, and that is 
not necessarily the case. Yes, on reboot you may find that file, but no, 
you don't know that you have rebooted due to an intentional decision to 
reboot, or an accident.

reflash is a drastic operation. Doing it on reboot is worrisome to me. I 
have flashed 1024 machines at a time, machines with no keyboard or 
display, and hence with substantial pain in store if anything went 
wrong. I can tell you that, from my point of view the 'auto reflash on 
reboot' scenario is one of the worst I can image, becuase there are many 
circumstances in which a reboot is unplanned and involuntary.

ron