Devel Digest, Vol 34, Issue 86

[Mitch Bradley]

dsd at laptop.org wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 23, 2008 at 8:08 PM,  <pgf at laptop.org> wrote:
>   
>> ssh host keys are probably generated on first boot as well.
>>
>> with partitioning support, it should be possible to have a r.o. root
>> overlaid by a unionfs writeable mount, so machine-specific changes
>> don't modify the released partition.  this would make cloning quite a
>> bit easier, i'd think.  i have no idea what the performance hit of
>> a unionfs setup would be, nor how such a partitioning would fit
>> into the rest of the update strategy (e.g.  olpc-update).
>>     
>
> unionfs isn't upstream and was quite unreliable last time I use it.
>   
Puppy Linux has used unionfs for some time, apparently with good results.

> And it adds the challenge of differentiating state that must be
> discarded for the cloned image, and state that must not be.
>   

Uh, is it really unionfs that adds that challenge?  I would think that 
the need to differentiate between wanted and unwanted state is a 
fundamental requirement of the cloning approach, regardless of whether 
or not unionfs is part of the implementation strategy.