A feature opportunity (was: Autoreinstallation image is not signed.)

[Robert Myers]

ffm, and others,

> The real issue is that there is no way to back up a user's data if the OS is
> borked sans developer key. If the autoreinstallation image's backup features
> were incorporated in offline upgrade, that would solve a lot of headaches.
> 
> Use case: "Alice has worked on her final paper for months, and one day her
> XO won't start. She has no backups, and no alternate OS image." 
> 
> Now, 
> "Alice reinstalls her OS using the autoreinstallation image, which backs up
> /home/olpc and restores it when done. "
> 
> Of course, once the boot-image is signed, we'll make a nice package for G1G1
> users, not all of the "sugar-update.py" stuff, but getting the image signed
> is the important part for the average DRM'd user. 

An alternative idea, but it would take 2 XOs and a USB cable.

(IMO the 2 XOs part shouldn't be hard as they usually travel in herds.)

What about a mode like Apple has where a second XO could be mounted as 
an external file system to the rescue machine? Copy the desired files 
over, restore the borked machine to a usable state, and restore the data.

This could be a useful feature to allow teachers/local support to keep 
things running smoothly.

Bob