PKGBase and Embedded Systems

Well, ok, "sort-of" embedded systems.  Think firewalls.

Right now I build a USB stick-based setup for these on NanoBSD and, for 
some other hardware in somewhat-similar applications (e.g. home control, 
etc.) for the PI series using Crochet.

/var is volatile on both where /usr/local/etc has a "save" mechanism 
(along with /etc) in both environments; that is, its volatile while 
running, but can be instructed to sync with the saved copy thus on a 
reboot/reset/powerloss the last-saved is retained.

A couple of times I've concluded the "best" way to deal with things that 
dump state they'd like to keep in /var somewhere (usually in /var/db), 
where the "thing" doesn't have a command-line switch to change that, is 
to move that directory to /usr/local/etc/db and then symlink it during 
the setup, thus it becomes "volatile but subject to save" as with 
anything else in /usr/local/etc.

Pkgbase opens the possibility of fixing security vulnerabilities and 
similar with other than using the "ping pong" type of dual-partition 
setup that both nanobsd and Crochet can support. But pkgbase, like pkg 
itself, relies on persistent storage.

Anyone else doing embedded stuff have thoughts on this?  (I presume 
pkgbase going to be something you CAN use, but not that you MUST use....)

-- 
Karl Denninger
karl@denninger.net
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