I think it would be a neat feature to add to hijack. Temporarily unpack the upgrade file to empeg/var, replace the player partition, then remove the temp file from var.

The only tricky part is that hijack would be unable to flash itself out of existence to replace the kernel contained in the upgrade file. This would actually be OK if you made sure the .upgrade file and the currently-installed hijack were compatible.

Actually, the kernel currnntly DOES flash itself "out of existance" with the existing mechanism.. the flash copy can be replaced while running with no issues.

An ethernet upgrader is not so much a Hijack project, as a project for the platform from which it will be run (Linux, Windows, Java). The bits and pieces needed to support it are already mostly in place in Hijack (or perhaps ALL of them are in place).

(1) overwrite a filesystem with a new image: just FTP to /dev/hd*

(2) upgrade kernel: already there

(3) reboot: already there

I'm not that familiar with the other steps.. what else is there?

Cheers

Actually, the kernel currnntly DOES flash itself "out of existance" with the existing mechanism.. the flash copy can be replaced while running with no issues.

True, but what I meant was this: The factory ".upgrade" files contain a kernel that isn't a hijack kernel. If you used the enclosed kernel and flashed hijack out of existence, then this hypothetical tricky ethernet upgrade mechanism would work exactly once, after which you're back to using serial.