Installation and restore architecture
Home · Documentation · Evidence
The audited staging tree is a subset of an Apple update, not a complete installed-system image. The exact Apple comparison establishes byte identity for corresponding retained objects; it does not establish that every component was used. The image inventory explains the RAMDisk, BaseSystems, Preboot, diagnostics, and cryptex reconstruction.
Solid edges represent observed packaging or selected static call relationships. Dashed edges mark unproven historical or hardware transitions. In particular, the Update.plist writer and reader were traced, but no historical instance of that file was supplied. See ramrod, brain and commands, firmware handoff, and Stage 6F.7.
The trust path has several distinct layers: package/reference identity, code-signature integrity, Image4/certificate checks, trust-cache membership, boot policy, runtime caller authorization, and device firmware acceptance. Passing one layer does not imply the later layers. Secure Boot, signatures/KCs, and methodology set out the measured boundaries.
The source for this diagram is installation-flow.mmd. The coverage register shows which of these edges are bounded and which remain pending.