> > Now one could create a separate, small partition to keep the ramdisk
> > kernel, to be really really safe.
> 
> Except is then gets missed off the system archive and when the disk
> dies you no longer have it.  Maybe ok for an emergency boot, but not
> for the source tree for the encryption routines for the software
> licensing code.......

Oh come on.  If the disk dies you're going to need far more than the 
/rescue stuff to get the world going again.  When was the last time you 
managed to purchase a replacement disk with the same size/geometry as the 
one that died?  Unless you can then at the very least you are going to 
have to start off by booting from an image on floppy/cdrom/net.

And what has the source code got to do with all this?

R.