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apk add <firmware-pkg> (and apk fix) can FLASH the boot partition

scope: generic · severity: trap · confidence: proven · subsystem: build

Files under /lib/firmware fire mkinitfs’s apk trigger; mkinitfs calls boot-deploy; and boot-deploy ends with a dd of a freshly built boot.img onto the boot partition.

So installing or repairing a firmware package is a flash, in the middle of whatever else is running. It is not a slot switch and it does not change which kernel is installed — but an interrupted write leaves an unbootable slot, and it is emphatically not what anyone typing apk fix on a phone expects.

Terminal window
apk add --no-scripts <firmware-pkg>     # files + ownership, no flash

On taimen nothing that package ships is read from the initramfs — modem, ath10k and the GPU all load after switch-root — so skipping the trigger costs nothing. Verify that for your device before adopting --no-scripts as a habit.