Only the hardware profile needs to precede the reimage, because it is the
one change that touches boot: a kernel parameter and a module blacklist.
Validating it while a known-good generation still exists means the reimage
installs a configuration already proven on this hardware, where a freshly
imaged machine has no rollback target.
The housekeeping and commit-identity changes carry no boot risk and apply
equally well after the wipe, so they no longer gate it. The case for
reimaging soon rests on the machine holding almost nothing, and that
weakens with every day of use.
alexion
4c0d36324c