MacOS Big Sur Dec 14 Update: Reboots 2019 Mac Pro Continually

re: Apple Core Rot

Apple software updates keep getting scarier (inscrutable progress, multiple reboots), and taking long and longer, even for minor updates.

So far my 2019 Mac Pro has rebooted four or five times. I don’t yet know if the update has destroyed my boot drive, or whether it will succeed. It’s doing something now yet again (“8 minutes remaining”). Another reboot and maybe it will be OK?

UPDATE: it ultimately worked.

Surely Apple indicate with each reboot that it’s not just in an endless bugfest loop.

I would pay to be able to run macOS Mojave on my Mac Pro instead of macOS Big Sur—, since every day I still deal with bugs that were there when it was first released.