@xKiv: Yep, that's how I did it (note wording above). r36 should hopefully spell the end of frustrating update issues when a host goes down (assuming mafia still sets _svnUpdated to true; and if not, you can).
Harmful to whom? Error reports due to using an out-of-date version of one of my scripts have dwindled to nearly nonexistent. My scripts also take advantage of the "since" command to avoid problems caused by using a non-current build of mafia.
Automatic updates are admittedly heavy-handed and I generally dislike and disable them as a rule on software I use. In this case, they are there for my sanity. I can forgive myself for the heavy-handedness given that 1) they're not baked into a piece of compiled software but are in an easily-editable script, and ii) anyone savvy enough to disable them is also savvy enough to try updating the script before reporting an error. It also fits philosophically with my desire to promote discourse in the language of ASH rather than single-author products discussed without reference to code, but that's an entirely different can of worms altogether.