Device assignment order

[Scrap Happy <scrap%GMX.com@localhost>]

Hi,

I'm building a new kernel to add support for second
IDE controller -- pdcide(4) -- in this PV715N.  My
first attempt at doing so resulted in "wd0" being
enumerated on the pdcide device instead of the wdc
device (which, of course, put all my filesystems in
the wrong place -- boo!).

When devices in configuration file are wildcarded,
how does kernel assign identifiers to them?  I am
*guessing* (haven't found the right man(1) page
to clarify this :< ) that they are enumerated in
the order declared in the config file?

wd(4) devices attach to atabus(4) devices

So, any device that exports atabus(4) competes
for the "atabus0" assignment.  In my case, those
are wdc(4) and pdcide(4).  If I declare wdc*
BEFORE (i.e., closer to the start of the file)
pdcide*, will this ensure this desired mapping?

Or, is there some other dependency that I'm
overlooking?

[I don't want to explicitly declare any devices
like "wd0" as the kernel runs on different
machines with differing hardware]

I guess it can't hurt to *try*...

Thanks!
--don