> > Thereby adding complexity to ... lots of things, most importantly the
> > code which implements the basic read-write path.
> 
> But wouldn't we need that complexity to be able to support choosing,
> at run time, between a byte-swaping and a non-byte-swapping bridge
> chip?

Not necessarily.

A different bridge will have a different driver.  A different driver
will include different code.



cgd