Martin Husemann <martin@duskware.de> quoted me and wrote (Quentin
Garnier also posted something similar):

[about amd64-vs-i386 /dev minor numbers]
>> Purely cosmetic?  I thought it was done to avoid a flag day in /dev
>> when switching from an 8-partition kernel to a 16-partition kernel.
> Heh, I think he is talking about amd64 *not* doing the same dance but
> using straight numbers (for purely cosmetic reasons ;-})

I would disagree that the reasons are purely cosmetic.  Uniformity
across multiple architectures is worth something - if nothing else, it
brings us closer to the day when multiple diskless machines can share
/dev even if they're of different archs.

I still think i386 should have bit the bullet and declared a flag day
when they went to 16 majors per - or if they really wanted to preserve
compatability, leave the old majors at 8 per and use new (and
preferably MI) majors for 16 per.  But I suppose it's too late now.

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