> 
> Shouldn't we try more carefully (and harder :-) to see what 
> _can_ actually be shared among the different ports and then
> actually share it. MAKEDEV is really a good example for this,
> as in theory, all ports should be able to use the same
> file. And even if we need a port-specific MAKEDEV,
> there is definitely a lot to be shared, so a common part
> would make sense, IMHO.
> 
> I fear, that some major/minor numbers might be used
> in some ports for different things, but there is normally
> no need to do so, except when you want to have the same
> major/minor number that another OS running on this architecture
> (like Digital Unix on the Alpha). I don't know if this is
> really done, or not, and I don't want to say anything about
> this being good or bad.

I suggested sharing of major/minor numbers a long time ago.
This was more with a shared filesystem in mind. 
Together with fat binaries you *need* the same
major/minor ids (or at least it needs uniq numbers) for
root disks,ttys etc..
I asked for a CDROM that you can boot of from any
platform. But this is impossible at the moment.

It seemed that time there is no interest because of other
more important things and because of the inconveniences 
a change of major/minor numbers produces.

imho it is still a good idea in the long run.

ciao
Carsten

--
Carsten Hammer  Schwindstr. 7 33615 Bielefeld
Fakultaet fuer Physik          D4-139
chammer@POST.uni-bielefeld.de
chammer@phyd2hammer.physik.uni-bielefeld.de