> > Something that I know nothing about but think 'might be a nice idea' is to
> > have each device attach function called in its own thread or lwp, so that
> > firstly the defer function is not needed and secondly autoconf can proceed
> > in parallel. If a device can't proceed until a disk is mounted so that
> > firmware can be loaded then hey, just wait until then.

I like this idea.

I wanted such a thing when I had to write a custome device driver
which has 2 parents.  I didn't need much support for that from
autoconf(9) but I really wanted to resume _attach function when both
parents are configured.

Also, I wonder if paralleling device configuration speeds up
configuration time.

> A problem with autoconf in parallel and our current /dev is that parallel 
> autoconf can give wildcard devices different minor numbers from boot to 
> boot.
> 
> mjf is working on a devfs which would remove this concern, though.

Cool. :)

Masao