Is it possible the following "non port-specific change" has something to do
with my current problem???

"add a `config_pending' semaphore to block mounting of the root file system
until all device driver discovery threads have had a chance to do their work.
This in turn blocks initproc's exec of init(8) until root is mounted and
process start times and CWD info has been fixed up."

Grasping at straws,
-Mark