> I guess I'm missing the point.  What would an _autoconfig_ parent for
> Ethernet, or FDDI, or whatever, devices give us that we can't already
> do with config's attribute mechanism, and the kernel config attributes
> that exist for ether, fddi, arcnet, etc?

It's purely a user-interface, user-convenience issue.

If your first LAN interface is always at lan0, not at one of

	{ae0,de0,ea0,eb0,ed0,eg0,eh0,el0,ep0,es0,fe0,hp0,ie0,ix0,iy0,lpt0,
	 ni0,ofnet0,qe0,qn0,se0,sn0,fea0,fpa0,fta0,bah0}

(this list was generated mechanically, and may leave out a few things..)

then scripts and instructions for doing installation and configuration
can be much simpler.

						- Bill