> Well, one bit mask at the very least is a good thing: MI versus MD devices. 

No it's not.  (I was about to say this in another message, too.  8-)

Why is it important?  What does it accomplish?

between multiple devices of the same ${MACHINE_ARCH} it makes sense to
have all the same devices -- so you can boot off the same media
(e.g. CD-ROM, net-boot, etc.)

However, between different ${MACHINE_ARCH}s, there are _so_ many other
problems that need to be solved that getting an extra copy of the
device nodes for the right arch just isn't very hard, if you're trying
to do common media.



${MACHINE_ARCH}s should liteally _share_ a device table (i.e. share
the source file) and a MAKEDEV script.  The old->new conversion tables
would have to be in ${MACHINE}-dependent kernel files, but that's no
problem.



chris