Leonard Erickson wrote in a message to Jasen Betts:

 JB> hotplugging would be hell to code. (installing drivers for devices as
 JB> they are attached to the usb)

 LE> I wouldn't even *try*. Just supporting stuff via drivers installed
 LE> at boot, or loaded on demand as TSRs would be hairy enough.

Yeah,  but the linux kernel coders are doing just that...

USB support was in there as of the 2.4 series,  if I understand things
correctly.  And as far as on-demand code,  they've been doing that with
kernel modules for a bit longer than that.  You don't use it,  it unloads
itself from memory until you need it again.  I like it!

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