moused and text console/xorg switching delay

[Warren Block]

FreeBSD 7-STABLE as of July 22, 2008
USB mouse
xorg-server-1.4.2,1

There's some interaction between moused and console/xorg screen 
switching.

When moused has been run from boot with moused_enable="YES" in 
/etc/rc.conf, switching from a text console to xorg with Alt-F9 is 
quick, a couple of seconds or less.

When moused has been disabled with moused_enable="NO" in /etc/rc.conf, 
switching from a text console to xorg takes much longer, up to ten 
seconds before the screen becomes active.  Note that moused still gets 
started in the background by either HAL or xorg.

The delay is similar on both a Thinkpad T42 and an Athlon 3000 desktop. 
It doesn't seem to be hardware-specific.

Testing is a little complicated because just killing or enabling and 
starting moused is not enough to duplicate the problem.  Reboot does it. 
Probably restarting one daemon would be enough, although I haven't found 
which.

I don't think there's enough information to file a PR; if anyone can 
confirm or deny the problem on another system, or find a more specific 
daemon/system to blame, it would help.  Possible areas: moused, syscons, 
HAL, xorg-server.

Thanks.

-Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota USA