I have a slack install that started from a pre-udev version, kept updated by upgrading packages (ie, not reinstalling from scratch each version). Given the horror stories in early udev versions, plus since I didn't see any performance benefit in going through all the effort to learn to configure it, I never installed udev.

I read somewhere that udev is required by current kernel versions - is this true? if so, is there a workaround?

if no workaround, is there anything to do beyond installing the udev package and wading through all that syntax in the .rules file?

my fear is missing something and having the kernel not be able to find or confuse devices on the next boot.

Thanks

The newer kernels do not include devfs so yes, some form of upgrade is needed. Udev is the preferred method and I can assure you that all is pretty stable now however you may want to take a look at nDevFS. I've never used it myself but if you're dead set against udev it might be worth taking a look at