when i use -b and port forward together, the forwarded port is not bound to the
same local address (should it ?). (ive patch my local ssh to do this).

This brings me to the basic idea that -L/-R could optionally accept quads ie
-L [local_bind_addr:]port:host:port
-R [remote_bind_addr:]port:host:port

this is actually what i would like as always binding to the -b option is not
flexible.

.... Simon