--- linux-2.4.0-test13-pre4/fs/devfs/base.c	Fri Nov 17 11:36:27 2000
+++ linux/fs/devfs/base.c	Sun Dec 10 13:50:29 2000
@@ -1238,6 +1253,7 @@
 {
     int is_new;
     struct devfs_entry *de;
+    int numeric_suffix;
 
     if (name == NULL)
     {
@@ -1292,8 +1308,16 @@
 	minor = next_devnum_block & 0xff;
 	++next_devnum_block;
     }
-    de = search_for_entry (dir, name, strlen (name), TRUE, TRUE, &is_new,
-			   FALSE);
+    numeric_suffix = 0;
+    do {
+	char realname[strlen(name)+11]; /* max 32-bit decimal integer is 10
+					  characters, plus one for
+					  terminating null. */
+	sprintf(realname, name, numeric_suffix);
+	numeric_suffix++;
+        de = search_for_entry (dir, realname, strlen (realname), TRUE, TRUE,
+			       &is_new, FALSE);
+    } while (!is_new && de != NULL && strcmp(name+strlen(name)-2, "%d") == 0); 
     if (de == NULL)
     {
 	printk ("%s: devfs_register(): could not create entry: \"%s\"\n",