diff -ruNp udev-076.orig/udev_event.c udev-076/udev_event.c
--- udev-076.orig/udev_event.c	2005-11-22 17:34:55.000000000 +0100
+++ udev-076/udev_event.c	2005-11-22 22:57:40.000000000 +0100
@@ -38,6 +38,17 @@
 #include "udev_utils.h"
 #include "list.h"
 
+/* return true if the udev database exists */
+static int dynamic_dev(void) {
+	char dbpath[PATH_MAX];
+	struct stat stats;
+
+	strlcpy(dbpath, udev_root, sizeof(dbpath));
+	strlcat(dbpath, "/"DB_DIR, sizeof(dbpath));
+	if (stat(dbpath, &stats) == 0)
+		return 1;
+	return 0;
+}
 
 dev_t get_devt(struct sysfs_class_device *class_dev)
 {
@@ -85,6 +97,10 @@ int udev_process_event(struct udev_rules
 			}
 			dbg("opened class_dev->name='%s'", class_dev->name);
 
+			if (!dynamic_dev())
+				dbg("db not found, ignoring add event for %s",
+					udev->devpath);
+			else
 			/* get major/minor */
 			if (udev->type == DEV_BLOCK || udev->type == DEV_CLASS)
 				udev->devt = get_devt(class_dev);
@@ -116,9 +132,14 @@ int udev_process_event(struct udev_rules
 		} else if (strcmp(udev->action, "remove") == 0) {
 			struct name_entry *name_loop;
 
+			if (!dynamic_dev())
+				dbg("db not found, ignoring remove event for %s",
+					udev->devpath);
+			else {
 			/* get data from db, remove db-entry, delete node */
 			dbg("node remove");
 			retval = udev_remove_device(udev);
+			}
 
 			/* restore stored persistent data */
 			list_for_each_entry(name_loop, &udev->env_list, node)