Continous device numbering in udev rules

[Malte Forkel <malte.forkel@berlin.de>]

Hello,

I would like to write a udev rule that manages it own device numbering
scheme and creates symlinks with continuous numbers.

I already know how to write a udev rule that selects devices, e.g. based
on manufacturer and product attributes, and creates a symlink for each
matching device. Using the string substitution %n, I can also append a
unique number to each symlink.

Now, my problem with %n is that I assume the numbers used in the
symlinks will not necessarily start with 0 and might not be continuous:
If my rules looks at devices dev0, dev1, dev2, and dev3 and matches dev1
and dev3, I guess I'll end up with symlinks sym1 and sym3. I'm looking
for a way to create symlinks sym0 and sym1.

Are there any provisions in udev to achieve this? How should a rule (or
set of rules?) look like that does what I want?

Thanks in advance,
Malte