diff -Nru a/drivers/base/class.c b/drivers/base/class.c
--- a/drivers/base/class.c	Fri Mar 19 11:36:26 2004
+++ b/drivers/base/class.c	Fri Mar 19 11:36:26 2004
@@ -379,6 +377,33 @@
 	return 0;
 }
 
+/**
+ * class_device_find - find a struct class_device in a specific class
+ * @class: the class to search
+ * @class_id: the class_id to search for
+ *
+ * Iterates through the list of all class devices registered to a class.  If
+ * the class_id is found, its reference count is incremented and returned to
+ * the caller.  If the class_id does not match any existing struct class_device
+ * registered to this struct class, then NULL is returned.
+ */
+struct class_device * class_device_find(struct class *class, const char *class_id)
+{
+	struct class_device *class_dev;
+	struct class_device *found = NULL;
+
+	down_read(&class->subsys.rwsem);
+	list_for_each_entry(class_dev, &class->children, node) {
+		if (strcmp(class_dev->class_id, class_id) == 0) {
+			found = class_device_get(class_dev);
+			break;
+		}
+	}
+	up_read(&class->subsys.rwsem);
+
+	return found;
+}
+
 struct class_device * class_device_get(struct class_device *class_dev)
 {
 	if (class_dev)
@@ -470,6 +495,7 @@
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(class_device_put);
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(class_device_create_file);
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(class_device_remove_file);
+EXPORT_SYMBOL(class_device_find);
 
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(class_interface_register);
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(class_interface_unregister);
diff -Nru a/include/linux/device.h b/include/linux/device.h
--- a/include/linux/device.h	Fri Mar 19 11:36:21 2004
+++ b/include/linux/device.h	Fri Mar 19 11:36:21 2004
@@ -214,6 +214,7 @@
 extern void class_device_del(struct class_device *);
 
 extern int class_device_rename(struct class_device *, char *);
+extern struct class_device * class_device_find(struct class *class, const char *class_id);
 
 extern struct class_device * class_device_get(struct class_device *);
 extern void class_device_put(struct class_device *);