wrong number of serial port detected

["Jason Dravet" <dravet@hotmail.com>]

Hello,

I have a question about the way serial ports are detected.  Since I started 
using udev last year I noticed 32 ttySxx nodes in my /dev directory.  I 
checked dmesg and the serial port driver was detecting 32 ports.  Here is 
the line from dmesg:
Serial: 8250/16550 driver $Revision: 1.90 $ 32 ports, IRQ sharing enabled
In fact I don't have 32 ports.  I have two serial ports on the motherboard, 
both of which are disabled in the BIOS.  I opened a bug in RedHat's bugzilla 
system and it was promptly closed saying this was unfixable.  I was told 
that the kernel loaded the maximum number of ports supported by the serial 
port driver.  I asked why and I have not received a response.  So I ask this 
mailing list Can the kernel detect the proper number of serial ports or not?

Thanks,
Jason