core_initcall(sysctl_init);
 
+static int is_branch_in(struct ctl_table *branch, struct ctl_table *table)
+{
+       struct ctl_table *p;
+       const char *s = branch->procname;
+
+       /* branch should have named subdirectory as its first element */
+       if (!s || !branch->child)
+               return 0;
+
+       /* ... and nothing else */
+       if (branch[1].procname || branch[1].ctl_name)
+               return 0;
+
+       /* table should contain subdirectory with the same name */
+       for (p = table; p->procname || p->ctl_name; p++) {
+               if (!p->child)
+                       continue;
+               if (p->procname && strcmp(p->procname, s) == 0)
+                       return 1;
+       }
+       return 0;
+}
+
+/* see if attaching q to p would be an improvement */
+static void try_attach(struct ctl_table_header *p, struct ctl_table_header *q)
+{
+       struct ctl_table *to = p->ctl_table, *by = q->ctl_table;
+       int is_better = 0;
+       int not_in_parent = !p->attached_by;
+
+       while (is_branch_in(by, to)) {
+               if (by == q->attached_by)
+                       is_better = 1;
+               if (to == p->attached_by)
+                       not_in_parent = 1;
+               by = by->child;
+               to = to->child;
+       }
+
+       if (is_better && not_in_parent) {
+               q->attached_by = by;
+               q->attached_to = to;
+               q->parent = p;
+       }
+}
+
 /**
  * __register_sysctl_paths - register a sysctl hierarchy
  * @root: List of sysctl headers to register on
        struct ctl_table_header *header;
        struct ctl_table *new, **prevp;
        unsigned int n, npath;
+       struct ctl_table_set *set;
 
        /* Count the path components */
        for (npath = 0; path[npath].ctl_name || path[npath].procname; ++npath)
 #endif
        spin_lock(&sysctl_lock);
        header->set = lookup_header_set(root, namespaces);
+       header->attached_by = header->ctl_table;
+       header->attached_to = root_table;
+       header->parent = &root_table_header;
+       for (set = header->set; set; set = set->parent) {
+               struct ctl_table_header *p;
+               list_for_each_entry(p, &set->list, ctl_entry) {
+                       if (p->unregistering)
+                               continue;
+                       try_attach(p, header);
+               }
+       }
+       header->parent->count++;
        list_add_tail(&header->ctl_entry, &header->set->list);
        spin_unlock(&sysctl_lock);
 
 
        spin_lock(&sysctl_lock);
        start_unregistering(header);
+       if (!--header->parent->count) {
+               WARN_ON(1);
+               kfree(header->parent);
+       }
        if (!--header->count)
                kfree(header);
        spin_unlock(&sysctl_lock);