diff -urNp --exclude CVS --exclude BitKeeper x-ref/fs/fcntl.c x/fs/fcntl.c
--- x-ref/fs/fcntl.c	2002-11-29 02:23:15.000000000 +0100
+++ x/fs/fcntl.c	2003-05-27 19:17:55.000000000 +0200
@@ -58,11 +58,11 @@ static int expand_files(struct files_str
  */
 
 static int locate_fd(struct files_struct *files, 
-			    struct file *file, int orig_start)
+		     struct file *file, unsigned int orig_start)
 {
 	unsigned int newfd;
 	int error;
-	int start;
+	unsigned int start;
 
 	write_lock(&files->file_lock);
 	
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ static inline void allocate_fd(struct fi
 	fd_install(fd, file);
 }
 
-static int dupfd(struct file *file, int start)
+static int dupfd(struct file *file, unsigned int start)
 {
 	struct files_struct * files = current->files;
 	int ret;
@@ -257,10 +257,8 @@ static long do_fcntl(unsigned int fd, un
 
 	switch (cmd) {
 		case F_DUPFD:
-			if (arg < NR_OPEN) {
-				get_file(filp);
-				err = dupfd(filp, arg);
-			}
+			get_file(filp);
+			err = dupfd(filp, arg);
 			break;
 		case F_GETFD:
 			err = get_close_on_exec(fd);