I have a Hauppague PVR-150 and a webcam. The devices show up in /dev/v4l with cryptic names. If my webcam is connected at boot, it becomes /dev/v4l/video0, if not, the PVR-150 becomes that (which is bad since mythtv winds up using it). Perhaps a udev rule based on function might be better (ie /dev/webcam, /dev/capture, /dev/scanner, etc)? Especially as this problem might happen more often with kopete 3.5 supporting webcams.
Care to provide a patch? We are creating the "standard" v4l device names that all programs expect to see, so unless you can get all of the applications to agree on a naming change, we have to provide the current scheme.