[PlanetCCRMA] /dev/midi and pd

[Jon B]

So I tried to get pd to use MIDI (both virmidi and a midisport 1x1). 
With some help, I figured out that I needed to map some things:

ln -s /dev/snd/midiC2D0 /dev/midi00
ln -s /dev/snd/midiC2D1 /dev/midi01
ln -s /dev/snd/midiC2D2 /dev/midi02
ln -s /dev/snd/midiC2D3 /dev/midi03
ln -s /dev/snd/midiC3D0 /dev/midi04

But apparently there's some thing called udev that recreates the
entire /dev/ directory every bootup.  So how do I make this change
permanent?

Alternatively, apparently there's a patch for pd that allows alsa
midi?  This would probably be better.  Does this mythical creature
really exists?  Is it stable?  Can it be installed by a
complexity-hating user?