diff --git a/UPGRADE.txt b/UPGRADE.txt
index 5f6cc3ed3056c0d20b9797a02a6677e62cae3e09..6cb61480726d7d719896152c2f61adf896bb2bb0 100644
--- a/UPGRADE.txt
+++ b/UPGRADE.txt
@@ -32,3 +32,12 @@ Queue:
    added via the CLI command "queue add" or the AMI action "QueueAdd") now have
    their ringinuse value updated to the value of the queue. Previously, the
    ringinuse value for dynamic members was not updated on reload.
+
+Channel Drivers:
+
+chan_dahdi:
+ - Support for specifying a DAHDI channel using a path under /dev/dahdi
+   ("by name") has been removed. It was never used. Instead you should
+   use kernel-level channel number allocation using span assignments.
+   See the documentation of dahdi-linux and dahdi-tools.
+
diff --git a/channels/chan_dahdi.c b/channels/chan_dahdi.c
index 8cccf843b423ade742fce1eb1f0796419f0d02b0..dde3c08fcf14b5437066e48f99806ec585973104 100644
--- a/channels/chan_dahdi.c
+++ b/channels/chan_dahdi.c
@@ -11977,38 +11977,6 @@ static int sigtype_to_signalling(int sigtype)
 	return sigtype;
 }
 
-/*!
- * \internal
- * \brief Get file name and channel number from (subdir,number)
- *
- * \param subdir name of the subdirectory under /dev/dahdi/
- * \param channel name of device file under /dev/dahdi/<subdir>/
- * \param path buffer to put file name in
- * \param pathlen maximal length of path
- *
- * \retval minor number of dahdi channel.
- * \retval -errno on error.
- */
-static int device2chan(const char *subdir, int channel, char *path, int pathlen)
-{
-	struct stat	stbuf;
-	int		num;
-
-	snprintf(path, pathlen, "/dev/dahdi/%s/%d", subdir, channel);
-	if (stat(path, &stbuf) < 0) {
-		ast_log(LOG_ERROR, "stat(%s) failed: %s\n", path, strerror(errno));
-		return -errno;
-	}
-	if (!S_ISCHR(stbuf.st_mode)) {
-		ast_log(LOG_ERROR, "%s: Not a character device file\n", path);
-		return -EINVAL;
-	}
-	num = minor(stbuf.st_rdev);
-	ast_debug(1, "%s -> %d\n", path, num);
-	return num;
-
-}
-
 /*!
  * \internal
  * \brief Initialize/create a channel interface.
@@ -17426,33 +17394,9 @@ static int unload_module(void)
 	return __unload_module();
 }
 
-static void string_replace(char *str, int char1, int char2)
-{
-	for (; *str; str++) {
-		if (*str == char1) {
-			*str = char2;
-		}
-	}
-}
-
-static char *parse_spanchan(char *chanstr, char **subdir)
-{
-	char *p;
-
-	if ((p = strrchr(chanstr, '!')) == NULL) {
-		*subdir = NULL;
-		return chanstr;
-	}
-	*p++ = '\0';
-	string_replace(chanstr, '!', '/');
-	*subdir = chanstr;
-	return p;
-}
-
 static int build_channels(struct dahdi_chan_conf *conf, const char *value, int reload, int lineno)
 {
 	char *c, *chan;
-	char *subdir;
 	int x, start, finish;
 	struct dahdi_pvt *tmp;
 
@@ -17462,7 +17406,6 @@ static int build_channels(struct dahdi_chan_conf *conf, const char *value, int r
 	}
 
 	c = ast_strdupa(value);
-	c = parse_spanchan(c, &subdir);
 
 	while ((chan = strsep(&c, ","))) {
 		if (sscanf(chan, "%30d-%30d", &start, &finish) == 2) {
@@ -17484,39 +17427,22 @@ static int build_channels(struct dahdi_chan_conf *conf, const char *value, int r
 		}
 
 		for (x = start; x <= finish; x++) {
-			char fn[PATH_MAX];
-			int real_channel = x;
-
-			if (!ast_strlen_zero(subdir)) {
-				real_channel = device2chan(subdir, x, fn, sizeof(fn));
-				if (real_channel < 0) {
-					if (conf->ignore_failed_channels) {
-						ast_log(LOG_WARNING, "Failed configuring %s!%d, (got %d). But moving on to others.\n",
-								subdir, x, real_channel);
-						continue;
-					} else {
-						ast_log(LOG_ERROR, "Failed configuring %s!%d, (got %d).\n",
-								subdir, x, real_channel);
-						return -1;
-					}
-				}
-			}
 			if (conf->wanted_channels_start &&
-				(real_channel < conf->wanted_channels_start ||
-				 real_channel > conf->wanted_channels_end)
+				(x < conf->wanted_channels_start ||
+				 x > conf->wanted_channels_end)
 			   ) {
 				continue;
 			}
-			tmp = mkintf(real_channel, conf, reload);
+			tmp = mkintf(x, conf, reload);
 
 			if (tmp) {
-				ast_verb(3, "%s channel %d, %s signalling\n", reload ? "Reconfigured" : "Registered", real_channel, sig2str(tmp->sig));
+				ast_verb(3, "%s channel %d, %s signalling\n", reload ? "Reconfigured" : "Registered", x, sig2str(tmp->sig));
 			} else {
 				ast_log(LOG_ERROR, "Unable to %s channel '%s'\n",
 						(reload == 1) ? "reconfigure" : "register", value);
 				return -1;
 			}
-			if (real_channel == CHAN_PSEUDO) {
+			if (x == CHAN_PSEUDO) {
 				has_pseudo = 1;
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/configs/samples/chan_dahdi.conf.sample b/configs/samples/chan_dahdi.conf.sample
index e70a2a138f6c4645e64d8b86ab5d260765398fb8..69f751279798b83d560ad434470b91a7ed8be8c9 100644
--- a/configs/samples/chan_dahdi.conf.sample
+++ b/configs/samples/chan_dahdi.conf.sample
@@ -1330,24 +1330,6 @@ pickupgroup=1
 ; signalling = pri_cpe
 ; group = 2
 ; channel => 1-23
-;
-; Alternatively, the number of the channel may be replaced with a relative
-; path to a device file under /dev/dahdi . The final element of that file
-; must be a number, though. The directory separator is '!', as we can't
-; use '/' in a dial string. So if we have
-;
-;   /dev/dahdi/span-name/pstn/00/1
-;   /dev/dahdi/span-name/pstn/00/2
-;   /dev/dahdi/span-name/pstn/00/3
-;   /dev/dahdi/span-name/pstn/00/4
-;
-; we could use:
-;channel => span-name!pstn!00!1-4
-;
-; or:
-;channel => span-name!pstn!00!1,2,3,4
-;
-; See also ignore_failed_channels above.
 
 ;  Used for distinctive ring support for x100p.
 ;  You can see the dringX patterns is to set any one of the dringXcontext fields