diff --git a/gdb/ChangeLog b/gdb/ChangeLog
index f7ae18b433..52287b459c 100644
--- a/gdb/ChangeLog
+++ b/gdb/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2001-05-10  Fernando Nasser  <fnasser@redhat.com>
+
+	* varobj.c (c_number_of_children): Check for target type of void*,
+	not the target type name.  Allow dereferencing char*.
+
 2001-05-10  Fernando Nasser  <fnasser@redhat.com>
 
 	* symfile.c (symbol_file_add_main_1): New static function. 
diff --git a/gdb/varobj.c b/gdb/varobj.c
index 40bc209de3..c61c313f08 100644
--- a/gdb/varobj.c
+++ b/gdb/varobj.c
@@ -1761,7 +1761,13 @@ c_number_of_children (struct varobj *var)
     case TYPE_CODE_PTR:
       /* This is where things get compilcated. All pointers have one child.
          Except, of course, for struct and union ptr, which we automagically
-         dereference for the user and function ptrs, which have no children. */
+         dereference for the user and function ptrs, which have no children.
+         We also don't dereference void* as we don't know what to show.
+         We can show char* so we allow it to be dereferenced.  If you decide
+         to test for it, please mind that a little magic is necessary to
+         properly identify it: char* has TYPE_CODE == TYPE_CODE_INT and 
+         TYPE_NAME == "char" */
+
       switch (TYPE_CODE (target))
 	{
 	case TYPE_CODE_STRUCT:
@@ -1770,17 +1776,12 @@ c_number_of_children (struct varobj *var)
 	  break;
 
 	case TYPE_CODE_FUNC:
+	case TYPE_CODE_VOID:
 	  children = 0;
 	  break;
 
 	default:
-	  /* Don't dereference char* or void*. */
-	  if (TYPE_NAME (target) != NULL
-	      && (STREQ (TYPE_NAME (target), "char")
-		  || STREQ (TYPE_NAME (target), "void")))
-	    children = 0;
-	  else
-	    children = 1;
+	  children = 1;
 	}
       break;