Net device byte statistics

[Fredrik Tolf <fredrik@dolda2000.cjb.net>]

I have set up a network statistics gathering script, which is based on the 
byte statistics from /proc/net/dev, but it has always been reporting too 
little.
Yesterday, I discovered that the cause was that these statistics are defined 
as unsigned longs in include/linux/netdevice.h. Surely, this must be strange? 
They overflow at least once a day for me.
On the other hand, I cannot imagine that noone would have thought of it. What 
is the reason for this? Is there another interface that I should use instead 
of /proc/net/dev to gather byte statistics for interfaces?
Shouldn't they be changed to unsigned long longs in any case?

Fredrik Tolf