Description of problem: The find command's POSIX "internal xargs" exec feature is broken in findutils-4.1.20-7.el4.1. It works in findutils-4.2.20-1 under FC 4. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): findutils-4.1.20-7.el4.1 How reproducible: Always 4.2.20 exhibits correct behavior: $ touch foo $ find . -name foo -exec ls {} + ./foo 4.1.20 is buggy: $ find . -name foo -exec ls {} + find: missing argument to `-exec'
I searched http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-findutils but couldn't find a record of this bug.
Thanks for your report. The "-exec ... {} +" action was first implemented in findutils-4.2.12, therefore it is not available in RHEL 4. You can use (find . -name foo -print0 | xargs -0 ls) as a workaround. This problem is scheduled to be resolved in the next release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Red Hat does not currently plan to provide a resolution for this in a Red Hat Enterprise Linux update for currently deployed systems. With the goal of minimizing risk of change for deployed systems, and in response to customer and partner requirements, Red Hat takes a conservative approach when evaluating changes for inclusion in maintenance updates for currently deployed products. The primary objectives of update releases are to enable new hardware platform support and to resolve critical defects.