$ mapping/taipower/pole2tm bash: mapping/taipower/pole2tm: No such file or directory
Must be a bash bug! Proof: $ ls -l mapping/taipower/pole2tm -rwxr-xr-x 1 jidanni jidanni 11290 2012-06-19 mapping/taipower/pole2tm But wait, $ strace mapping/taipower/pole2tm execve("mapping/taipower/pole2tm", ["mapping/taipower/pole2tm"], 0x7ffd53416200 /* 58 vars */) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) strace: exec: No such file or directory +++ exited with 1 +++ Must also be a strace bug... Ah, $ file mapping/taipower/pole2tm mapping/taipower/pole2tm: ELF 32-bit LSB executable... but we are running it on $ arch x86_64 Anyway, perhaps somebody could submit a kernel bug, telling them to somehow make bash, etc. look less bad, by a clearer error message, as I suppose bash cannot always catch such cases, to make a better error message. In fact maybe bash could catch it (expensive?): First "stat" the file. If it doesn't exist bash should make its own message bash: /tmp/abce: No such file or directory If it does, then bash should be prepared to catch the kernel's message (which is referring to a *different* file, which yes, actually does not exist.) Whereupon bash could make a better error message.