bash returning error 139 running zcat | patch

[Matt Porter <mmporter@home.com>]

I had to give up on this and see if anybody else had an idea.  I was
fixing up the powerpc patch package for 2.2.12 and found this odd error
during the build process.

The rules file for a kernel build calls make-kpkg which runs "run-parts"
over the /usr/src/kernel-patches/powerpc/apply/ directory.  In that
directory is the 0powerpc script which applies the diff present with "zcat
<file> | patch -l -s -p1" and stamps the top level so apply/unapply can
see if the patch was already applied.

Unfortunately, the zcat | patch line fails and run-parts claims that the
script is returning an error 139.  What's even better is that I cannot
reproduce this error by running the 0powerpc script directly from the
shell...the apply/unapply process works fine.

I am running kernel 2.2.9 w/some board specific patches and the latest
bash.

TIA,

--
Matt Porter
mmporter@home.com
This is Linux Country. On a quiet night, you can hear Windows reboot.