diff --git a/Makefile.custom b/Makefile.custom
index 816bee5db..e976e739e 100644
--- a/Makefile.custom
+++ b/Makefile.custom
@@ -46,17 +46,17 @@ check test: busybox
 release: distclean
 	cd ..; \
 	rm -r -f busybox-$(VERSION).$(PATCHLEVEL).$(SUBLEVEL)$(EXTRAVERSION); \
-	cp -a busybox busybox-$(VERSION).$(PATCHLEVEL).$(SUBLEVEL)$(EXTRAVERSION) && \
+	cp -a busybox busybox-$(VERSION).$(PATCHLEVEL).$(SUBLEVEL)$(EXTRAVERSION) && { \
 	find busybox-$(VERSION).$(PATCHLEVEL).$(SUBLEVEL)$(EXTRAVERSION)/ -type d \
 		-name .svn \
 		-print \
-		-exec rm -r -f {} \; && \
+		-exec rm -r -f {} \; ; \
 	find busybox-$(VERSION).$(PATCHLEVEL).$(SUBLEVEL)$(EXTRAVERSION)/ -type f \
 		-name .\#* \
 		-print \
-		-exec rm -f {} \; && \
+		-exec rm -f {} \; ; \
 	tar -czf busybox-$(VERSION).$(PATCHLEVEL).$(SUBLEVEL)$(EXTRAVERSION).tar.gz \
-		busybox-$(VERSION).$(PATCHLEVEL).$(SUBLEVEL)$(EXTRAVERSION)/;
+		busybox-$(VERSION).$(PATCHLEVEL).$(SUBLEVEL)$(EXTRAVERSION)/ ; }
 
 .PHONY: checkhelp
 checkhelp:
diff --git a/libbb/recursive_action.c b/libbb/recursive_action.c
index 05ff5d84f..121a3dffd 100644
--- a/libbb/recursive_action.c
+++ b/libbb/recursive_action.c
@@ -93,6 +93,10 @@ int recursive_action(const char *fileName,
 
 	dir = opendir(fileName);
 	if (!dir) {
+		/* findutils-4.1.20 reports this */
+		/* (i.e. it doesn't silently return with exit code 1) */
+		/* To trigger: "find -exec rm -rf {} \;" */
+		bb_perror_msg("%s", fileName);
 		return FALSE;
 	}
 	status = TRUE;