Bash is unable to process ASCII NUL characters

[Ulrich Windl]

Configuration Information [Automatically generated, do not change]:
Machine: i586
OS: linux
Compiler: gcc -I/usr/src/packages/BUILD/bash-2.05b 
-L/usr/src/packages/BUILD/bash-
2.05b/../readline-4.3
Compilation CFLAGS:  -DPROGRAM='bash' -DCONF_HOSTTYPE='i586' 
-DCONF_OSTYPE='linux' -
DCONF_MACHTYPE='i586-suse-linux' -DCONF_VENDOR='suse' -DSHELL -DHAVE_CONFIG_H  
-I.  -I. 
-I./include -I./lib  -O2 -march=i586 -mcpu=i686 -fmessage-length=0 
-D_GNU_SOURCE -Wall 
-pipe -g
uname output: Linux elf 2.4.20-4GB #1 Mon Mar 17 17:54:44 UTC 2003 i686 unknown 
unknown 
GNU/Linux
Machine Type: i586-suse-linux

Bash Version: 2.05b
Patch Level: 0
Release Status: release

Description:
        Bash is unable to process ASCII NUL characters: I cannot pass binary
        strings via a script to an application, because Bash (or readline)
        strips away the NUL characters

Repeat-By:
        (From An Emacs buffer, contains binary characters):
        windl@elf:~/Perl> echo "