"A bit strange" is exactly the problem for a core module that solves a common problem - hence the comment about the abysmal interface.

I do remember File::Find from the time where it always used the nlink entry for scanning for subdirectories, and where it failed in far too many cases. It's nice that they changed it now, but I think it's still an issue with Perl 5.6.1 - but I always set dont_use_nlink unless I forget nowadays. Still, for a module that should provide a nice and easy service, this is much too convoluted.