If you run into the following error trying to bootstrap fink (I was using version 0.27.8) on Leopard:

./Command/failure......................ok 1/0
./Command/failure......................NOK 24/0# Failed test at ./Command/failure.t line 85.
# ''
# !=
# '0'
./Command/failure......................ok 41/0# Looks like you failed 1 test of 49.
./Command/failure......................dubious
Test returned status 1 (wstat 256, 0x100)
DIED. FAILED test 24
Failed 1/49 tests, 97.96% okay

… snip …

Failed 1/39 test programs. 1/905 subtests failed.
make: *** [test] Error 1
### execution of make failed, exit code 2
phase compiling: fink-0.27.8-41 failed

Edit the following file:

<bootstrap_dir>/t/Command/failure.t
Replace <bootstrap_dir> with the directory you untar’d the fink-0.27.* tarball into.

Comment out line 85 by changing:
cmp_ok( $!, '!=', 0 );
To be:
#cmp_ok( $!, '!=', 0 );

Rebootstrap the fink and it should install without a problem.

Note: This is totally unsupported by the Fink team, and might produce unintended results According to the mailinglists, the error seems like it’s actually caused by perl 5.8.8 on Leopard instead of 5.8.6 on Tiger, so the test fails. If you want to install perl 5.8.6, you can link /usr/bin/perl to the older version and it should pass the tests.