Even though there are some pre-built .hex files available for people to use,
some people may still want/need to build their own bootloaders for their existing boards
or even their own 168/328 handmade boards.
Just look at the confusion it created for Markov.
So my view is that even if it isn't in use for the current official Arduino production boards, it should still be fixed,
especially given it looks like it has actually been broken for several years in environments like linux.
That said I'm also guessing that most people that want to build or modify the bootloader code are also probably
knowledgeable enough to know how to fix it themselves as well.
But I still think it ought to be fixed
so that the code is compilable on all supported arduino platforms, which is
not the case today.
I'll track down where to post the bug and try get it in front of the arduino team
for correcting in the next arduino release.
--- bill