This is more of a suggestion than a bug report, but wouldn't it make sense
for wget to return a nonzero exit code if the file requested isn't found?
rhenium% wget --version
GNU Wget 1.8.2
Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
Originally written by Hrvoje Niksic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>.
rhenium% wget --passive-ftp --retr-symlinks --non-verbose
ftp://ftp.metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/apps/misc/nut5.tar.gz
11:20:07 URL: ftp://ftp.metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/apps/misc/nut5.tar.gz [7429] ->
".listing" [1]
No such file `nut5.tar.gz'.
rhenium% echo $?
0
