cpio command not found

I just cloned the latest git and it builds ok, but fails when I clone:

% uname -a
Linux gronk.zopyra.com 2.4.9-21 #1 Thu Jan 17 14:16:30 EST 2002 i686 unknown

% git --version
git version gitgui.0.8.4.g9c514

% git clone --bare ~/my_repo
Initialized empty Git repository in /repos/git/my_repo/
/opt/git/bin/git-clone: line 297: cpio: command not found

So, should git not check this when it is building?  I don't remember
this dependence from earlier versions of git.  I have been running git
1.4.xx on this machine for a while...


Bill