This is sid on i386. Attach the results of strace.
execve("/usr/bin/file", ["file", "/"], [/* 30 vars */]) = 0 brk(0) = 0x804c000 access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7718000 access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY) = 3 fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=26279, ...}) = 0 mmap2(NULL, 26279, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7711000 close(3) = 0 access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/usr/lib/libmagic.so.1", O_RDONLY) = 3 read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\24\36\0\0004\0\0\0"..., 512) = 512 fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=43956, ...}) = 0 mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7710000 mmap2(NULL, 42920, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0xb7705000 mmap2(0xb770f000, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0xa) = 0xb770f000 mprotect(0xbf8cf000, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE|PROT_EXEC|PROT_GROWSDOWN) = 0 close(3) = 0 access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libz.so.1", O_RDONLY) = 3 read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\300\32\0\0004\0\0\0"..., 512) = 512 fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=90192, ...}) = 0 mmap2(NULL, 92868, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0xb76ee000 mmap2(0xb7704000, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x15) = 0xb7704000 close(3) = 0 access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/lib/i386-linux-gnu/i686/cmov/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY) = 3 read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\240o\1\0004\0\0\0"..., 512) = 512 fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=1413288, ...}) = 0 mmap2(NULL, 1427832, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0xb7591000 mprotect(0xb76e7000, 4096, PROT_NONE) = 0 mmap2(0xb76e8000, 12288, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x156) = 0xb76e8000 mmap2(0xb76eb000, 10616, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb76eb000 close(3) = 0 mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7590000 set_thread_area({entry_number:-1 -> 6, base_addr:0xb75906c0, limit:1048575, seg_32bit:1, contents:0, read_exec_only:0, limit_in_pages:1, seg_not_present:0, useable:1}) = 0 mprotect(0xb76e8000, 8192, PROT_READ) = 0 writev(2, [{"file", 4}, {": ", 2}, {"symbol lookup error", 19}, {": ", 2}, {"/usr/lib/libmagic.so.1", 22}, {": ", 2}, {"undefined symbol: nomgc", 23}, {"", 0}, {"", 0}, {"\n", 1}], 10file: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/libmagic.so.1: undefined symbol: nomgc ) = 75 exit_group(127) = ?
execve("/usr/bin/file", ["file", "/"], [/* 30 vars */]) = 0 brk(0) = 0x804c000 access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb777c000 access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY) = 3 fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=26203, ...}) = 0 mmap2(NULL, 26203, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7775000 close(3) = 0 access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/usr/lib/libmagic.so.1", O_RDONLY) = 3 read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\300.\0\0004\0\0\0"..., 512) = 512 fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=130744, ...}) = 0 mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7774000 mmap2(NULL, 129896, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0xb7754000 mmap2(0xb7773000, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x1f) = 0xb7773000 close(3) = 0 access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libz.so.1", O_RDONLY) = 3 read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\300\32\0\0004\0\0\0"..., 512) = 512 fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=90192, ...}) = 0 mmap2(NULL, 92868, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0xb773d000 mmap2(0xb7753000, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x15) = 0xb7753000 close(3) = 0 access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/lib/i386-linux-gnu/i686/cmov/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY) = 3 read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\240o\1\0004\0\0\0"..., 512) = 512 fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=1413288, ...}) = 0 mmap2(NULL, 1427832, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0xb75e0000 mprotect(0xb7736000, 4096, PROT_NONE) = 0 mmap2(0xb7737000, 12288, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x156) = 0xb7737000 mmap2(0xb773a000, 10616, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb773a000 close(3) = 0 mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb75df000 set_thread_area({entry_number:-1 -> 6, base_addr:0xb75df6c0, limit:1048575, seg_32bit:1, contents:0, read_exec_only:0, limit_in_pages:1, seg_not_present:0, useable:1}) = 0 mprotect(0xb7737000, 8192, PROT_READ) = 0 mprotect(0xb7799000, 4096, PROT_READ) = 0 munmap(0xb7775000, 26203) = 0 brk(0) = 0x804c000 brk(0x806d000) = 0x806d000 open("/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE) = 3 fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=1077936, ...}) = 0 mmap2(NULL, 1077936, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb74d7000 close(3) = 0 stat64("/home/syo/.magic", 0xbfa2ed08) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) open("/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/gconv/gconv-modules.cache", O_RDONLY) = 3 fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=26064, ...}) = 0 mmap2(NULL, 26064, PROT_READ, MAP_SHARED, 3, 0) = 0xb7775000 close(3) = 0 open("/etc/magic.mgc", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) stat64("/etc/magic", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=111, ...}) = 0 open("/etc/magic", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE) = 3 fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=111, ...}) = 0 mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb74d6000 read(3, "# Magic local data for file(1) c"..., 4096) = 111 read(3, "", 4096) = 0 close(3) = 0 munmap(0xb74d6000, 4096) = 0 open("/usr/share/misc/magic.mgc", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE) = 3 fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2226504, ...}) = 0 mmap2(NULL, 2226504, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb72b7000 close(3) = 0 fstat64(1, {st_mode=S_IFCHR|0666, st_rdev=makedev(1, 3), ...}) = 0 ioctl(1, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, 0xbfa2e6e4) = -1 ENOTTY (Inappropriate ioctl for device) mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb72b6000 lstat64("/", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0 munmap(0xb72b7000, 2226504) = 0 write(1, "/: directory\n", 13) = 13 exit_group(0) = ?