This patch makes `xargs -0` behave like `xargs` in the example below:

$ echo -ne "\0\0\0" | xargs -0 -n1 | wc -l
3
$ echo -ne "\n\n\n" | xargs -n1 | wc -l
1

This was rejected, as that behaviour was seen as POSIX compatibility only.
I disagree, because of the asymmetry/inconsistency.

diff -aruN -x *.o findutils-4.1.7/xargs/xargs.1 findutils-pb/xargs/xargs.1
--- findutils-4.1.7/xargs/xargs.1	Sun Feb  4 20:35:11 1996
+++ findutils-pb/xargs/xargs.1	Sat Jun 16 17:02:32 2001
@@ -41,7 +41,8 @@
 whitespace, and the quotes and backslash are not special (every
 character is taken literally).  Disables the end of file string, which
 is treated like any other argument.  Useful when arguments might
-contain white space, quote marks, or backslashes.  The GNU find
+contain white space, quote marks, or backslashes.  Redundant null
+characters (initial or adjacent) on the input are ignored.  The GNU find
 \-print0 option produces input suitable for this mode.
 .TP
 .I "\-\-eof[=eof-str], \-e[eof-str]"
diff -aruN -x *.o findutils-4.1.7/xargs/xargs.c findutils-pb/xargs/xargs.c
--- findutils-4.1.7/xargs/xargs.c	Tue Oct 10 00:40:41 2000
+++ findutils-pb/xargs/xargs.c	Sat Jun 16 17:16:52 2001
@@ -563,7 +563,7 @@
 }
 
 /* Read a null-terminated string from stdin and add it to the list of
-   arguments to pass to the command.
+   arguments to pass to the command. Ignore initial and adjacent NULs.
    Return -1 if eof (either physical or logical) is reached,
    otherwise the length of the string read (including the null).  */
 
@@ -572,6 +572,7 @@
 {
   static boolean eof = false;
   int len;
+  int pc = '\0';
   char *p = linebuf;
   /* Including the NUL, the args must not grow past this point.  */
   char *endbuf = linebuf + arg_max - initial_argv_chars - 1;
@@ -594,7 +595,9 @@
 	}
       if (c == '\0')
 	{
-	  lineno++;		/* For -l.  */
+	  if (pc == '\0')
+	    continue;		/* skip redundant NULs */
+	  lineno++;		/* For -l. */
 	  *p++ = '\0';
 	  len = p - linebuf;
 	  if (!replace_pat)
@@ -604,6 +607,7 @@
       if (p >= endbuf)
 	error (1, 0, _("argument line too long"));
       *p++ = c;
+      pc = c;
     }
 }
 
diff -aruN -x *.o findutils-4.1.7/xargs/testsuite/inputs/files00.xi findutils-pb/xargs/testsuite/inputs/files00.xi
--- findutils-4.1.7/xargs/testsuite/inputs/files00.xi	Thu Jan  1 01:00:00 1970
+++ findutils-pb/xargs/testsuite/inputs/files00.xi	Sat Jun 16 19:18:24 2001
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+=00/src/gnu/autoconf-1.11=00=00/src/gnu/autoconf-1.11/README=00/src/gnu/autoconf-1.11/Makefile.in=00=00
\ No newline at end of file
diff -aruN -x *.o findutils-4.1.7/xargs/testsuite/xargs.gnu/redundant0.exp findutils-pb/xargs/testsuite/xargs.gnu/redundant0.exp
--- findutils-4.1.7/xargs/testsuite/xargs.gnu/redundant0.exp	Thu Jan  1 01:00:00 1970
+++ findutils-pb/xargs/testsuite/xargs.gnu/redundant0.exp	Sat Jun 16 18:57:14 2001
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+xargs_start p {-0} files00.xi
diff -aruN -x *.o findutils-4.1.7/xargs/testsuite/xargs.gnu/redundant0.xo findutils-pb/xargs/testsuite/xargs.gnu/redundant0.xo
--- findutils-4.1.7/xargs/testsuite/xargs.gnu/redundant0.xo	Thu Jan  1 01:00:00 1970
+++ findutils-pb/xargs/testsuite/xargs.gnu/redundant0.xo	Sat Jun 16 19:18:49 2001
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+/src/gnu/autoconf-1.11 /src/gnu/autoconf-1.11/README /src/gnu/autoconf-1.11/Makefile.in