Looks like the change was made between 2008 and 2010...
debian-4.0$ export EDITOR=cat ; crontab -e ; ret1=$? ; strace crontab -e ; ret2=$? ; echo ; echo return: $ret1, straced return: $ret2 ... [snip] ... return: 0, straced return: 0
debian-5.0$ export EDITOR=cat ; crontab -e >/dev/null ; ret1=$? ; echo === ; strace crontab -e ; ret2=$? ; echo ; echo return: $ret1, straced return: $ret2 ... [snip] ... return: 0, straced return: 0
debian-6.0$ export EDITOR=cat ; crontab -e >/dev/null ; ret1=$? ; echo === ; strace crontab -e ; ret2=$? ; echo ; echo return: $ret1, straced return: $ret2 ... [snip] ... return: 0, straced return: 1
ubuntu-8.04$ export EDITOR=cat ; crontab -e >/dev/null ; ret1=$? ; echo === ; strace crontab -e ; ret2=$? ; echo ; echo return: $ret1, straced return: $ret2 ... [snip] ... return: 0, straced return: 0
ubuntu-10.04.3$ export EDITOR=cat ; crontab -e >/dev/null ; ret1=$? ; echo === ; strace crontab -e ; ret2=$? ; echo ; echo return: $ret1, straced return: $ret2 ... [snip] ... return: 0, straced return: 1
Looks like the change was made between 2008 and 2010...
debian-4.0$ export EDITOR=cat ; crontab -e ; ret1=$? ; strace crontab -e ; ret2=$? ; echo ; echo return: $ret1, straced return: $ret2
... [snip] ...
return: 0, straced return: 0
debian-5.0$ export EDITOR=cat ; crontab -e >/dev/null ; ret1=$? ; echo === ; strace crontab -e ; ret2=$? ; echo ; echo return: $ret1, straced return: $ret2
... [snip] ...
return: 0, straced return: 0
debian-6.0$ export EDITOR=cat ; crontab -e >/dev/null ; ret1=$? ; echo === ; strace crontab -e ; ret2=$? ; echo ; echo return: $ret1, straced return: $ret2
... [snip] ...
return: 0, straced return: 1
ubuntu-8.04$ export EDITOR=cat ; crontab -e >/dev/null ; ret1=$? ; echo === ; strace crontab -e ; ret2=$? ; echo ; echo return: $ret1, straced return: $ret2
... [snip] ...
return: 0, straced return: 0
ubuntu-10.04.3$ export EDITOR=cat ; crontab -e >/dev/null ; ret1=$? ; echo === ; strace crontab -e ; ret2=$? ; echo ; echo return: $ret1, straced return: $ret2
... [snip] ...
return: 0, straced return: 1