Re: problem with egrep and fgrep

[Eric Backus]

"Bob Proulx" <address@hidden> wrote in message 
news:address@hidden
> Eric Backus wrote:
> > Frankly, I'd like to see this done with links, in spite of the coding
> > standards.
>
> The problem is how do you handle renames with a prefix or suffix?
> Let's say you configure --prefix="gnu" so the final binary ends up
> being called 'gnuegrep'.  Will it still recognize that this implies
> the -E option?
>
> Another case is someone who compiles GNU grep and creates 'egrep'.
> Then they run into a system where they cannot adjust PATH.  So on that
> system they copy 'egrep' and call it 'gnuegrep'.  Now on that system
> will this 'gnuegrep' recognize that this implies the -E option?

I'd make the name-handling code look for a substring "egrep" somewhere in 
the basename of $0 to mean that -E should be used, a substring "fgrep" means 
that -F should be used, else treat it as normal grep.  Ideally the substring 
comparison should be case-insensitive.  Perhaps it's not 100% foolproof, but 
I'm having trouble coming up with a realistic failure mode.

> > If not links, then we should just go to completely separate copies.
>
> That would be my choice too, but preferably only on non-GNU systems
> where GNU software has been installed as an add-on.  On a native GNU
> system these are not problems and there is no need to work around
> them.

I'm not convinced that making the code (and install) work differently 
depending on system type is a good idea.  But I guess I don't care very much 
as long as any systems I have access to work properly.

--
Eric Backus