Re: problems with AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION

[Paul Eggert]

Bruno Haible <address@hidden> writes:

>   - Also for maintainability: Use simple grep and simple sed where possible.
>     I claim that many people know sed's s/.../.../ command syntax by heart
>     while the use of braces is outside their 'sed' vocabulary.

I dunno; that sort of usage is quite common, and has been common since
the 1970s.

One advantage of using just "sed" rather than a pipeline is that it's
easier to detect failures by examining sed's exit status.  If a
component of a pipeline fails it's difficult to find that out, and
most people (including myself) don't bother.

That being said, I'd prefer to see less use of "sed" and more of
"awk".  Typically "awk" programs are more readable and maintainable
than "sed" programs are.  One reason "sed" was preferred to "awk" in
the old days was that "sed" tended to be a bit more standardized.  But
nowadays a close-enough-to-Posix Awk is pretty much ubiquitous.

This is of course a small matter, but I couldn't resist putting in my
two cents....