Re: egrep, fgrep, and install-info

[Bruno Haible]

Paul Eggert wrote:
> ***************
> *** 174,179 ****
> --- 174,182 ----
>   for parallel execution.  For a list of known incompatibilities, see
>   @ref{Portable Shell, Portable Shell Programming,, autoconf, Autoconf}.
>   
> + Programs like @code{egrep} and @code{install-info} can be used in
> + rules that have a fallback if the programs are absent.
> + @xref{Standard Targets} for an example of this.
>   
>   It is a good idea to avoid creating symbolic links in makefiles, since a
>   few file systems don't support them.

When you remove 'egrep', 'fgrep', or 'install-info' from the previously
allowed list of commands, everyone will ask: "ok, so now what replacement
should I use?"

1) For egrep and fgrep, probably the answer would be "use 'grep -E' or
'grep -F', respectively" — because POSIX supports these options.
<https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/grep.html>

Unfortunately, Solaris 10 doesn't:

$ type grep
grep is /usr/bin/grep
$ grep -F haible /etc/passwd
grep: illegal option -- F
Usage: grep -hblcnsviw pattern file . . .
$ grep -E '(haible|eggert)' /etc/passwd
grep: illegal option -- E
Usage: grep -hblcnsviw pattern file . . .

Likewise for /usr/5bin/grep.

2) For 'install-info', what would be the replacement? Even though Automake
knows how to handle its absence [1], it would be good to know.

Bruno

[1] https://www.gnu.org/software/automake/manual/html_node/Texinfo.html