GNU bug report logs - #60257
please fix warnings from egrep and fgrep

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Thomas Wolff <towo <at> towo.net>
To: bug-grep <at> gnu.org
Subject: please fix warnings from egrep and fgrep
Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2022 16:16:36 +0100

These tools spill out warnings that are irritating almost everyone, 
moreover, they are threatening to be removed.
There was some discussion about this earlier this year, but with no 
consolidated outcome, so I'd like to raise the issue again.
Some weird and wrong arguments were presented; first, many GNU tools do 
have POSIX extensions, including grep.
Second and particularly:
> egrep and fgrep were not entirely portable even before POSIX 
> deprecated them in 2001
grep -E and grep -F were not portable either! There are legacy systems 
which had egrep and fgrep but did not have grep options -E and -F.
So all this achieves is really to annoy thousands of people and to waste 
time of hundreds of package maintainers.
Please have mercy with the community. Give us the comfort of not being 
bothered when using egrep and fgrep in the future, and if it is as a 
Christmas present.
Thanks
Thomas

Message #8 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Bruce Dubbs <bruce.dubbs <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-grep <at> gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#60257: please fix warnings from egrep and fgrep
Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2022 13:35:19 -0600

On 12/22/22 09:16, Thomas Wolff wrote:
> These tools spill out warnings that are irritating almost everyone, moreover, they 
> are threatening to be removed.
> There was some discussion about this earlier this year, but with no consolidated 
> outcome, so I'd like to raise the issue again.
> Some weird and wrong arguments were presented; first, many GNU tools do have POSIX 
> extensions, including grep.
> Second and particularly:
>> egrep and fgrep were not entirely portable even before POSIX deprecated them in 2001
> grep -E and grep -F were not portable either! There are legacy systems which had 
> egrep and fgrep but did not have grep options -E and -F.
> So all this achieves is really to annoy thousands of people and to waste time of 
> hundreds of package maintainers.
> Please have mercy with the community. Give us the comfort of not being bothered when 
> using egrep and fgrep in the future, and if it is as a Christmas present.
> Thanks
> Thomas

If building from source, workaround with:

  sed -i "s/echo/#echo/" src/egrep.sh

before configure.

If not use:
  sed -i "s/echo/#echo/" /usr/bin/[ef]grep

  -- Bruce Dubbs
     linuxfromscratch.org

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