[illumos-Developer] grep -Z etc? (decompress! was: webrev: 650 grep support for -q ...)

[Gordon Ross]

On Fri, May 13, 2011 at 4:36 AM, Guido Berhoerster
<guido+illumos.org at berhoerster.name> wrote:
[...]
> Let me put it differently, you're about to add another, second
> implementation of GNU grep whereas the original GNU grep is
> already the default in distributions like OI so the original idea
> of improving /usr/xpg4/bin/grep and putting it in /usr/bin makes
> much more sense to me. And there's really no need to make snarky
> comments, in the end you get to decide anyway since you're the
> one implementing it.

I think the existence of /usr/gnu/bin/grep in OpenIndiana has
little relevance to this discussion.  Yes, that exists, and I guess
will continue to exist. (That's up to the O.I. maintainers).

None the less, we'd like to have a grep in illumos that has
fewer problems than the current one.  We have many options
for a replacement.  In general, we prefer BSD licensed code
over GPL code where we have options.  (That simplifies legal
issues for some of the parties consuming illumos.)  Therefore,
the BSD grep seems like the current favorite.

If there are _technical_ problems with the functionality provided
by the BSD grep, now would be a good time to point them out.

Gordon