Re: [bug-grep] egrep and fgrep script assume path

[Aharon Robbins]

> > After all, each bug report about problems with the egrep script is an
> > opportunity to teach people about grep -E   ;-)
>
> If egrep and fgrep are causing so many problems, why not deprecate them
> and encourage using -E and -F? We could continue to have egrep and fgrep,
> but not have to worry about old problems with using them.

Deprecation by executive fiat sounds like a nice idea, that's what POSIX
did, but it doesn't work in practice. egrep and fgrep have existed since
at least V7 Unix, and in The Real World[tm], lots of people and lots of
software depend on them.

> On another thought, just installing binaries for egrep and fgrep sounds
> like a more practical solution.

Agreed.

Arnold