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Date:      Tue, 27 Jul 1999 09:05:46 -0400 (EDT)
From:      "Brian F. Feldman" <green@FreeBSD.org>
To:        Sheldon Hearn <sheldonh@uunet.co.za>
Cc:        Soren Schmidt <sos@freebsd.dk>, Dag-Erling Smorgrav <des@yes.no>, hackers@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   Re: replacing grep(1) 
Message-ID:  <Pine.BSF.4.10.9907270901070.47250-100000@janus.syracuse.net>
In-Reply-To: <12615.933078748@axl.noc.iafrica.com>

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On Tue, 27 Jul 1999, Sheldon Hearn wrote:

> 
> 
> On Tue, 27 Jul 1999 08:19:38 -0400, "Brian F. Feldman" wrote:
> 
> > Getting rid of as much as possible, gradually, is a Very Good Thing;
> > this is how we get stability and performance improvements.
> 
> Only if the replacements are as stable and robust as their predecessors.

Usually, when we get replacements, they are.

> 
> In this case, the implementation we'll be introducing will introduce a
> performance loss, not a gain. As far as stability goes, there's a loss
> involved _if_ passing the GNU grep regression tests is important.

Which it isn't unless they are truly correct in their assumptions of
output behavior.

> 
> Don't get me wrong. I'm all for replacing GNU software. Let's just be
> realistic and keep in mind that being non-GNU doesn't necessarily mean
> better.

Not _necessarily_, but realistically...

> 
> In this case, I'm all for the change, since I don't use grep for serious
> regex work and the readability gain outweighs any loss of performance.
> you probably feel the same way. Out opinions are those of developers,
> though. It's always worth remembering that.

That's true. I'd like to see the replacement grep do mmaping of the
input files if it doesn't already, as that would speed it up. Anyway,
I haven't tried it out yet because I haven't seen it hit 1.0 :) The
only good pre-1.0 software I've seen has been the GIMP, XRacer, and
some little utilities (like a program called stat(1)).

That reminds me. I'd like to see something like stat(1) go into the source
tree, but only if it were freely licensed, not GPL-infected. I could do
it in a day, I suppose, if it were worth it. Worth it is here defined as
"would be accepted to go in usr.bin."

> 
> Ciao,
> Sheldon.
> 

 Brian Fundakowski Feldman      _ __ ___ ____  ___ ___ ___  
 green@FreeBSD.org                   _ __ ___ | _ ) __|   \ 
     FreeBSD: The Power to Serve!        _ __ | _ \._ \ |) |
       http://www.FreeBSD.org/              _ |___/___/___/ 



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