Comment by JdeBP

7 years ago

Be aware if you are going to delve into history that grep is the source of much confusion, in part because exactly which program was grep on some systems has changed over the years. On FreeBSD, for example, some years ago grep was the GNU tool and the BSD tool was named "bsdgrep". They would both identify as the same version number.

3 comments

JdeBP

loeg 7 years ago

> On FreeBSD, for example, some years ago grep was the GNU tool and the BSD tool was named "bsdgrep". They would both identify as the same version number.

Neither of these statements are true. grep on FreeBSD is still GNU grep, and it has a distinct version text from bsdgrep:

    $ grep -V
    grep (GNU grep) 2.5.1-FreeBSD
    
    Copyright 1988, 1992-1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
    This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO
    warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
    
    $ bsdgrep -V
    bsdgrep (BSD grep) 2.6.0-FreeBSD

    $ uname -rK
    13.0-CURRENT 1300003

JdeBP 7 years ago
Tut-tut! So easily demonstratable otherwise.
MacOS:
* https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/352977/
* https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/398249/5132
The very version of FreeBSD from some years ago:
% bsdgrep --version bsdgrep (BSD grep) 2.5.1-FreeBSD % grep --version grep (GNU grep) 2.5.1-FreeBSD Copyright 1988, 1992-1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. %
More on that:
* https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/65609/5132
Kyle Evans and others on making bsdgrep into grep:
* https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=201650
- loeg 7 years ago
  
  MacOS isn't FreeBSD. They're free to do whatever they want with the BSD-licensed software. Your comments made claims about FreeBSD that weren't factual. I would also emphasize that:
  strcmp("bsdgrep (BSD grep) 2.5.1-FreeBSD", "grep (GNU grep) 2.5.1-FreeBSD") != 0
  Also, I'm personally in contact with Kyle Evans and am familiar with the general interest in making bsdgrep grep. But I also know that it hasn't happened yet.