Re: [PATCH] grep: do not do external grep on skip-worktree entries

[Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>]

On Sun, 3 Jan 2010, Miles Bader wrote:
> 
> Since it's a general attribute of solaris that the default (/usr/bin)
> tools are horrible sysv things and the actual useful tools are in
> e.g. /usr/xpg4/bin, maybe it would be better to just try and add that
> directory to the path...?

There is no generic way to make solaris sane, I'm afraid.

Everybody agrees that the "normal" Solaris tools are so horrible that they 
all set up some alternative. However, qutie often the preferred 
alternative is the GNU versions, mostly installed in /usr/local, and then 
they put that first in the path.

Which means that if you put /usr/xpg4/bin before other paths in your PATH, 
you'll totally break such systems, because now you get the (inferior) 
tools in xpg4 before the preferred tools in /usr/local. Or - this also 
happens - people end up installing their own versions in $HOME/bin, 
because the system admin is uncaring or incompetent.

In other words, there is no single normal or default Solaris installation 
that we can work around. The normal/default installation is so horrible 
that it's virtually never used in any environment where people actually 
have shell access and do development.

Don't ask me why. EVERYBODY knows that the default /usr/bin is total crap. 
Even Sun people know. But there's apparently some very deep-seated reason 
(probably not technical, but mental/historical) why they can't be fixed or 
replaced, probably relating to "make world" and the whole build system.

			Linus