Package: pcregrep
Version: 7.8-3
Followup-For: Bug #552002
Tags: patch
Assuming pcregrep has indeed succeeded in outliving its original
reason for existing (so that the subject-line bug here is in fact
"Severity: not-a-bug"), it seems to me that this automatically
implies that the original package description is out of date.
Debian Policy 3.4 says: "The description should describe the package
(the program) to a user (system administrator) who has never met it
before so that they have enough information to decide whether they
want to install it."
Currently, its long description says:
# Perl-style regexps have many useful features that the standard POSIX ones
# don't; this is basically the same as grep but with the different
# regexp syntax.
# .
# The other reason for the existence of pcregrep is that its source code is an
# example of programming with libpcre.
Mark Baker wrote:
> There is one useful feature that I don't think GNU grep has, which is
> multiline mode.
If the --multiline and (let's not forget) --newline options are now
the only remaining reasons for installing pcregrep instead of
sticking with "grep -P" then they deserve to be advertised in the
package description.
> Even without that, I don't see that there is a good reason to drop it;
> some people will be used to using it, and it's name is sufficiently
> specific that it's not clogging up the namespace. It really isn't any
> extra effort to maintain it.
>
> I'm happy to get rid of it if the general consensus is that that would be
> the right thing to do, but personally I'm not convinced.
>
> (The main reason for its existence in the upstream source is as sample
> code, but as more and more features have been added it's not as useful for
> that as it was in early versions)
This never was a reason for a reader to want to install the pcregrep
binary package anyway; it sounds as if the purpose would be served
more effectively by a Vcs-* header so that anyone who's interested
can check out an early upstream version.
It seems to me its description these days should be something along
the general lines of:
Description: grep utility using Perl Compatible Regular Expressions
Perl 5 regexps have many useful features that the standard POSIX ones
lack; but GNU grep's support for them is still incomplete. This package
provides a version specializing in PCRE support, including --multiline
and --newline options not available with "grep -P".
(In the process of rewriting it I've tried to reduce the potential
for confusion between the terms "regex", "regexp", and "pcre".)
--
JBR
Ankh kak! (Ancient Egyptian blessing)
diff -ru pcre3-7.8.pristine/debian/control pcre3-7.8/debian/control
--- pcre3-7.8.pristine/debian/control 2010-05-08 12:28:59.000000000 +0100
+++ pcre3-7.8/debian/control 2010-05-08 12:41:03.000000000 +0100
@@ -70,10 +70,8 @@
Architecture: any
Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, ${misc:Depends}
Replaces: pgrep (<<4.5)
-Description: grep utility that uses perl 5 compatible regexes.
- Perl-style regexps have many useful features that the standard POSIX ones
- don't; this is basically the same as grep but with the different
- regexp syntax.
- .
- The other reason for the existence of pcregrep is that its source code is an
- example of programming with libpcre.
+Description: grep utility using Perl Compatible Regular Expressions
+ Perl 5 regexps have many useful features that the standard POSIX ones
+ lack; but GNU grep's support for them is still incomplete. This package
+ provides a version specializing in PCRE support, including --multiline
+ and --newline options not available with "grep -P".
